Rodgers Insists Benching Ndidi, Vardy Vs Palace Was Correct Decision

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has defended his decision to rotate key players after Leicester were held to a 1-1 draw by Crystal Palace.

James Maddison was not even part of the squad at Selhurst Park while top goalscorer Jamie Vardy was only on the bench, with seven changes made to the team which drew 2-2 with Manchester United on Boxing Day.

In the end the Foxes were indebted to Harvey Barnes, one of four players who started 48 hours earlier, to salvage a point with his fine 83rd-minute equaliser cancelling out Wilfried Zaha’s opener early in the second half.

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While Leicester have moved up to second, the general feeling at full-time was they had let points slip in the race to catch leaders Liverpool, who visit Newcastle on Wednesday.

“James Maddison wasn’t fit so he couldn’t travel and Vards is managing an issue so to start him was always going to be really difficult, but we tried to get him into the game for half an hour,” Rodgers explained.

“If we felt we could play all the same players all the time and the team that played at the weekend, we would have done, but I have to trust the players.

“The performance today should have been enough to get the result and win. It didn’t and we accept that. If there is any blame, it is certainly on me because I pick the team.”