Matchday With The Manager: Embracing The Challenges Injuries Present

Rather than allowing Leicester City's recent injuries to dampen spirits, manager Brendan Rodgers says it now presents the Foxes with an exciting challenge to adapt and show new qualities on the pitch.

2021-03-03T06:57:00.000Z

Rather than allowing Leicester City's recent injuries to dampen spirits, manager Brendan Rodgers says it now presents the Foxes with an exciting challenge to adapt and show new qualities on the pitch.

2021-03-03T06:57:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Embracing The Challenges Injuries Present

Rather than allowing Leicester City's recent injuries to dampen spirits, manager Brendan Rodgers says it now presents the Foxes with an exciting challenge to adapt and show new qualities on the pitch.

2021-03-03T06:57:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Embracing The Challenges Injuries Present

Rather than allowing Leicester City's recent injuries to dampen spirits, manager Brendan Rodgers says it now presents the Foxes with an exciting challenge to adapt and show new qualities on the pitch.

2021-03-03T06:57:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Embracing The Challenges Injuries Present

Rather than allowing Leicester City's recent injuries to dampen spirits, manager Brendan Rodgers says it now presents the Foxes with an exciting challenge to adapt and show new qualities on the pitch.

2021-03-03T06:57:00.000Z

Eight first team players are currently either out or doubtful for Wednesday's visit to Turf Moor to tackle Burnley in the Premier League with Harvey Barnes set for knee surgery, while defender Jonny Evans' calf issue is also being monitored by the Club's medical team.

However, Rodgers is insistent that, although a source of initial frustration, this is now an opportunity for the squad to show its versatility and also for younger players to exhibit their talents if presented with an opportunity to feature.

The Northern Irishman pointed to the impact James Justin had when the former Luton Town stepped in to replace Ricardo Pereira through 2020, while also highlighting the host of youngsters pushing for first team appearances.

"We’ve had some of our younger players on the bench already for this last number of games," the 48-year-old told the media on Monday. "How it impacts is clear when you’re missing talents from your team.

"Of course it has an impact. I don’t tend to worry so much about it. It’s an opportunity for other players to come in and play. It’s a challenge I’ve always enjoyed.

"When there are players out and unavailable, can we find a way to play how we want to play and win the game? We’ve had a group of the Under-23s players training with us anyway. Some of them have played and featured in the Europa League.

"A lot of them have been on the bench. My first look will always be within our young talents and we’ve had a number of those over these last weeks make their debut.

"That’s great, it gives them experience and I’m pretty sure some of them may be needed over this next number of weeks as well. That’s the beauty of it.

"That’s why I say there’s an opportunity there for someone. James Justin, whenever Ricardo Pereira was in, he was a covering player for us.

"But when Ricardo went out, he came into the team and, for the last season, he was absolutely amazing. He took his opportunity and there may well be an opportunity for another player. It’s just about taking that. That’s what we’ll look forward to."

Rodgers stressed that playing in a manner which decreases the chances of injury isn't an option as Premier League fixtures always require a high degree of commitment - both mentally and physically.

Accepting that risk and playing in a style which has enabled the Foxes to climb to third in the Premier League is the bare minimum, he says.

"You can’t do that, it’s impossible," he added. "Whenever you go into a game, you have to be fully committed.

"In every game in the Premier League, there’s different styles, different systems which you come up against, but whatever that is, you have to go into it with belief, confidence and commitment to gain a result.

"A lot of these factors are out of our control, the injuries we’ve had, it’s just been really, really unfortunate, but you can’t be any less committed.

"It’s been a taxing season for us because of Europe and all the games and the uniqueness of the season itself. Normally in a Premier League season, there’s more gaps for you to recover players, but we haven’t had a chance to do that."

Belgium international Youri Tielemans, on the other hand, has featured 35 times for the Foxes across three competitions this season and Rodgers admits he is a player who he would like to rest, but can't, due to the nature of City's 2020/21 schedule.

"The likes of Youri is our only offensive midfield player that’s available and, as much as I’ve wanted to, it’s been near enough impossible to rest him," he explained. "We just don’t have that depth in our squad. Listen, we’ll get on with it and look to get back to playing well and winning games.

"He’s a fabulous player. My only feeling with Youri is that I’d have loved to have taken him out. If you see some of the teams around us, they can take a player out, recover them for a game or a couple of games, and then put them back in.

"That freshness is absolutely vital when you’re playing so often. Unfortunately, with Youri, we’ve been unable to do that, but he’s a player of big quality. He’s got a great mentality and he goes into every game and gives his absolute all."

While members of the Blue Army may understandably be concerned by the number of players to have collected injuries of late, Rodgers' message is simple - it is his job to remain calm and to design a response which will enable Leicester to continue collecting points.

"You have to stay neutral within it," the former Liverpool and Celtic manager said. "Especially with the experience I’ve gained in the game, you never get too high when you’re winning, or too low when you’ve lost a game.

"It’s so important to stay neutral. A lot of these injuries we can’t do anything about. We can only hope the players can get back as quickly as they possibly can. I love the challenge and the test of now having to create a team and an energy to gain results. This season will go very quickly now.

"Everyone talks about the Burnley game, but we just have to take each day as it comes. Today (Monday) was a day to come in, recover, get our energy back again, with the same idea tomorrow, and then come Wednesday, we’ll be ready to commit to gaining three points.

"It’ll be no different to a lot of the season, especially the beginning of the season, where we looked at personnel and saw what system suits.

"Our principles will always be the same, in terms of how we want to play, and then we look at a system which will allow us to expose the talents of those that are available.

"That’s the great challenge of coaches and managers, to be able to do that. That’s what we’ll look to do."

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