Matchday With The Manager – Competing With Man City On The Field Of Play

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Matchday With The Manager – Competing With Man City On The Field Of Play

Counteracting a Manchester City outfit which contains players of 'high intelligence' will be the challenge on Boxing Day for injury-hit Leicester City, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-12-26T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Competing With Man City On The Field Of Play

Counteracting a Manchester City outfit which contains players of 'high intelligence' will be the challenge on Boxing Day for injury-hit Leicester City, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-12-26T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Competing With Man City On The Field Of Play

Counteracting a Manchester City outfit which contains players of 'high intelligence' will be the challenge on Boxing Day for injury-hit Leicester City, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-12-26T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Competing With Man City On The Field Of Play

Counteracting a Manchester City outfit which contains players of 'high intelligence' will be the challenge on Boxing Day for injury-hit Leicester City, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-12-26T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Competing With Man City On The Field Of Play

Counteracting a Manchester City outfit which contains players of 'high intelligence' will be the challenge on Boxing Day for injury-hit Leicester City, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-12-26T07:00:00.000Z

The Foxes travel north-west with recent defensive concerns including Jonny Evans, Ricardo Pereira, Çağlar Söyüncü, Daniel Amartey and Timothy Castagne, among others, including Wesley Fofana and James Justin. It remains to be seen who will be available in Manchester.

While some featured at Anfield on Wednesday, in a 5-4 penalty shootout defeat following a 3-3 draw in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, Ricardo and Söyüncü were forced to withdraw through injury. Central midfielder Wilfred Ndidi started a second successive match in a centre-back berth for City.

Leicester also lined up in an unfamiliar diamond formation due to a lack of wingers. Speaking before Christmas, Rodgers revealed that Evans is a 'question mark' for the clash with Pep Guardiola's Premier League champions, while Castagne will only just be returning to training.

Goalkeeper Danny Ward and winger Harvey Barnes will also not be in contention, while Jamie Vardy played through a hamstring injury on Merseyside.

"Every coach and manager in this period is particularly busy when you have a full strength squad, but to be playing Manchester City on Sunday and then Liverpool again on Tuesday, it’s not good for the players, their health and their welfare," the Northern Irishman told the national media.

"Obviously, it’s been said we have to play on so we take it from there. If that’s the case, we’ll look to be as competitive as we can, like we were [at Liverpool]. We made changes and everything else, but we were competitive. That’s how we’ll always try to approach it going forward.

"We won’t feel sorry for ourselves, no matter what players are available, or not available. We want to go and be competitive. We know it’s a huge challenge, to play the team at the top of the division, in the form that they’re in. It’s a challenge we’ll embrace and we’ll be ready for it.

"We saw at Liverpool, we can score goals, we’re creative, but we have to see what we’ll have available for the weekend. We’ll try and come up with a plan that allows us to get a result. We went there last season and got a fantastic win.

"You know the challenge you’re playing against. They’re going to dominate the ball. You’ve got to be good in transition and you’ve got to obviously have the confidence to play, so that will be our challenge for the weekend."

Manchester City, on the other hand, have scored 11 goals in their last two Premier League outings – first overcoming Leeds United 7-0 at home, before leaving St. James' Park with a 4-0 triumph over Newcastle United last time out. The Citizens sit top of the table, three points clear, at Christmas.

"They’ve got top players," Rodgers explained, providing an assessment of the opposition. "They’ve not got too many injuries and they can rotate and change. They’re playing their game. It’s a high-level positioning game. They press and they’ve got technical ability in the team. They’re virtually press-resistant.

"They can play through pressure and then, when you sit deep, they’ve got players of real intelligence to find the spaces. You know you’ve got to have spirit. You’ve got to have courage. When you have the ball, you’ve got to exploit the spaces there.

"They’re playing well at the minute, so we’ll just have to see where we’re at in the next couple of days and then we’ll try to devise a plan with the players who are available. Let’s see what we can do. It doesn’t look like they’ve got too many players off. Ironically, they’ve had that free week as well.

"Listen, they’re a brilliant side. They have technical and world-class players and they’re used to winning. We’ve done okay against them. It’s going to be a big challenge for us and we need to play with the spirit that we did at Liverpool and see what we can do in the game."

Leicester go into the fixture on the back of a hugely disappointing night on Merseyside, exiting the Carabao Cup at the last-eight stage. Rodgers, though, believes his side's performance, which enabled them to twice open up a two-goal lead, is a source of positivity ahead of another considerable test.

"There’s obviously disappointment," the 48-year-old continued. "I said to them before the game that Anfield is a great place to go and play. I said: ‘Whatever happens tonight, let’s go and impose our way and let’s go and do our very best’. That’s what I’ve always had from these players.

"Since I’ve been here, what they’ve given me and how they’ve been competitive against the best teams in the country, we saw that again. We just didn’t quite have enough to get over the line, but they’re such an honest group of players.

"It’s always disappointing when you lose, but I’ll get them going again for the weekend and we’ll look at it from there."

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