Matchday With The Manager – Striving For European Knockout Qualification

Remaining concentrated in defensive areas, being prepared to run throughout the 90 minutes and hitting Leicester City's high performance levels are all priorities for Brendan Rodgers in Thursday's UEFA Europa League showdown with Spartak Moscow.

2021-11-04T07:00:00.000Z

Remaining concentrated in defensive areas, being prepared to run throughout the 90 minutes and hitting Leicester City's high performance levels are all priorities for Brendan Rodgers in Thursday's UEFA Europa League showdown with Spartak Moscow.

2021-11-04T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Striving For European Knockout Qualification

Remaining concentrated in defensive areas, being prepared to run throughout the 90 minutes and hitting Leicester City's high performance levels are all priorities for Brendan Rodgers in Thursday's UEFA Europa League showdown with Spartak Moscow.

2021-11-04T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Striving For European Knockout Qualification

Remaining concentrated in defensive areas, being prepared to run throughout the 90 minutes and hitting Leicester City's high performance levels are all priorities for Brendan Rodgers in Thursday's UEFA Europa League showdown with Spartak Moscow.

2021-11-04T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – Striving For European Knockout Qualification

Remaining concentrated in defensive areas, being prepared to run throughout the 90 minutes and hitting Leicester City's high performance levels are all priorities for Brendan Rodgers in Thursday's UEFA Europa League showdown with Spartak Moscow.

2021-11-04T07:00:00.000Z

With just three fixtures to play in Europe, two of which will take place in Leicester, the stakes are rising for the Foxes in their bid to reach the knockout phase of the competition for the second season in succession. City are just two points adrift of the summit in Group C, but only one above fourth place.

It's arguably the most intriguing pool in this campaign's Europa League and, speaking ahead of Thursday's clash with Spartak, Rodgers made no attempt to downplay the significance of earning a positive result with just one automatic qualification berth to the Round of 16 in 2021/22.

"It’s a very important game for us," the Northern Irishman told the international media via video call from the King Power Centre at LCFC Training Ground. "We’ve put ourselves in this position now and we’ve got two home games. Starting Thursday, we want to win those.

"We know it’ll be a difficult game. We will have to work very, very hard out there, but if we can minimise the mistakes and play to our level and quality, it gives us a great chance to get three points. There’s no doubt, we want to win the game and put ourselves in a better position in the table.

"The importance of the result is clear. It’s more about the process and how we want to play. That’s what we’ve been convincing the players of over these last few days; the importance to play our game and play to the level... without the ball, being really concentrated and focused and making no mistakes.

"Then, when we have the ball, we want to play with that clarity and freedom which has seen us score in the last game. It’s a home game in the group stage and you want to win all of those, so the importance is there for everyone [to see]."

While only the group winners will advance to the last-16 stage, the second-placed side will contest two-legged play-offs against teams to enter the competition from the UEFA Champions League. Naturally, though, the priority is to finish first in Group C for a multitude of reasons.

"Ideally, I said right at the beginning, we’d love to win the group," Rodgers explained. "That's what we set out to do and, of course, if you can get through that, it means you won’t be playing again until March. But listen, the overall objective is qualification.

"If we do that and we have to play the two games in February, then that’s what we’ll do. It’s a tough group, with good teams in it, and the objective is to qualify. If we can do that, we take whatever that means, playing in February or March.

"We’re playing at home and we always want to bring our best game, but we know it’s going to be a tough game. Out in Moscow, we made mistakes early in the game and we had to fight back and show our spirit, especially playing in an adverse moment.

"We don’t underestimate Spartak. We understand it was a difficult game (a 7-1 defeat) they had with Zenit [Saint Petersburg] after our game and then they drew their last game (1-1 vs. FC Rostov), but for us, we prepare for a tough game. We look to bring our best game to get the three points."

Wilfred Ndidi is continuing his return from a hamstring injury and Rodgers is hopeful that the Nigerian can help City eradicate some of their recent defensive issues when he's able to return to first team action. Leicester's No.25 has been absent since 25 September, but is close to fitness.

"Having your best players, of course, always makes it easier for you," the Foxes manager continued. "Where Wilf is concerned, in particular in set pieces, he offers us a great strength, having a midfield player that can join the defenders. It gives you greater height and ability to defend.

"Whether he’s going to be available or not for Thursday, we’ll see, but certainly he should be ready by the weekend (vs. Leeds United in the Premier League). He’s trained really well. We just have to be careful and mindful of the injury he’s coming back from.

"There’s no doubt, over the period of time I’ve worked here, defensively, we’ve been strong in the main. Our organisation, our compactness, our tightness, our pressure… what we’ve done this season is we’ve given away poor goals, we’ve chased games and we need to run harder in certain areas of the field.

"We need to cover the space better. Of course, if you have someone like Wilf in there who does that so well, that’s a benefit to the team. It’s going to be great to have him back available, but every player knows their responsibility in the team. If you’re not running, unfortunately you won’t be playing."

Patson Daka made headlines across the continent last time out in the Europa League when his four-goal exploits enabled Leicester to overturn a two-goal deficit and prevail as 4-3 victors in Moscow. His overall play in the clash - and that of the whole team - is what pleased Rodgers most, though.

"When you have a special individual performance like that, of course it makes the opponent that little bit more aware and attentive if you’re on the field," he added. "It’s always about the team.

"If you look at Patson’s goals, they come from some great moments of play; midfielders connecting the game well, Kels (Kelechi Iheanacho) making a run which meant the defenders dropped deeper which allows Patson on his side to make his run and stay onside.

"It’s that little bit of everything in the team that allows the player to go and get the opportunities, but then you have to have that real quality to finish them. That’s what Patson did, for all of his chances, he took them ever so well and he’s in the right areas. You can see he’s a natural goalscorer.

"He’s shown that in the short time he’s had with us. If he starts and plays the game, of course we’d love him to get another four goals, but if he contributes like he did without the ball and with the ball, then I’ll be happy."

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