Matchday With The Manager: Developing Talent & The Tielemans-Ndidi Partnership

When Chelsea arrive at King Power Stadium to face Leicester City on Tuesday, two youthful sides competing for places in the Premier League will meet as a fascinating 2020/21 campaign hurtles towards the halfway stage.

2021-01-19T07:00:00.000Z

by Sam Stevens

Published

19 Jan, 2021

Matchday With The Manager: Developing Talent & The Tielemans-Ndidi Partnership

When Chelsea arrive at King Power Stadium to face Leicester City on Tuesday, two youthful sides competing for places in the Premier League will meet as a fascinating 2020/21 campaign hurtles towards the halfway stage.

Sam Stevens

2021-01-19T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Developing Talent & The Tielemans-Ndidi Partnership

When Chelsea arrive at King Power Stadium to face Leicester City on Tuesday, two youthful sides competing for places in the Premier League will meet as a fascinating 2020/21 campaign hurtles towards the halfway stage.

Sam Stevens

2021-01-19T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Developing Talent & The Tielemans-Ndidi Partnership

When Chelsea arrive at King Power Stadium to face Leicester City on Tuesday, two youthful sides competing for places in the Premier League will meet as a fascinating 2020/21 campaign hurtles towards the halfway stage.

Sam Stevens

2021-01-19T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Developing Talent & The Tielemans-Ndidi Partnership

When Chelsea arrive at King Power Stadium to face Leicester City on Tuesday, two youthful sides competing for places in the Premier League will meet as a fascinating 2020/21 campaign hurtles towards the halfway stage.

Sam Stevens

2021-01-19T07:00:00.000Z

While the Foxes closed the gap to the Premier League's summit to two points over the past weekend, Frank Lampard's Blues, sitting in seventh, remain just five adrift of fourth-placed Liverpool.

The wealth of homegrown talent which populates the two squads has been central to each side's recent successes, with several Leicester and Chelsea players regularly being called up for England duty.

Speaking on Monday, City manager Brendan Rodgers, who worked in youth football early on in his career, was asked about the policy of promoting youngsters, which is deployed by himself and Lampard.

"We both, as British managers, understand the quality that British players always have," the Northern Irishman said, addressing the media inside the King Power Centre at LCFC Training Ground in Seagrave.

"We all respect the qualities when players come in from abroad and where they can really helps clubs, but both of us understand there’s also top, top young players that are available from these islands. They just need an opportunity.

"It’s something I’ve done over my career as a manager, to promote young players. They clearly need to have certain characteristics in order to get the opportunities to play.

"But you have to give them those opportunities to play. In both teams, you can see, clearly, the talents that are there and they perform very well at the highest level.

"One of the key words is patience. It’s very difficult in the modern game for managers in particular when there’s expectation to win games and perform well, but those players, they need patience.

"As long as they have a good attitude to want to improve and learn, then you’re always going to give that to players. It’s great to see and most clubs, if you look, they’ve got an array of British talent throughout all the clubs. If given the opportunity, they can perform very well."

One player to arrive into English football from further afield is Belgium international Youri Tielemans - Leicester's dynamic No.8 who has excelled since initially joining the Club on loan two years ago.

Now an integral member of Rodgers' third-placed Foxes squad, the 23-year-old is exhibiting his qualities on a regular basis and has not missed a Premier League fixture since 28 December, 2019.

That consistency of fitness and performance continues to be an indicator of Tielemans' professionalism, Rodgers believes, and is in some part down to his sheer love for football.

"You need a bit of luck with injuries and whatnot, but Youri Tielemans, for 23 years of age, his professionalism and his desire to be the very best player he can be is remarkable," he explained.

"His focus on his professionalism is incredible. I’ve said before about [how good] his tactical view of the game is for someone so young.

"That tells you everything about his love for football, how much he studies the game, and he’s just an absolute joy to work with.

"To make him a more complete footballer, I talked about his physicality and becoming more robust.

"As well as being the player who can make the last pass and link the game, you’ve got to be strong in your physical duels in the Premier League. You can see how hard he’s worked on that aspect of his game. Physically, now, he can compete as well as do all the football side.

"He’s a great testament to the work they do here and the work in particular that he puts into being a top-class professional.

"Football’s his passion, not just his work, which is a huge help. I know he’s already well down the road in terms of studying his coaching badges, so that tells you everything about his mentality."

Tielemans is one member of a two-man partnership at the heart of midfield which gives Leicester a substantial base in the middle of the pitch from which to play forwards and attack with menace.

The manner in which the Belgian combines with Wilfred Ndidi in central midfield is particularly useful to Rodgers, who believes the pair complement one another with their contrasting playing styles.

"They play different roles," the 47-year-old added. "This is the beauty of this league, there’s so much diversity in terms of styles you play against and systems too.

"You have to have flexibility, but those two really complement each other. Wilf had a great game the other night in a high-intensity game with lots of duels, where you’ve got to win your headers, got to be strong, got to be aggressive, got to cover ground. Youri does that too but then [Ndidi] can pass it to Youri and he can play the forward passes.

"There’s a great combination there between the two. If you can get that in one player, he’s probably worth £150M. They both have their own strengths and they complement each other very well."

With City well placed in the Premier League standings as the 2020/21 season approaches the halfway point, Rodgers says little will change as the Foxes have always set their own expectations anyway.

"We’re competing, which is important," he continued. "We’re consistently up there. In the main, throughout my career, I’ve always liked to be up in the top echelon of the league. It’s something that I enjoy, that aspect of it.

"When I came into Leicester, having been at Liverpool and Celtic, which are huge institutions, there’s maybe not the same expectation.

"What I’ve tried to do from day one is to deliver a message for us to feel that pressure and want to perform. We know the budgets and everything else are different to the so-called 'top six'.

"But I’ve always wanted us to feel that pressure, to keep pushing, to keep developing as a football club. That’s not something that will ever lessen for myself.

"When I came into here, I put myself under pressure by saying what I said to you guys when I first came in: ‘Could we get to European football?’

"That in itself, against the budgets we were competing with, was always going to be a tough challenge for us. For me, it’s always there, and I always try to manage that pressure and expectation no matter what club I'm at.

"For us here at Leicester, we’re enjoying the race, we’re enjoying the challenge, and it’s one of the things you want.

"You want to be able to test yourself, every single day of your life, to be the best you can be and that’s a mantra I’ve always felt comfortable with."

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