Matchday With The Manager - Maximise Our Talent

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Matchday With The Manager - Maximise Our Talent

Brendan Rodgers spoke of the need to continue battling the challenges that come Leicester City’s way after reaching the midway point of 2022/23.

2023-01-21T07:00:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

21 Jan, 2023

Matchday With The Manager - Maximise Our Talent

Brendan Rodgers spoke of the need to continue battling the challenges that come Leicester City’s way after reaching the midway point of 2022/23.

Sam Jones

2023-01-21T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager - Maximise Our Talent

Brendan Rodgers spoke of the need to continue battling the challenges that come Leicester City’s way after reaching the midway point of 2022/23.

Sam Jones

2023-01-21T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager - Maximise Our Talent

Brendan Rodgers spoke of the need to continue battling the challenges that come Leicester City’s way after reaching the midway point of 2022/23.

Sam Jones

2023-01-21T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager - Maximise Our Talent

Brendan Rodgers spoke of the need to continue battling the challenges that come Leicester City’s way after reaching the midway point of 2022/23.

Sam Jones

2023-01-21T07:00:00.000Z

The disrupted campaign has contained plenty of ups and downs for the Foxes, not least a difficult start which saw the side fail to win any of their opening seven matches, which has been somewhat replicated in recent weeks, in the Premier League at least, with four defeats from four since Christmas.

It is not a time to panic, though, Rodgers stressed, as he addressed the assembled media inside the King Power Centre at LCFC Training Ground on Thursday afternoon, prior to tackling Brighton & Hove Albion…

We’ve been here before

Although several recent losses were by a narrow margin, City’s manager acknowledged there is a need to step up the performance level from last weekend’s 2-0 reverse at Nottingham Forest in order to turn things around.

“For me, everything will be okay,” the Northern Irishman told reporters earlier this week. “We’ve been in this situation earlier in the season. I just think that once we can get that concentration back - that will come - and of course then we can pick up results.

“I think that was the disappointment of last weekend… the Premier League is a tough league, and you have to have maximum concentration and commitment in every single game. Unfortunately for us, we lost our concentration early on and that got us behind in the game.

“Every time you lose a game, you’re even more determined in your next game to get a better performance and result and this weekend is no different. When we’re at our best, we’re defending together really well, strong, everyone is synchronised.

“And then when we have the ball, looking after it, which hopefully allows us to create more opportunities. That’s certainly something that we need to be better at. In every facet of the game, you’re always looking to improve on a daily basis.

“Certainly, for us, within the team you can see that they are lots of areas that we can improve in. I’ve got every confidence in the squad. It’s been very up and down for us this season, but we’re at the halfway point.

"We believe that in the next half of games we can be better, and we know we have to be better. We feel that this month, getting some players back available for us and getting some in, that can rejuvenate the squad and get some much better results consistently.”

Injuries within the Leicester squad have dealt some issues, but with some players starting to return to fitness, along with the signing of Denmark full-back Victor Kristiansen on Friday, there is promise that the coming weeks will look brighter.

The former Liverpool and Celtic manager continued: “For this moment in time, in the short to intermediate term, there’s a challenge that we are all ready to embrace. Players will fight for that, like we all will and we just need to get over this period now and the only way you do that is by constantly working and fighting together.

“It’s very early. We’re obviously halfway through the season and we aim to be clearly much better in the second half of the season. The important thing is that we stay calm with it. There’s always disappointment after you lose a game.

“However, the one thing I’ve had with this group of players here for nearly four years now - it’s a conscious group who will fight and will run and will work and when you’re in an area of the table where it is so close, that’s the obligation and the players are ready to do that.

“If we can add some quality and get some players back, I think we’ll be in a really good position. There have been challenges. For us, it’s just a case of continually looking to reinforce the qualities of the players. Some of them have been here a long time. My job is to work with the squad that is here and try and maximise the talent.

“I think we have been able to do that for the majority of time that I’ve been here. There’s no doubt we need to continue with that. It’s about consistency at this level. You need to be mentally ready and mentally committed.

“And if you can be that, you have a chance of being able to perform consistently.”

Analysing the opposition

Rodgers was full of praise for the work done by Brighton, who sit seventh in the Premier League, ahead of welcoming the south coast outfit to King Power Stadium for Saturday’s 3pm GMT kick-off.

“It’s a tough game, but every team is,” the 49-year-old explained. “That’s the beauty of this league - there’s no rest bite in it. You can never look at a game and say it’s an easy game this weekend, playing against a fantastic team and a club that I really admire.

“Over the last decade or so, in terms of the football philosophy of the club and bringing in players that fit that strategy and obviously are technically a really good team who perform really well, which allows them to create opportunities to score goals.

“When you do that, you then select your managers who can come in and work that way and put their own slant on it. The football identity is still very much there. That’s a credit to the club.

“They’ve got a really good group of players who play the game to a high level, so it’s going to be a real tough test for us. They are now very much an established club in the Premier League.

“They’ve got a great stadium; terrific training facility and their recruitment is second to none in terms of bringing in players who fit in with how they want to play.

“From a club perspective, it’s been very impressive by them, in terms of the players and the markers that they’ve been able to get the players in. The quality of players that they have, they are hugely impressive.

“Roberto [De Zerbi] has now come in and will add his bit to it. Whatever system they play, the football is clear. He has a way in which they like to attract teams on to them so they can play through them quickly and get beyond.

“The shape of the team will adapt from when they are pressing to when they don’t have it. Inside of that, they have really technically gifted players who understand football. They have a World Cup winner now, which will inspire confidence for the rest of the players.”

Create an atmosphere

Having home advantage is something that Rodgers is keen to exploit this weekend, with the Blue Army backing crucial to what his side can achieve. The onus is very much on the players to kickstart that belief within the stadium, he believes.

Rodgers added: “That’s firstly our job – to inspire the supporters from the off. We have to deliver a performance that really ensures that they get behind the team and obviously vice versa. Leicester is at its best in my time here as a manager when there’s that togetherness and tightness with the team. That really helps the players.

“They’ve produced so many great memories and performances and that has always been with the supporters. It’s up to us initially. We have to make a start in the game, we have to show that determination and commitment.

“Once you do that, the supporters recognise that and really get behind the team. For us, it’s so important now in this time to be together. That solidarity is so important. Clubs like ourselves, where we are in the Premier League and the challenges we face, we can only do it together.

“If that’s fragmented in any way, it makes it so challenging in what is the most competitive league in the world. If they can come and support, rather than maybe having the disappointment of what has happened before, this is a new game.

“It’s the same with the players - this is a new opportunity for us. Let’s go and attack the game and see if we can get the result.”

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