West Ham's shock 3-0 win at Leicester City on Sunday gave the Foxes a taste of their own medicine after an equally impressive 5-2 victory at Manchester City in the previous round, manager Brendan Rodgers said.
The Hammers, managed by assistant Alan Irvine at King Power stadium with boss David Moyes sidelined after contracting the coronavirus, produced a surgical counter-attacking performance every bit as lethal as Leicester's at City.
With the visitors in full swing, Leicester looked bereft of ideas and toothless, with Rodgers conceding his team was outplayed in every department. “We were nowhere near it today,” Rodgers told BT Sport.
“West Ham were excellent. You need to be good at counter-press to stop their counter-attack and we weren't good enough. Technically we weren't at the level either. Too many passes going out of play. We got what we deserved.
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“We could never make the last pass or find the quality to give Jamie Vardy the service he needs. Our attacking structure wasn't very good. We missed Dennis Praet and James Maddison who give us that bit of quality.”
Irvine stressed the result should inject a new level of confidence into West Ham and their ability to stay in the upper half of the standings after avoiding relegation last season. “This club needs to be looking up rather than down,” he told the BBC.
“Too often we have been looking over our shoulder. I'm not saying we are there yet but we are making steps towards that. We should have got something at Arsenal and Wolves was great. It doesn't matter if you don't follow it up.”
He also praised West Ham's performance, with the Hammers reducing stifling their rivals while looking dangerous every time they came forward.
“From start to finish the players did a fantastic job in and out of possession. It was every thing we asked for. It is all well to do this on the training ground but they have to make it happen.”
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