Matchday With The Manager – Developing Leicester's Mentality

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Matchday With The Manager – Developing Leicester's Mentality

After a draining yet hugely rewarding European outing in the week, Leicester City are back in action just three days later for the visit of Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday.

2022-03-20T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Developing Leicester's Mentality

After a draining yet hugely rewarding European outing in the week, Leicester City are back in action just three days later for the visit of Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday.

2022-03-20T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Developing Leicester's Mentality

After a draining yet hugely rewarding European outing in the week, Leicester City are back in action just three days later for the visit of Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday.

2022-03-20T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Developing Leicester's Mentality

After a draining yet hugely rewarding European outing in the week, Leicester City are back in action just three days later for the visit of Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday.

2022-03-20T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Developing Leicester's Mentality

After a draining yet hugely rewarding European outing in the week, Leicester City are back in action just three days later for the visit of Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday.

2022-03-20T07:00:00.000Z

Wesley Fofana's goal extended City's aggregate lead over Rennes in the last-16 of the UEFA Europa Conference League meaning, despite strikes from Benjamin Bourigeaud and Flavien Tait for the home side at Roazhon Park, it is Leicester who will face PSV Eindhoven in the quarter-finals.

On Friday, manager Brendan Rodgers took stock on that pulsating knockout tie in Brittany and looked ahead to the next challenge on the horizon for the Foxes. Experiences such as they one they overcame on Thursday will continue to build a resilience in the group, the Northern Irishman says.

"It’s great to get through the game," the manager told the media at LCFC Training Ground. "Over the two legs, to get through against a really, really good Rennes team, especially with the players who we have unavailable, it really shows you how the players had to dig deep.

"We came through against a good side so we’re all delighted. It has been a really challenging season. We seem to get players back and then we lose some and that’s just the nature of how it’s been for us, but the players that have been available, they kept fighting despite the challenges we’ve had.

"We’ve had some very, very good results and performances and some not so good. Progress does come in fits and starts.

"It’s not all in a straight line, but there’s no doubt the experience that the players and the Club is gaining all the time, from the European experiences and players getting game time… last night was a great experience for a lot of our players with the atmosphere and the intensity of it.

"Knockout competitions bring that togetherness and unity. You could see that very much in the team."

Leicester were not just battling a highly skilled Rennes team on Thursday, but a forceful home crowd too. Rodgers was proud of his players, many of whom remain in their early 20s, for the manner in which they managed their surroundings to secure safe passage in the competition.

"When you’re 2-0 up from the first leg, they’re going to come out flying in the game, which they did do," he added. "They had great support. The whole stadium was with them. They got the early goal as well, but our guys showed again that the mentality is developing and growing.

"They stayed with it, they had that resilience in the game. Once we came out for the second half, we were more progressive with the ball. I think that was our disappointment, we suffered with the ball in the first half, but during that opening 20 minutes of the second half, we played our game.

"That pressure is what leads to the corner and the goal. At the end of the game, we had to stay together, stay strong. We had to endure some tough moments, but to get through at the end, it was great over the two legs."

Brentford, meanwhile, are also in a positive frame of mind ahead of Sunday's Filbert Way showdown. Consecutive wins over Burnley and Norwich City have nudged Thomas Frank's Bees up to 15th in the Premier League standings, opening up an eight-point lead over 18th-placed Watford.

"It’s just the ups and downs of it," Rodgers explained, assessing the visitors' maiden Premier League campaign so far. "They’ve done great, Thomas, his staff and players. I’ve really enjoyed watching them. I’ve been on that journey myself with Swansea, coming into the Premier League.

"They obviously started great and, as will always happen in the Premier League, when you’re in that first season, you’ll have a dip. They went through a period there where they weren’t winning, they were losing games, but they stayed strong and together.

"The last couple of results against Norwich and Burnley will have reinvigorated them again and given them confidence. It’s a team that’s fighting and we have to be ready for that at the weekend."

Sunday's game could see Christian Eriksen make his fourth appearance for Brentford after joining the London club this winter. Last summer, representing Denmark at UEFA EURO 2020, the talented midfielder collapsed on the field of play during a fixture against Finland in Copenhagen.

Rodgers, who recalled his emotions watching those distressing scenes unfold on television, is looking forward to welcoming the former Ajax, Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan star to Filbert Way.

"There’s just a real positive feeling that he’s back on the field again," Leicester's manager said. "I’ll never forget how I felt watching it. I was on holiday in Majorca at the time and I was watching the game. Obviously I had Kasper [Schmeichel] in that game playing and Jannik [Vestergaard] was involved.

"I was just in shock watching it and the scenes like everyone else was and then you’re just praying and hoping that the outcome can be a positive one.

"Seeing him back on the field again really typifies and is a great example of his strength and his determination to come back and fight because there’s absolutely no doubting his talent.

"I’ve faced him enough times at Tottenham when he was there and when I was at Liverpool to see the talent and the effect he can have on a game. There’s nothing other than a good feeling that Christian is back playing again because he is a big, big player.

"We’ve seen that in the Premier League and when he went to Italy. This unfortunate incident that he had has obviously curtailed that a little bit, but the clips I’ve seen of him at Brentford, you can see the quality. It’ll be great see him at the weekend."

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