Matchday With The Manager – Focusing On The Next Challenge

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Matchday With The Manager – Focusing On The Next Challenge

Speaking to the national media just over 24 hours ahead of the Premier League visit of Aston Villa, manager Brendan Rodgers outlined his ambitions for the final stages of the season.

2022-04-23T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Focusing On The Next Challenge

Speaking to the national media just over 24 hours ahead of the Premier League visit of Aston Villa, manager Brendan Rodgers outlined his ambitions for the final stages of the season.

2022-04-23T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Focusing On The Next Challenge

Speaking to the national media just over 24 hours ahead of the Premier League visit of Aston Villa, manager Brendan Rodgers outlined his ambitions for the final stages of the season.

2022-04-23T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Focusing On The Next Challenge

Speaking to the national media just over 24 hours ahead of the Premier League visit of Aston Villa, manager Brendan Rodgers outlined his ambitions for the final stages of the season.

2022-04-23T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Focusing On The Next Challenge

Speaking to the national media just over 24 hours ahead of the Premier League visit of Aston Villa, manager Brendan Rodgers outlined his ambitions for the final stages of the season.

2022-04-23T06:00:00.000Z

The Foxes sit ninth in the Premier League and have a two-legged semi-final tie against Roma in the UEFA Europa Conference League to look forward to. It's been a challenging campaign for Leicester, who have had to contend with lengthy injury lists and fixture postponements, among other issues.

With at least nine fixtures remaining, Rodgers believes there is plenty to play for on both fronts for his side. Addressing the media inside the King Power Centre at LCFC Training Ground on Friday, the Northern Irishman said all focus is on tackling Steven Gerrard's Villa – and nothing else for the time being.

"We’re just looking to the next game," Rodgers said in Seagrave. "People are always asking about the Roma game, but I have to respect that there are supporters who are travelling up and down the country.

"We’ve had three games away from home lately, including away at Newcastle and Everton, and I’ll always pick a team to win a game. Supporters are travelling throughout Europe with us and up and down the country. My thinking is always on the next game and that is Aston Villa.

"We’ll play a team that we believe can get a good result and then we have enough recovery time through to Thursday.

"Certainly, from a personal perspective, if we finish in the top 10 and can get to the final of European competition, it’ll be one of my best seasons as a manager after everything we’ve gone through and knowing where our budget sits as a club. After everything we’ve been up against, I’d be absolutely delighted."

As in previous seasons under Rodgers' management, City head into the final straight of the 2021/22 campaign with silverware up for grabs. Last term, the Club lifted its first-ever FA Cup crown, finishing fifth in the Premier League too. Rodgers is hoping for a positive ending this time around as well.

"I’ve always said since I came in, you want to be challenging through to the end of the season," he explained. "You never want your season to drift. You can only do that by performing well and getting good results and that’s what we’ve been able to do in my time here.

"We’ve always been able to go through to the end of the season challenging for something. That creates a mindset, a mentality, a growth around the Club – you want to be challenging. You never want to be comfortable.

"That’s something that’s ongoing in terms of the Club’s development and the team’s development and hopefully again that can be the case."

Rodgers worked with Villa manager Gerrard during the latter's playing days at Anfield. The former Reds manager has been impressed by the work done by his former midfielder in the early stages of his managerial career – winning the Scottish title at Rangers last season before joining Villa in November.

He believes Gerrard has the tools to build on recent progress made at Villa Park and continue to make them competitive in the top tier.

"It just takes time," the Leicester manager continued. "For Steven, coming in this season, it’s been the case of assessing the players, seeing where they’re at, what type of characters he has in there. He’s obviously doing a job which is not too dissimilar to when I came into here.

"When I came in, it was an assessment period through to the end of the season and then you get an idea of what you’re working with under pressure because I think that’s important.

"Steven has seen the team, how they train, how their mentality is, how they perform in the games and that gives him a real-life assessment of the squad he has. Clearly, with the ambition at Aston Villa, they want to try and challenge for European football.

"He’s started his managerial career really, really well. He had a good period in Scotland. He knows the Premier League inside out as a player and now, knowing Steven, he’ll really be enjoying the challenge of working in the Premier League as a manager. Every single game is a huge challenge but that’s what you want."

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