Matchday With The Manager: Every Game's A Big Game For Rodgers & Leicester

Always viewing your next match as your most important one – irrespective of competition, media attention or opponent – is the marker of a top team, says Brendan Rodgers, whose Leicester City side host Crystal Palace on Monday.

2021-04-26T06:00:00.000Z

Always viewing your next match as your most important one – irrespective of competition, media attention or opponent – is the marker of a top team, says Brendan Rodgers, whose Leicester City side host Crystal Palace on Monday.

2021-04-26T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Every Game's A Big Game For Rodgers & Leicester

Always viewing your next match as your most important one – irrespective of competition, media attention or opponent – is the marker of a top team, says Brendan Rodgers, whose Leicester City side host Crystal Palace on Monday.

2021-04-26T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Every Game's A Big Game For Rodgers & Leicester

Always viewing your next match as your most important one – irrespective of competition, media attention or opponent – is the marker of a top team, says Brendan Rodgers, whose Leicester City side host Crystal Palace on Monday.

2021-04-26T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Every Game's A Big Game For Rodgers & Leicester

Always viewing your next match as your most important one – irrespective of competition, media attention or opponent – is the marker of a top team, says Brendan Rodgers, whose Leicester City side host Crystal Palace on Monday.

2021-04-26T06:00:00.000Z

The Foxes were dominant in a 3-0 triumph over West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League on Thursday and they're back at King Power Stadium this week for the visit of Roy Hodgson's Eagles with six top-flight matches of the 2020/21 remaining.

Sitting third in the standings and with a final appearance to look forward to in the Emirates FA Cup, Rodgers is keen to keep all of Leicester's focus on the upcoming league fixtures – with a string of testing games to come before their day at Wembley.

Reflecting on Thursday's victory over West Brom, secured courtesy of goals from Jamie Vardy, Jonny Evans and Kelechi Iheanacho during a 13-minute spell in the first half, the Northern Irishman pointed to the pace of City's play, but highlighted some areas for improvement too.

"I thought some of the speed of our game was very good once we broke through the pressure," he explained. "We need to be better with our final pass at times. Too many times, we broke away and the pass wasn't precise enough, when a better pass would have got us in.

"You always have to defend well, so that was another clean sheet for us, which is important. Our pressure was good. We kept running and you need to be able to continue with that level of commitment and then, from there, you need to be as creative as what we've been."

Between now and the end of the season, no match is more important than another for Rodgers, who pointed to the targets the Foxes are still pursuing.

"Every game is a big game if you want to be a top team," the 48-year-old added. "Of course, it gets cranked up when there’s a little bit more pressure, more focus, more media. That happens in a semi-final or a final, but you can’t see it as a bigger game.

"If you want to be challenging and fighting and you just turn it for big games, you’re not going to succeed. That's what I was really pleased with on Thursday. The concentration. It just means, when you go into the final, we’re not going to have to produce this massive gap to be at the level.

"You want to be at the level every time you play so every game has to be important. That’s the continual development of this team. In the remaining games, it’s not about getting ready for the final. There are many more, very important games before that. None more so than the next one."

Palace will arrive in Leicester 16 days after their last top flight outing, a 4-1 home reverse against Chelsea, while the Foxes have played two Premier League fixtures and a last-four tie in the FA Cup in that time. Irrespective of circumstances or schedules, though, Rodgers is expecting a tough encounter.

"It’s another, equally difficult game," the former Liverpool and Celtic manager continued. "We have to recover over these next few days and if we can then put in a similar performance and be better in certain aspects, we’ll be delighted.

"Roy’s teams are always difficult to beat, very compact, very tight. They’ve got players that can hurt you, so we have to be really concentrated, but the players will look forward to it and give everything in the game.

"Every coach or manager or player, if you’re at the top, bottom or middle of the Premier League, you’re fighting for your life, you’re fighting for supporters.

"Look at West Brom’s results, this is why his league is the way it is, because there’s no easy games. It’s going to be a really tough game. They’ve got top players, internationals, who are very, very dangerous and we have to be at the top of our game.

"It doesn’t matter where they are in the league, it’ll be a tough game.They're super organised. Roy's teams are always really difficult to play against. They sit in that mid-to-low block, deny space and look to hit you on the counter-attack.

"They've got players with speed and quality, so they can do that, and you have to be organised when you haven't got the ball. You've got to defend well and deny them space and counter press the game. Then, when you have the ball, show patience and look to penetrate the lines, so it's always a tough game."

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