Matchday With The Manager – The Value Of Hard Work

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Matchday With The Manager – The Value Of Hard Work

There is no magic formula for Leicester City to return to winning ways, it takes hard work and dedication, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

2022-09-01T07:15:00.000Z

by Sam Stevens

Published

01 Sep, 2022

Matchday With The Manager – The Value Of Hard Work

There is no magic formula for Leicester City to return to winning ways, it takes hard work and dedication, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

Sam Stevens

2022-09-01T07:15:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – The Value Of Hard Work

There is no magic formula for Leicester City to return to winning ways, it takes hard work and dedication, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

Sam Stevens

2022-09-01T07:15:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – The Value Of Hard Work

There is no magic formula for Leicester City to return to winning ways, it takes hard work and dedication, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

Sam Stevens

2022-09-01T07:15:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager – The Value Of Hard Work

There is no magic formula for Leicester City to return to winning ways, it takes hard work and dedication, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

Sam Stevens

2022-09-01T07:15:00.000Z

The Foxes are searching for their first win of the new Premier League season and, in their fifth outing of 2022/23, they entertain Manchester United at King Power Stadium on Thursday. Ahead of that clash, City's manager spoke to the media this week to take stock and preview the encounter...

Ten Hag's Man Utd – Assessing the opponents

It's been a mixed start for Manchester United, who suffered crushing losses to Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford, before successive wins over rivals Liverpool and Southampton. The mood has lifted for Red Devils fans, as new manager Erik ten Hag starts to improve their early-season fortunes.

"Erik’s adapting to the country and the league," Rodgers said. "He’ll understand very quickly that the tempo and the intensity will be different to where he’s come from before and obviously the magnitude of the job. It’s just time.

"He needs the time to be able to assess the squad under pressure, playing in the games. He’ll need time to bring in the players that he wants and then time to put in place the philosophy that he wants. Of course, in the modern game, that can be difficult. Given time, I’m sure he’ll do very well."

Rodgers believes also that Man Utd fans will see a development of their playing style. The 20-time English champions are playing a particular style of football at present to recover from two defeats early on in the season, but the Foxes manager expects them to take on Ten Hag's playing identity soon enough.

"I’ve seen a change in their last two games," the Northern Irishman added. "It’s very clear how Erik will want to play in the future. His background in Holland and especially at Ajax will see him want to find a certain philosophy.

"He’s probably tried to introduce that into the players over the course of the summer and in the early games and that’s proven to be difficult, especially without the profile of players that he will want.

"That side, they’ve shown in the Liverpool and Southampton games that they have top-quality players. We have to be mindful of that, especially the speed of the front three and how they can hurt you, and then they’ve obviously got Bruno Fernandes in below, playing in probably his favourite position in the no.10 role. He can score and create a goal. They’ve still got some top-quality players while Erik will be looking to impose his philosophy in time."

Finding consistency – The value of hard work

It's not been the start which Leicester City hoped for this term, but Rodgers knows the route back to their best football – hard work and consistency in training, which will eventually manifest itself once again on the field of play.

He explained: "What’s important at this stage is that there’s clarity for the players in terms of the game ideal, the plan, and then just reinforcing the [fact that] there’s no magic formula. It’s based around hard work.

"The hard work will give you the confidence and then, from that, you have a better chance to succeed. It’s just working hard every single day, keeping things as simple as possible, and then obviously you [hope for] that little bit of luck in the games as well.

"This league is all about consistency. If you can find consistency in the performance level, you can end up getting consistent results. We should have more points than we have. That’s fair enough to say.

"We’ve been in good positions in games and, of course, at the weekend I felt we should have had something from [Chelsea away]. You’ve got to be able to turn those performances into results. It’s not been ideal, the start. Of course, it is very early, however we would have hoped to have made a better start."

Constant analysis – Climbing the table

There has been a picture to City's four Premier League performances so far. They have played well in stages of each individual match, but struggled to hold out and secure results. That must change, says Rodgers, who discussed the analytical work being undertaken.

"We’re always analysing and looking over the course of the games to see where the dips can happen," he said. "It was disappointing for us at the weekend. It came right after half-time and then we’re chasing the game. We played well for that final 30 minutes.

"You’re always analysing the level of performance. It’s really trying to find that consistency across the game. We’ve played well for parts of all the games we’ve played, but we just have to find that level where we can be more consistent and hopefully get the results that I think we deserve."

That dedication to the work will, in time, breed confidence, says the manager: "We don’t want the players over-thinking it. It’s based around confidence. Of course, if your confidence is a little lower than it normally is, that is the challenge.

"These players have shown that they’re talented players, but we also have to show another side. There’s many talented players around but it’s all about the character and the mentality. That’s what will take us up the table and we look to take that into our next game."

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