Matchday With The Manager: Analysing Wolves & Adjusting Tactical Strategies

The ongoing evolution of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City's increasing attacking potency were both key discussion points as Brendan Rodgers met, virtually, with the national media on Friday.

2021-02-07T07:00:00.000Z

The ongoing evolution of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City's increasing attacking potency were both key discussion points as Brendan Rodgers met, virtually, with the national media on Friday.

2021-02-07T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Analysing Wolves & Adjusting Tactical Strategies

The ongoing evolution of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City's increasing attacking potency were both key discussion points as Brendan Rodgers met, virtually, with the national media on Friday.

2021-02-07T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Analysing Wolves & Adjusting Tactical Strategies

The ongoing evolution of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City's increasing attacking potency were both key discussion points as Brendan Rodgers met, virtually, with the national media on Friday.

2021-02-07T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Analysing Wolves & Adjusting Tactical Strategies

The ongoing evolution of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City's increasing attacking potency were both key discussion points as Brendan Rodgers met, virtually, with the national media on Friday.

2021-02-07T07:00:00.000Z

Rodgers was looking ahead to Sunday's visit to Molineux Stadium to tackle Nuno Espírito Santo's side in the Premier League, after a campaign of varied results for the West Midlands outfit so far in 2020/21.

Wolves lost Diogo Jota and Matt Doherty to Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in the summer and, while new signings were made, Raúl Jiménez has been out with a fractured skull since November.

Espírito Santo's men have, as such, stumbled across a difficult run of form, but did end a nine-game winless streak in the top-flight with a morale-boosting 2-1 success over Arsenal last time out.

For Rodgers, there is no question of the quality in Wolves' squad and the former Liverpool and Celtic manager believes it is a matter of time before they climb the Premier League standings.

"Since Nuno’s gone in there, he’s done an absolutely brilliant job," the 48-year-old said at LCFC Training Ground. "He got them promoted, they had a very good squad and they played in a very specific way.

"Then, in their first couple of seasons in the Premier League, they’ve been up there challenging in the top six.

"Now, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist, if you actually look at it, you see that they’ve lost Diogo Jota and Raúl Jiménez and Matt Doherty, who are key players for them.

"Obviously, Jiménez is an injury and the other two boys have left the club. It is very, very difficult to play to the level you have consistently when you lose that quality of player.

"That takes a bit of time to adapt to that. Matt Doherty was a regular, he scored a lot of goals, so he’s not there. You have to bring in new players to replace outstanding ones.

"In particular, Jota and Jiménez, they’re such goal threats for the team. It takes a bit of time and Nuno’s tried to evolve the team.

"They’ve played with a clear, set system for upwards of three years and, now this season, they’re looking to evolve that a little bit and are playing out of different systems.

"It doesn’t take away the quality of him as a manager and his coaching staff. It takes that little bit of time for the team to grow again in a different way."

While Wolves' indifferent form may not have been a surprise to Rodgers, in light of their mitigating circumstances in 2020/21, the Foxes manager can sympathise with Espírito Santo after enduring a similarly challenging period as Liverpool manager.

"It hasn’t surprised me, at times, whenever they haven’t quite picked up the results," he continued. "I remember my time at Liverpool when I didn’t have Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge.

"They probably scored three quarters of the goals in the team and people wondered why were weren’t a goal threat when they weren’t there. It’s something that can happen and it just takes that little bit of time for it all to knit back together and grow again. Wolves will be the same.

"They’re still a very good side, they still don’t concede too many opportunities and chances, and they’re a good team."

Leicester, on the other hand, have a wealth of attacking threats in their side. While Jamie Vardy, through injury, has been absent for some time, since the 34-year-old's last goal, the Foxes have netted on 21 occasions.

Much of that is down to James Maddison and Harvey Barnes, two promising English youngsters who have increased both their goalscoring and assists tallies in recent weeks.

"That’s the patience and time that’s required for players to develop," Rodgers explained. "Harvey’s on 11 goals and the number of assists is getting there, which is fantastic for a wide player.

"James, when I arrived here, people were looking at him as this no.10 and asking: ‘Was he a luxury player?’

"But you only have to look at him now and you see his productivity in games, his skill and his talent. His tactical idea of the game is so, so good. His work rate in games, his tenacity, and like we saw the other night, his quality is of the very, very highest level. He’s working the last line a lot more.

"He’s understanding that we want more numbers from him, but he also wants it for himself. He wants to be producing consistently and that’s what he’s doing.

"To see the two talents develop, that’s in essence what coaching and managing is about, seeing an improvement and development."

Throughout the 2020/21 campaign so far, City have deployed several tactical strategies in order to win 13 Premier League matches, four in the UEFA Europa League, and two Emirates FA Cup ties.

While Rodgers insists the basic principles will remain the same, the Foxes manager is comfortable with adjusting tactics for each fixture, if required.

"My vision and philosophy is very much the same as when I started, in terms of how I want my teams to play," he continued.

"Hopefully, any team I go into, there’s a clear identity in terms of how the team will play. In the modern game, rather than be fixed in one system of play, it helps and supports the players if the team is comfortable playing out of different systems.

"For example, my own team are comfortable with the ball. We’re equally as comfortable if we want to drop a little bit deeper and play on the counter attack.

"The best teams have that balance. They can play in many ways. If I look at our second goal the other night, we were breaking out in a counter-attacking moment from the edge of the box.

"Fulham recover really well, so the counter-attack is finished. It’s then about how you play that different side of the game. We then keep the ball, draw them back out again, and then look to speed up the attack and thankfully we ended up getting the second goal.

"The game is evolving all the time and, as a coach and a manager, you have to do that, so you cannot be fixed purely in one system and that’s the greatness of the Premier League.

"There’s so many different styles, different systems, and as a coach, it’s fascinating to be involved in."

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