Matchday With The Manager – Show Our Quality

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Matchday With The Manager – Show Our Quality

Brendan Rodgers says Leicester City must demonstrate both sides of their game when arriving at Villa Park for the meeting with Aston Villa on Saturday.

2023-02-04T07:00:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

04 Feb, 2023

Matchday With The Manager – Show Our Quality

Brendan Rodgers says Leicester City must demonstrate both sides of their game when arriving at Villa Park for the meeting with Aston Villa on Saturday.

Sam Jones

2023-02-04T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Show Our Quality

Brendan Rodgers says Leicester City must demonstrate both sides of their game when arriving at Villa Park for the meeting with Aston Villa on Saturday.

Sam Jones

2023-02-04T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Show Our Quality

Brendan Rodgers says Leicester City must demonstrate both sides of their game when arriving at Villa Park for the meeting with Aston Villa on Saturday.

Sam Jones

2023-02-04T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Show Our Quality

Brendan Rodgers says Leicester City must demonstrate both sides of their game when arriving at Villa Park for the meeting with Aston Villa on Saturday.

Sam Jones

2023-02-04T07:00:00.000Z

Following the closure of the transfer window on Tuesday, the on-pitch mindset returns this weekend, with a clear focus on how to take points from the next Premier League encounter, a 3pm GMT kick-off against the Villans.

Showing signs of recovering from a tough run of form in the 2-2 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion, attention shifts back to the league after defeating Walsall to progress into the Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round last time out.

Addressing the media during his pre-match press conference inside the King Power Centre in Seagrave, Rodgers discussed the Club’s new signings, Saturday’s opposition and establishing the plan of action for their latest clash with Villa…

Additions to the squad

With three players through the door during January, Rodgers revealed that there is a renewed buzz around LCFC Training Ground. The Northern Irishman also talked through what he expects the new boys – Tetê, Harry Souttar and Victor Kristiansen – to bring to his side on the pitch.

“I’m absolutely delighted (with Tetê),” Rodgers began. “He’s a very talented young player who has done really well in Shakhtar and Lyon. He’s technically very good and loves football, but like most Brazilian players I’ve worked with as well, he’s also very strong, very committed and has a toughness.

“You can see, even in training, he’s aggressive. He’s settled in very well and shown his qualities over the first few days. He plays outside, where I like wingers to be, so that they’re ready in the one vs. ones. But very importantly, he’s very good at running in behind.

“And one of the areas that I feel [we need] for us to create more chances is to secure the ball for longer periods as we arrive up the pitch. He allows us to do that. His touch is immaculate as you can imagine. He’s got a good idea of football, as he’s already shown in the couple of days he’s been in here.

“He wants to threaten the backline as well and he has an eye for goal. The Club did great to secure him, he fits the profile of what we would like. We look forward to seeing him play in the shirt."

“I’m delighted to have Harry in. I've seen him as a younger player and the trauma of coming through a bad injury that he had… and then seeing his performances at Stoke and in the World Cup. I also spoke to a number of people who I really respect in the game, and they spoke so highly of him. I can see why having met him and spoke to him.

“He’s a young player who is on the way up. He’s done very well in the Championship. I saw him more in Scotland when he was a young player and I worked there. He’s coming in to show his qualities in the Premier League and gives us that stature we’ve been looking for, but he can play football as well. In his first few days, he’s made a really good impact as well. To get a player like Harry is great.

“It’s also about hunger as well. He was a player who was available and affordable. For me, at 24 years of age, he has got experiences. When you have the ability that he has and the thirst to learn and be coachable, I think we’ll see great improvements in him. He fits the profile of Leicester and I’m sure we’ll see him do well for us.

“Victor, you’ve seen how he played last week in the FA Cup. He is going to be a big hit with the team and the supporters here and adds real competition in that position. He’s made a great impact as well. As a young player coming in, you see his energy.”

Villans on the up

City’s manager praised his opposite number, Unai Emery, for what he has managed to achieve in a short space of time at Villa, with the Midlands club perched on the fringes of the top half of the table 20 games into the season, winning five out of seven since he took charge in early November.

“Unai has come in and made a great impact,” the ex-Celtic manager explained. “But it’s not a surprise to me. I think his body of work over many years shows that he’s an outstanding coach.

“The problem sometimes when you’re a manager in the Premier League is that you can do all that work and then you get written off after two or three months. But people within the game can see the work that he’s done and coming into Aston Villa, he’s shown that also.

“For us, it’s a derby game, a Midlands game that I’ve always enjoyed since I’ve been at Leicester. It’s another tough game – like they all are in the Premier League. But it’s a great stadium to play at, the pitch is magnificent, and we want to go there and play our football but also know that we’ve got to fight for the result.”

Applying our principles

Rodgers believes there’s ‘no magic formula’ to getting back on track in the Premier League after a five-game stretch without a league win for the 14th-placed Foxes, with the only three victories since returning from the FIFA World Cup break coming against lower league opposition in the two domestic cup competitions. Home fixtures against Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal are to come before the end of the month, with a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in between.

“We’ve seen moments of quality and the fighting spirit that we want to see,” the 50-year-old added. “We just need to manage the details within the game. We’ve got a great run of games between now and the end of the season and we want to attack every game.

“In the Premier League, the one thing you can’t do is forecast results. All you can do is really concentrate on the next game. I can’t worry about Tottenham or Man Utd or Arsenal. The next game is Aston Villa. Our focus is very much on getting a very good performance and result in that game.

“We’ve got some exciting games, some great games and we’ll see where we’re at, at the end of February. There’s no magic formula. It’s about working hard. You constantly have to work to get the results and then show that bit of quality in the right moments that can get you the result.

“Now the window has closed, it always settles everything down. We know what we have as a squad and the many challenges that lie ahead for us. We have many qualities in the squad. It is so important that you have that togetherness and mentality. We’ve shown that on numerous occasions.

“With young Tetê coming in, it’s brought a freshness to the training. He’ll provide competition. When you bring that new freshness into any team and bring a good player in, it’s natural that the current players want to show that they are good players.

“If you’re in the same environment and then you drop in one or two new faces, then it always helps. It’s an energy. But when it’s a player of quality, then of course that improves it. You can just see the different from the guys being in. It’s players that want to prove a point. They are hungry and when you have that hunger, aligned with quality, then that will always help your existing players as well.

“It’s obviously been a long time since the Club signed players in January, but there was definitely a need for it. It’s not just about now, it’s preparing going forward. It was important strategically as well. We’re really pleased that we could bring some fresh faces in. We had a really positive window.”

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