Matchday With The Manager: Counteracting Man City's Threats & The Vardy-Iheanacho Partnership

Addressing Manchester City's fearsome qualities and allowing Leicester City to express their own talents has been the priority for Brendan Rodgers ahead of Saturday's King Power Stadium showdown with Pep Guardiola's men.

2021-04-03T06:00:00.000Z

Addressing Manchester City's fearsome qualities and allowing Leicester City to express their own talents has been the priority for Brendan Rodgers ahead of Saturday's King Power Stadium showdown with Pep Guardiola's men.

2021-04-03T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Counteracting Man City's Threats & The Vardy-Iheanacho Partnership

Addressing Manchester City's fearsome qualities and allowing Leicester City to express their own talents has been the priority for Brendan Rodgers ahead of Saturday's King Power Stadium showdown with Pep Guardiola's men.

2021-04-03T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Counteracting Man City's Threats & The Vardy-Iheanacho Partnership

Addressing Manchester City's fearsome qualities and allowing Leicester City to express their own talents has been the priority for Brendan Rodgers ahead of Saturday's King Power Stadium showdown with Pep Guardiola's men.

2021-04-03T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Counteracting Man City's Threats & The Vardy-Iheanacho Partnership

Addressing Manchester City's fearsome qualities and allowing Leicester City to express their own talents has been the priority for Brendan Rodgers ahead of Saturday's King Power Stadium showdown with Pep Guardiola's men.

2021-04-03T06:00:00.000Z

The six-time champions of England once again sit atop of the Premier League standings, by a margin of 14 points, ahead of visiting the East Midlands to tackle a Foxes outfit who are third in the table and secured a 5-2 success at Etihad Stadium back in September.

Leicester are likely to enjoy less possession than usual against Guardiola's side on Saturday, the Northern Irishman believes, but as they have already displayed this season, they will be looking to create an alternative strategy to overcome their visitors on Filbert Way.

"In the games against Manchester City, there’s always a pattern to them which is very clear," Rodgers said on Thursday. "They really dominate the ball. They’re an outstanding team in their positioning game and the technical level of how they play. That really limits you in the time you have on the ball.

"On average, any team will have between 26 and 36 per cent possession against them. That shows you the level to which they can dominate the ball. What is then important is how you attack. Especially for a team like ourselves who likes to have the ball, we’ll probably have less of it than normal.

"But you have to then, when you do have the ball, exploit the spaces there and play with quality. We were able to do that in the first game. We, of course, didn’t have so much of the ball, but when we had it, we played, and we were really good.

"On top of that, you have to be able to defend really, really well. They’re an incredible team. They’ve played at a really consistent level. They’ve got the best manager in the world. They have all the ingredients to make them a really outstanding team, but we’re really excited by it.

"It’s always a great challenge and a real test to play against Manchester City. They’re a top-class team, but every team has an area where you can look to take advantage. It’s a different type of game to what we’d normally play because of the level of the opponent.

"Like we showed in the first game, we can still play to a high level and be really effective in the game."

Jamie Vardy netted a hat-trick before solitary efforts from James Maddison and Youri Tielemans in Manchester earlier this season, despite Leicester having to withstand heavy pressure early on. That past encounter with Man City can equip his players with confidence ahead of the weekend, Rodgers says.

The former Liverpool and Celtic manager also explained why knowing when to press deep, or advance further upfield, will be key to the Foxes' chances.

"In every game you win, you need a bit of good fortune," the 48-year-old added. "I think on that day, when you watch it, we showed many attributes you need to win a game against such a great team. Firstly, we went behind in the game.

"It was such a brilliant goal by [Riyad] Mahrez, which puts them one goal up, but importantly for us, we kept our calmness. We had a strategy going into the game. We’re a team that looks to deny space as high up the pitch as we possibly can.

"You’ve seen that in most of my teams, but there’s some games where if you do that, it can really hurt you. It’s about where, if not there, are you going to deny the space? That, then, may give you another opportunity in the counter attack. When you play against Man City, that’s the opportunity that you have.

"But I remember the goals where we pressed them and forced mistakes and got the ball back, but you know your possession is not going to be as much as you would normally have.

"When you do have it, you have to play with quality and technically at a high level to break through their pressure and then the space arrives. We were efficient that day, we were ruthless in our finishing, and when we got opportunities from the penalties, we scored them.

"All round, it was how you’d want to play in terms of getting a result against that level of team. It's all about balance. There's moments where you can press the game and there's moments where you can't. For me, it's a very difficult thing to do, because I like to play in that manner and with a level of dominance with the ball.

"But I also don't like to come off the pitch saying we've played really, really well and lost 5-0, or 5-2. It's sometimes about recognising the opponent is of a really, really high technique so, in order to go and press the game, as much as you'd want to normally, that can really open you up and expose you.

"That's something that, probably at times, I could have done better in my career, but certainly now, as a coach who's got a little more wisdom and a little bit more evolution in my own coaching, it's something I, of course, have to look at."

In previous games, Vardy has starred alongside Kelechi Iheanacho up front and, with seven goals in his last four games in all competitions, the Nigerian has thrived beside City's No.9 in attacking areas of the pitch.

Asked whether that front two will feature once more, Rodgers explained: "It just depends on the plan you’re looking to put into place. We always look strategically into every game and where we can gain advantages against the opponent. You can’t say they can’t play together.

"Whatever opponent you’re playing, if you are going to play them and they’re finding goals, you have to find a way to put them in the team. They’re both playing very, very well. Jamie maybe hasn’t scored for a number of games, but his movement… you can see the quality of his assists.

"They’ve been first-class. What he gives the team, how he stretches the game, it also gives Kels the spaces to play into. They both link up very, very well and since they’ve played together, they’ve been outstanding together.

"We’ll see what the game brings and, hopefully, they can both play well if they play at the weekend."

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