Matchday With The Manager – Hitting Leicester's High Standards

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Matchday With The Manager – Hitting Leicester's High Standards

Leicester City will work on 'fundamental aspects' in their game in order to return to form in the Premier League, says manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-10-03T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Hitting Leicester's High Standards

Leicester City will work on 'fundamental aspects' in their game in order to return to form in the Premier League, says manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-10-03T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Hitting Leicester's High Standards

Leicester City will work on 'fundamental aspects' in their game in order to return to form in the Premier League, says manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-10-03T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Hitting Leicester's High Standards

Leicester City will work on 'fundamental aspects' in their game in order to return to form in the Premier League, says manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-10-03T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Hitting Leicester's High Standards

Leicester City will work on 'fundamental aspects' in their game in order to return to form in the Premier League, says manager Brendan Rodgers.

2021-10-03T06:00:00.000Z

Following the one-goal reverse at Legia Warsaw in the UEFA Europa League group stage on Thursday, the Foxes are due at Selhurst Park on Sunday to tackle Crystal Palace in the Premier League. Now under the management of Patrick Vieira, the Eagles are showing encouraging signs in 2021/22.

With a raft of new recruits, a transformed central defensive pairing, hungry attacking players and a new strategy in place in south London, Vieira is looking to herald a new era for Palace. Ahead of taking his Leicester team there this weekend, Rodgers was full of praise for the Frenchman's work so far.

"Patrick’s gone in and he’s looking to bring his own idea into the team," the Northern Irishman said. "Roy [Hodgson] did a fantastic job there and stabilised them in the league. They’ve got some really good players and Patrick’s been able to take them down a different road in terms of their style.

"They’ve brought in some very good players, the two centre-backs are very comfortable on the ball. They can defend, they’re quick. They’ve got Conor Gallagher in midfield, he’s a young player that’s come from a top club in Chelsea, so he’s used to winning.

"As a young player, he brings that mentality in with him. You can see the hunger which he plays with and he’s scored some goals this season and done very well. Wilfried is a big talent on the side, great in the duel, and he’s played a lot of games now for Crystal Palace.

"Obviously, some of the players up front, they can cause you a problem, so I think they’ve done very well. They were unfortunate in the week not to pick up the three points. It’s always a difficult game when you go to Crystal Palace and this will be no different."

On matters closer to home, Rodgers acknowledges that improvements can be made in City's game. The Foxes are yet to put a run of positive form together this season and the manager says they must defend better at key moments if they are to do so over the coming weeks.

"We certainly need to be better," he added. "It’s something we looked at when I first came in, how we started games, how we finished games. That’s always the sign of the good teams for me… if you can go and impose your game and look to go out with that aggressive mentality.

"That’s something that’s been the hallmark of this team in our time together. We haven’t quite imposed ourselves that way since the beginning of the season. Certainly, in the last three games, some of the elements with the ball have been much better.

"Fundamentally, we need to defend better because that aggression, that aggressive contact we normally have, when that’s there, we pass the ball better as well. That’s something we need to bring back into our game. There’s a number of reasons.

"Obviously, Jonny Evans has hardly played. It’s no coincidence that in the game he did play this season, we kept a clean sheet. He’s been excellent and we’re obviously missing the likes of Wesley Fofana and James Justin. They’re top defenders, however we still have very good players.

"We still can be better. We need to raise the standard of our performance, no doubt, but with the honesty and the spirit in the group, we’ll look to do that over the course of the season."

City have secured successive fifth placed finishes and lifted the Emirates FA Cup for the first time in the Club's history last term. They also won the FA Community Shield back in August. Rodgers knows that expectations have grown at Leicester, and is motivated by the challenge of meeting them.

"We’ve created a standard and an expectation and really raised the bar over a consistent period," the 48-year-old continued. "We’ve dropped off that standard. That’s something, with the mentality, the spirit, it’s getting that stability back into the team. It happens to every team.

"For us, we’ve had two-and three-quarter years where we’ve been consistently very good. It’s a little bump in the road, but this excites me. I was talking to the staff this morning.

"When you have experience and you hit this period, you know that it’s not going to be plain sailing all the way through your managerial time at any club. We’re the only ones who can do anything about it. That’s the beauty, that’s the excitement. It’s a challenge, of course it is, but that’s why we’re here.

"We’re just getting back to the basics of the game, those fundamental aspects, and we’ll enjoy getting back to our level. It’s the profession we’re in. There’s no manager or coach that goes into a club that has a full-on period where it’s just achievements.

"For us, in these last two-and three-quarter years, we’ve reached European football, we’ve won an FA Cup and a Community Shield, so the bar has been raised.

"When you fall below that, the scrutiny comes onto you. I would rather have done what we’ve done and know we’ve fallen below because you have that opportunity to go and raise the bar again. That’s something we’ll look to do and that’s a great test for us."

Elsewhere, the Foxes will be without Evans once again in the capital on Sunday, while Wilfred Ndidi is also set for a period of time out of the XI with a hamstring injury.

"[Evans] won’t be available this weekend," Rodgers explained. "He played in the Millwall cup game and his assurance on the field makes others around him better. Whoever has played with Jonny, whether it was Harry Maguire or Çağs (Çağlar Söyüncü), whoever it is, he makes them better.

"We miss his influence on the field, but like I said, we’ve still got very good players. It’s a team cohesion that we can improve. Wilf Ndidi will probably miss the weekend. We had to wait for a scan on his hamstring, so he could be out for a few weeks, which is a shame. Apart from that, everyone else is okay."

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