Matchday With The Manager – Preparing For 'Progressive' Rennes

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Matchday With The Manager – Preparing For 'Progressive' Rennes

Brendan Rodgers pointed to the scale of the challenge which Rennes will pose for Leicester City in the UEFA Europa Conference League this week.

2022-03-10T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Preparing For 'Progressive' Rennes

Brendan Rodgers pointed to the scale of the challenge which Rennes will pose for Leicester City in the UEFA Europa Conference League this week.

2022-03-10T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Preparing For 'Progressive' Rennes

Brendan Rodgers pointed to the scale of the challenge which Rennes will pose for Leicester City in the UEFA Europa Conference League this week.

2022-03-10T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Preparing For 'Progressive' Rennes

Brendan Rodgers pointed to the scale of the challenge which Rennes will pose for Leicester City in the UEFA Europa Conference League this week.

2022-03-10T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Preparing For 'Progressive' Rennes

Brendan Rodgers pointed to the scale of the challenge which Rennes will pose for Leicester City in the UEFA Europa Conference League this week.

2022-03-10T07:00:00.000Z

The round of 16 first leg tie sees the Foxes entertain Bruno Génésio's side on Filbert Way hoping to book their place in the quarter-finals of a European competition for the first time since 2017. Rodgers, though, expects Les Rouge et Noir to present a considerable threat to that ambition on Thursday.

"They’re having a really good season," the Northern Irishman told the media on Wednesday. "Arguably, it’s the most difficult tie we could have had. It’s a team that scores goals. Other than PSG, they’ve scored the most goals in their division, so that tells you everything about the challenge.

"They’ve got an experienced coach and they play a really good style of football. They’re very progressive and they’ve got dangerous players. Over the course of the two games, we’re going to have to be at the top of our game to get through the tie.

"They’re a very good side. They attack the game well. Collectively, they work very hard. They play somewhat in a 4-3-3 when they have the ball and they press in more of a 4-4-2 structure.

"We’ve looked at many games and obviously, in the European competition, they got through their group stage without losing a game. They’re going very, very well in the league. We’ve been able to analyse them and we can see that they’re a very good side.

"We’re confident we can go into the game tomorrow night and give them problems and hopefully get a positive result in the first leg."

It's been a season filled with unique challenges – some COVID-19 related and others concerning a lengthy injury list, particularly over the winter months. Consistency has been hard to find for the Foxes, but after four wins in five games in all competitions, Rodgers sees progress being made.

"We want to finish as high as we can in the league and go as far as we can in the European cup competition," the 49-year-old added. "Over the last number of weeks, the performance level has definitely improved and we’ve got some good results.

"We’ve got some results that we deserved but didn’t quite get too, but I think the work-rate and the mentality in the game at the weekend was a really good example of the team coming back together again.

"We didn’t play the best football over the course of the game at times but we showed that spirit and that ability to dig in and get the result. That’s so important for any good team. Even if you don’t quite play your best, to be able to get a result shows the importance of your spirit and your mentality.

"It's something which maybe, in the early parts of the season, we didn’t quite see. You’re starting to see now that toughness in the team and that togetherness and then the quality of our football has been much, much better. We want to continue with that form.

"We’ve been much better in our defensive mentality and organisation over these last number of games too. That obviously always gives you great confidence going into any game, having that stability. The team’s working very hard.

"They’ve got talented players who can score goals, but we want to attack the game ourselves. Always against good teams, you have to defend well. It sets it up for a really good game.

"It's been a challenging season for everyone and, of course, the supporters for this last two-odd years, it’s been great to have been a Leicester City supporter. That’s who you play for – you play for your supporters, to make them proud, and this is a competition where our aim is to get to the final.

"It’s just about getting through each round. This is a really tough game, but a really great test for us. If you’re going to do well in any competition, you’re going to have to beat some really good teams. That’s our challenge.

"We’ll accept that and embrace it and look to give everything to the game tomorrow to see if we can take a lead over to France."

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's emergence for the Foxes this campaign has been among the main talking points among the Blue Army. The Shepshed local has quickly established himself as a valuable member of the first team squad and Rodgers is delighted by his recent performances.

"When he came back in the summer, you could see he was playing with a purpose," he explained. "When he went out, he was playing for his livelihood. He was playing for other people’s livelihoods. He’d been to Blackpool and he got a sense of what it means to play under pressure.

"He spent a really good season at Luton and obviously did very well in the Championship. He gained a lot of confidence and, when he then came back in the summer, you could see where his game was, the mindset of his game was different. He’d been under pressure, he’d won and lost games.

"You just saw that intensity when he came back, but of course, we’ve had a couple of really good seasons – two or three years of really good work – so he knew he had to be patient with the midfield players that were here.

"He knew he was always going to get opportunities to play. For me, if he’s playing well, he will get the opportunity to play. In some of the early games he played, he got minutes, without ever getting to the level that he’s at now, but he kept working, kept training well.

"His mentality was really good. I’m a coach who always observes training very closely because it’s always the marker of the best players. In the main, they will always train at the highest level and they can take that into games. He was training at a very good level.

"The big turning point was the Southampton game. We needed him to come in and make a different, bring his energy into the game, and he gives us something which the other midfield players don’t give us.

"He’s got amazing energy, he’s got a very cultured left foot, he’s very stylish, he can travel with the ball, but he’s very, very tenacious. He makes tackles, he carries the team out of trouble and he can do that for the duration of the game.

"I’ve been absolutely delighted for him and if you’ve got young guys coming through the Academy, it means so much to them. Those players just give you that extra one per cent. You can see that and you can see the connection he has with the supporters. It’s just now about consistency.

"Turning this talent into being a top player... being a top player is always about consistency. He’s got into the team, he’s started his career well, and now he has to continue with that."

Tickets for the first leg round of 16 knockout clash with Rennes are now on general sale. To buy, click HERE.

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