Matchday With The Manager – The Foxes Faithful's Crucial Role

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Matchday With The Manager – The Foxes Faithful's Crucial Role

Brendan Rodgers has called on Leicester City to give the Blue Army something to cheer in Wednesday's Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur.

2022-01-19T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – The Foxes Faithful's Crucial Role

Brendan Rodgers has called on Leicester City to give the Blue Army something to cheer in Wednesday's Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur.

2022-01-19T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – The Foxes Faithful's Crucial Role

Brendan Rodgers has called on Leicester City to give the Blue Army something to cheer in Wednesday's Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur.

2022-01-19T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – The Foxes Faithful's Crucial Role

Brendan Rodgers has called on Leicester City to give the Blue Army something to cheer in Wednesday's Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur.

2022-01-19T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – The Foxes Faithful's Crucial Role

Brendan Rodgers has called on Leicester City to give the Blue Army something to cheer in Wednesday's Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur.

2022-01-19T07:00:00.000Z

The Foxes return to King Power Stadium for their first Premier League fixture of 2022, due to COVID-19-related postponements, on the back of a five-game winning run on home soil in all competitions. Their last league outing on Filbert Way, meanwhile, was a 1-0 victory over Liverpool.

Although now three weeks ago, in late December, the atmosphere created on that night has stuck in Rodgers' memory. The Northern Irishman hopes Leicester can once again light the spark on another famous night at King Power Stadium as City look to climb the Premier League standings in 2022.

"[The fans] are absolutely critical for us and you could see that night what a great occasion it was with the atmosphere, but it starts on the field," he explained. "You have to get the supporters up for the game with your mentality, your intensity, your courage, your bravery and your quality.

"That’s our intention. If it’s both synchronised together, if the supporters can see them playing with that quality and that intensity, and then that obviously gets them going in the stands. We saw when we had that that it’s a great place to come.

"It’s a really difficult game for us against a good team with a top manager, but we’ll look forward to the challenge as always."

Youngsters Lewis Brunt, Wayna Marcal-Madivadua and Will Alves made debuts for the Club in the 4-1 success over Watford in the third round of the Emirates FA Cup last time out for the Foxes. Rodgers was delighted to see a long-standing Leicester City tradition of youth development continue.

"I felt right at the beginning of the whole process that it was going to be an opportunity for young players," he added. "I look to give those players the chance. That’s how it’s proven to be. In our last FA Cup game, we had a number of players making their debuts. Youth players are very important for us here.

"At Leicester City, the Club has a tradition of bringing players through. I think we had 10 in our FA Cup squad. It’s a great opportunity for them to play and hopefully that’ll continue to be the case.

"[The injury situation] has been unique, that’s for sure. I’ve not had this number of injuries before, but it’s a unique time in all of our lives, with COVID and all the different variants. If you look throughout the clubs, in terms of injuries, there are more hamstring injuries for most teams than what there’s ever been.

"That tells you everything about the real challenge for clubs and for players. It’s finding ways to get through it. It’s always a challenge of course and it’s been an extra challenge with this but you’ve always got to be the optimist and see where there will be opportunities and that’s what we’ve tried to do."

Spurs, though, are likely to pose a serious test of City's credentials on Wednesday with the north London outfit harbouring ambitions of their own to challenge for European positions in the table. Since the Italian's appointment in November, Rodgers has noticed an increase in performance level.

"Antonio’s come in and given them a stable base," the 48-year-old continued. "Obviously, with Nuno [Espirito Santo] going in at the beginning of the season, he was playing a similar style. Antonio’s had some good results and the players, they know the system, and they know where they’re playing.

"It’s about putting the players into that. They have quality players whatever system they play. Antonio’s renowned for playing 3-4-3 or 3-5-2, that’s what he’s done throughout his career, and they’re a very good team with very good players."

James Justin could feature for the first time in just under a year after suffering an ACL injury last February. Rodgers is excited by the prospect of having the versatile full-back in contention, but stressed the importance of caution when it comes to welcoming a player back after such a lengthy lay-off.

"It’s obviously brilliant for him to be back," the former Liverpool and Celtic manager said. "He’s spent many months in the gym and worked so hard to come back. It’s great to see him out there training and working. We have to be careful with him as well.

"In these last numbers of weeks, he’s looked very fit, very strong, and when you have that level of player coming back, especially at this time, it’s like having a new signing. We’ve just got to keep an eye on JJ and bring him back into the team with the right number of minutes at the right time.

"He’s available, which is important, and he’s sustained a level of fitness. He’s got confidence in that so it’s great to have him back."

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