Matchday With The Manager: Take The Energy To Everton

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Matchday With The Manager: Take The Energy To Everton

Brendan Rodgers identified progression in how Leicester City’s performance level has risen this term, ahead of their latest Premier League away trip.

2022-11-05T06:59:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

05 Nov, 2022

Matchday With The Manager: Take The Energy To Everton

Brendan Rodgers identified progression in how Leicester City’s performance level has risen this term, ahead of their latest Premier League away trip.

Sam Jones

2022-11-05T06:59:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Take The Energy To Everton

Brendan Rodgers identified progression in how Leicester City’s performance level has risen this term, ahead of their latest Premier League away trip.

Sam Jones

2022-11-05T06:59:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Take The Energy To Everton

Brendan Rodgers identified progression in how Leicester City’s performance level has risen this term, ahead of their latest Premier League away trip.

Sam Jones

2022-11-05T06:59:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Take The Energy To Everton

Brendan Rodgers identified progression in how Leicester City’s performance level has risen this term, ahead of their latest Premier League away trip.

Sam Jones

2022-11-05T06:59:00.000Z

A narrow defeat to champions Manchester City at King Power Stadium preceded Saturday evening’s trip to Goodison Park, as the Foxes face Everton in a 5:30pm kick-off, aiming to start the month on a positive note.

Speaking to the media in his pre-match press conference from inside the King Power Centre at LCFC Training Ground on Thursday, Rodgers discussed the upturn in form, as well as what he is expecting from the Toffees…

Defensive solidity

The Foxes went seven games without a clean sheet at the start of 2022/23, before a run of four shutouts in five games prior to being beaten by Manchester City on Filbert Way. City’s manager pointed to work on the training ground when examining the improvement.

The Northern Irishman commented: “I just think it’s been a part of the process, even in the games that we were losing, we were actually playing well in a lot of those games but somehow we managed to throw games and points away.

“It’s really just been a case of analysing, working even harder and always look to be better on the training pitch in certain aspects of our game, clarifying roles within the organisation and running and working harder. It’s a mixture of everything whenever you win or lose a game to analyse.

“The defensive work within the overall structure of the team is based around our work with the coaches and us all together on the field, just analysing the details around it. A number of our goals were in transition and being more open.

“We’ve been able to close the pitch much better while retaining our idea to attack the games. The players have felt much more comfortable with that and it’s been working really well, so we hope it continues.”

Embracing the Toffees challenge

Rodgers revealed plans to return to a more familiar Leicester City style from how the Foxes set up against the Citizens last week, when they tackle Everton, who have made strides of their own following a difficult 2021/22 campaign.

The 49-year-old explained: “In our next three games, we will go back to how we normally work and play, which is really looking to be on the ball, to attack the game, to be bold and then always look to defend well when we haven’t got the ball.

“With Everton, they’ve made a number of new signings. Frank [Lampard] has been able to freshen up the team, brought in some good players and some experienced players from the Premier League. They look a good team and a threat. We’ll have to be at our best to get a result.

“It’s a tough place to go, but we’ve been in good positions there, 1-0 up and 2-0 up in a cup game and managed to draw, so it’s always been a very difficult place, Goodison Park, and I’m pretty sure it will be exactly the same come Saturday.

“Our idea is to go in and you know you’ve got to defend well and be strong and then you’ve got to play your football and that’s important for us. And if we do that, then we’ll have a chance of getting a result.”

The upcoming break

Saturday’s encounter with the Merseyside club is Leicester’s penultimate Premier League match before the FIFA World Cup, with West Ham United up next on Saturday 12 November and a Carabao Cup Third Round tie at home to Newport County in between.

The former Celtic manager added: “Of course, we have to sit and look at the table for six weeks. It could play on your mind. But our idea is to ensure that we’re not there and continually growing with the form that we’ve picked up over the last period. So, that will be the plan.

“Ideally I think this next 10 days or so, we’ve got three games so we want to finish the best that we can before the World Cup and throughout that period, there’ll be a mixture of having a slight break for the players.

“But then we’ll be on a training camp and we’ll have games organised to play so come Newcastle United we’ll be firing and ready to go for that first game. So, a lot of work will take place over that period, but before that we really want to finish the best that we can ahead of the break.”

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