Matchday With The Manager: Expectations & Optimism

Players returning from injury, a good string of results in recent weeks and Leicester City’s record against Manchester United all give manager Brendan Rodgers added buoyancy ahead of the remaining two months of 2021/22.

2022-04-02T06:00:00.000Z

by Richard Mellor

Published

02 Apr, 2022

Matchday With The Manager: Expectations & Optimism

Players returning from injury, a good string of results in recent weeks and Leicester City’s record against Manchester United all give manager Brendan Rodgers added buoyancy ahead of the remaining two months of 2021/22.

Richard Mellor

2022-04-02T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Expectations & Optimism

Players returning from injury, a good string of results in recent weeks and Leicester City’s record against Manchester United all give manager Brendan Rodgers added buoyancy ahead of the remaining two months of 2021/22.

Richard Mellor

2022-04-02T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Expectations & Optimism

Players returning from injury, a good string of results in recent weeks and Leicester City’s record against Manchester United all give manager Brendan Rodgers added buoyancy ahead of the remaining two months of 2021/22.

Richard Mellor

2022-04-02T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Expectations & Optimism

Players returning from injury, a good string of results in recent weeks and Leicester City’s record against Manchester United all give manager Brendan Rodgers added buoyancy ahead of the remaining two months of 2021/22.

Richard Mellor

2022-04-02T06:00:00.000Z

Although Thursday’s press conference at LCFC Training Ground saw the manager rule out midfielder Wilfred Ndidi for the remainder of the season, returning to club action on Saturday against his former side could be experienced centre-back Jonny Evans.

That, coupled with a run of six victories from nine games across all formats sees the Club’s stars exude positivity. Although defeats by Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers have come in that period, the loss to Rennes in the second leg was still a favourable result on aggregate.

Caution, though, must be taken this weekend. While Manchester United have won once in their previous five outings, the ability within their ranks is unquestionable, and Old Trafford is a venue of totemic significance.

“What I know is they have absolutely top-class players,” the Northern Irishman replied when asked of Saturday’s opponents. “They’ve got players that can change the course of a game.

“The last couple of seasons, our record’s been good against Manchester United, but that counts for nothing. You really have to be really focused in the game, you have to play to the highest level, physically and tactically, and you then hope that your quality can come through.

“They’ve got brilliant players, and they’re playing at home so they’ll want to win, but for us, we can really go and enjoy it. We know we have to play a physical game, be really aggressive with and without the ball, and we’ve shown in our last four occasions that we can do that well.”

Back at King Power Stadium last October, though, the Foxes were the victors in dramatic fashion. Goals from Youri Tielemans, Çağlar Söyüncü, Jamie Vardy and Patson Daka saw them come from behind to win 4-2 on Filbert Way.

It was an enthralling spectacle for those in attendance, and if City mirror their performance and ultimate result in Manchester come mid-evening on Saturday, Rodgers admitted he’d be thrilled.

“I can only talk about us, I thought we were excellent in the game,” he said of the 4-2 success. “We did very well, we played some great football, they scored a couple of very good goals, the first one in particular, and we showed the mentality and the resilience to come back.

“At 2-2, we still wanted to win the game, and we went on and scored another two goals. So, it was a great game of football, and if it’s a game like that and we win, then I’ll be really happy.”

A 2-1 Premier League win over Brentford ahead of the final international break of the campaign meant Leicester occupied 10th position in the table with two games in hand on some of the mathematically reachable teams around them. Even the nature of the goals contributed to the mood at King Power Stadium - Timothy Castagne and James Maddison's belters were a joy to watch.

In addition, the re-introduction of players including Wesley Fofana, Ricardo Pereira and James Justin over the last few matchdays have been big for Rodgers’ side, and to see Evans play just over an hour for Northern Ireland last week was also an encouraging sign.

He said: “Approaching the weekend (2-1 win vs. Brentford), we’re starting to get players back and our form had picked up. We’d won five of our last seven games, three of the last four in the Premier League, and it just coincided with some of the better players coming back, or influential players.

“This week, we had a number of players away on international duty, but we were still able to get some work into some of the guys that were here. Some guys needed some recovery and some work with the rehabilitation team.

“There’s been a chance to continue some detailed work with the players that were here, and introduce some young players into our training as well. Then, our first session, with all due respect, with them all coming back, they’ve just all arrived back today (Thursday), so we’ll do a session tomorrow and get ready for the game.”

Rodgers is confident that with a clean bill of health, his side is well equipped to challenge higher up the Premier League standings. As the weeks progress, he is hoping his side’s injury list will shrink, and with that an influx of key players may make their way back into the team.

“Naturally, it has been [challenging] because we’ve been used to being up there fighting towards the top of the table,” the manager added. “I believe still that we’ve got a really good squad that can compete at that end when they are available.

“So, hopefully we can get those players back, but in the meantime, you’ve just got to continue working and developing, see where you can improve and that’s important.

“I always respect that the game’s always about today, so you have to get results for today, but we’re always looking to tomorrow to improve the team and then look to an exciting period now in these last two months.

“We’ll finish as high as we can in the league, and go as far as we can in the cup competition we’re in. So, there’s still lots of optimism around, and of course our confidence has improved with our results.”

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