Matchday With The Manager: Rodgers On West Ham, Progression & Mentality

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Matchday With The Manager: Rodgers On West Ham, Progression & Mentality

Brendan Rodgers has pointed to the learning processes that Leicester City have experienced throughout the season as a key factor behind their domestic success so far in 2020/21.

2021-04-11T06:00:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

11 Apr, 2021

Matchday With The Manager: Rodgers On West Ham, Progression & Mentality

Brendan Rodgers has pointed to the learning processes that Leicester City have experienced throughout the season as a key factor behind their domestic success so far in 2020/21.

Sam Jones

2021-04-11T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Rodgers On West Ham, Progression & Mentality

Brendan Rodgers has pointed to the learning processes that Leicester City have experienced throughout the season as a key factor behind their domestic success so far in 2020/21.

Sam Jones

2021-04-11T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Rodgers On West Ham, Progression & Mentality

Brendan Rodgers has pointed to the learning processes that Leicester City have experienced throughout the season as a key factor behind their domestic success so far in 2020/21.

Sam Jones

2021-04-11T06:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Rodgers On West Ham, Progression & Mentality

Brendan Rodgers has pointed to the learning processes that Leicester City have experienced throughout the season as a key factor behind their domestic success so far in 2020/21.

Sam Jones

2021-04-11T06:00:00.000Z

The Foxes will arrive at London Stadium to face West Ham United on Sunday (2:05pm BST kick-off) with the second best away record in the top flight, having won 10 of the 15 games on their travels this term, tasting defeat just once.

Their opposition, meanwhile, hold the division's second best home record, bettered only by runaway leaders Manchester City, and are also challenging at the top end of the Premier League table with eight games remaining.

West Ham came out on top when the two sides met at King Power Stadium in October 2020, thanks to goals from Michail Antonio, Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen.

Referring back to the reverse fixture, Rodgers knows that City must perform much better to come away with a positive result from their trip to the capital and has backed his side to learn from the mistakes made during that encounter, owing to the continual improvements being made across the pitch.

"It’s a very important game and we’ll look forward to it," the 48-year-old commented in his pre-match press conference on Friday. "They beat us well earlier on in the season. We came off the back of a really great result away at Man City, we were exceptional in that performance, especially with the ball.

"And then we went into the West Ham game and got put in our place that weekend, when we weren’t so good and they were very good. You have to give credit to the other team, I thought West Ham were excellent on the day.

"They performed at a good level and we weren't on our game. They were much better than us, we didn't control the counter attacks well, we gave away poor goals, we didn't defend certain aspects of the game well enough and they exploited it because they've got very good players.

"We've developed since then and they've continued and we both arrive into this game with it maybe being unexpected that both teams are up there challenging for that top four place again, but I think both teams are where they are on merit.

"For us, we know we have to play a really high level game, but we also know it will be a tough game for them. We've had some fantastic results of late, we lost to a team in Man City that is on a different level to us, but other than that we've been in really good form and hopefully we can take that into this game.

"We're very a concentrated and a very focused group. We know their qualities, it should be a fantastic game and we’ll look forward to a tough game and certainly we'll be much better than we were that day."

The Northern Irishman also praised Hammers manager David Moyes for the way he has shaped the east London outfit into a force to be reckoned with during his second spell in charge, combining experienced heads such as Mark Noble with talents like Bowen, while also reigniting the career of Manchester United loanee Jesse Lingard in recent months.

Accessing the quality West Ham possess within their ranks, Rodgers continued: "David has done a great job, it's not a surprise to me [that West Ham are doing well]. He came in through last season so he's having to find out about the players again and some new players.

"He's had a short pre-season and had a chance to work with them and know exactly what it is he wants and then to bring players in. He's moulded them into a very tough team to beat, very organised.

"His organisational skills, his experience and quality as a manager and then always, alongside that, you need good players and they’ve got some outstanding players. They are very good in counter attack.

"Antonio is like a counter attack on his own, he's just unbelievable how he's been playing to that level and obviously Lingard is a top-class player. He’s been a high level player that we've seen over a number of years.

"He maybe just dropped off his level for whatever reason, but you can see since he's gone to West Ham, the quality and ability that he has, he’ll be a big threat. Lingard and Antonio have combined very well.

"It's unfortunate for them that Declan [Rice] is out because he's a top-class player, but you look throughout the team, from the goalkeeper [Łukasz] Fabiański, he's got experience, the defenders are strong, they defend well, [Aaron] Cresswell has got quality, [Vladimír] Coufal, he's been great since he came in.

"You've got the experience and quality of Mark Noble in there, who works very well. Fornals is a talent along with Bowen, who has done great since he's come up from the Championship. You can see throughout the team they are the team that play very well and they've been consistent."

Rodgers believes maintaining the correct mindset within the team has been important in order to have the resilience to bounce back from disappointments, such as the defeat to Manchester City last weekend, which was the Foxes' first loss in five matches.

"We're going to fight to finish as high as we can," he added. "We've got a semi-final of the FA Cup, can we arrive into the final when that comes? What's most important is the constant progression and I can see that this season.

"There's so much to fight for still and so many points and twists and turns, but we're looking forward to it.

"We've been able to regroup again and reset, do some remedial work after the game against Man City, in some areas that we can be better in and improve in, and then look to take that freshness and mentality into this game at the weekend.

"It's a game we want to go in and win, that's been our attitude in most games. We'll give our best and it's something I'm comfortable with, in terms of how we'll respond. We've always responded if we've lost a game.

"Defeat is something that you have to consider will happen, but you know you've given everything you can to win. There's lots to play for still, many games, and none more important than the next one.

"To be stronger and to improve a mindset you also have to have failures as well and we had that at times last year. I just think it's the maturity of the squad. We are a young team, you see inexperienced players and, at times, that shows, but what we have is a very honest group.

"What we've seen this year is that the calmness in the team has been much better. We want to attack, we still want to be aggressive, but you have to play with a calmness and that's definitely been the change within the mentality this season."

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