The manager expanded on his ‘trust’ comment following the 3-1 defeat to QPR, and hinted at where he will now turn as he takes his side to Vicarage Road this weekend
Gary Rowett at Leicester City’s training ground ahead of the trip to Watford(Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
Jamaal Lascelles looks increasingly likely to start for Leicester City this weekend as Gary Rowett looks to eradicate errors from his team at Watford.
Centre-back Lascelles has made just one City start since joining the club in January, under Andy King, with Rowett selecting Caleb Okoli and Ben Nelson at the heart of his defence in all six of his matches in charge.
But that looks set to change at Vicarage Road. Rowett admitted on Thursday that he’d been “tempted” to play Lascelles previously, but could not justify dropping either of his two starting centre-backs.
Following an error-strewn 3-1 defeat to QPR, and with Rowett searching for reliable performances, the experienced defender looks likely to come in.
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Asked to elaborate on his comments last weekend, when Rowett said he needed players he could “trust” to perform consistently, the manager said on Thursday: “Trust can be interpreted in different ways. I don’t think it’s necessarily that I don’t trust players. The players have worked hard.
“It’s a lack of consistency in certain moments. There have been moments where we’ve been performing well but then switch off for a second and get punished, and that then defines the rest of the game.
“It’s those moments where we need to show that consistency. This stage of a season is different. We need results and performances. Therefore I’ve got to pick a team that’s going to minimise some of those moments.
“Up until 42 minutes (against QPR), everybody at the game would have been reasonably pleased with the opening. All of a sudden, within 15 minutes we’re 3-1 down. It’s not like we’ve been outplayed or bombarded or outmuscled.
“It’s those little errors and a lack of concentration that are costing us and at this stage of a season, we need to eradicate those as quickly as we can.”
At 32 with over 300 senior appearances to his name, Lascelles has experience and looks like being the man Rowett turns to in order to solve that problem.
“I have to make decisions around experience of this position and what I think the game requires,” Rowett said. “Jamaal has got huge experience.
“He was one I was tempted to play a few games ago, but I always try to be fair and I felt the performances were good. We’d all agree on the back of Ipswich and Bristol City that people performed really well and so people deserved to play.
“I don’t think just because we’ve lost a game we start selection tombola and think we’ve got to change loads. A lot of elements of the performance were decent.
“But as someone with that experience, a different type of voice, and who will help people alongside him, of course someone like Jamaal comes into contention.”
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