Matchday With The Manager: Unique Leeds & Overcoming Obstacles

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Matchday With The Manager: Unique Leeds & Overcoming Obstacles

Brendan Rodgers says he has enjoyed building Leicester City's tactical plan to face Leeds United and studying Marcelo Bielsa's side in detail ahead of Sunday's encounter at King Power Stadium.

2021-01-31T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Unique Leeds & Overcoming Obstacles

Brendan Rodgers says he has enjoyed building Leicester City's tactical plan to face Leeds United and studying Marcelo Bielsa's side in detail ahead of Sunday's encounter at King Power Stadium.

2021-01-31T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Unique Leeds & Overcoming Obstacles

Brendan Rodgers says he has enjoyed building Leicester City's tactical plan to face Leeds United and studying Marcelo Bielsa's side in detail ahead of Sunday's encounter at King Power Stadium.

2021-01-31T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Unique Leeds & Overcoming Obstacles

Brendan Rodgers says he has enjoyed building Leicester City's tactical plan to face Leeds United and studying Marcelo Bielsa's side in detail ahead of Sunday's encounter at King Power Stadium.

2021-01-31T07:00:00.000Z

Matchday With The Manager: Unique Leeds & Overcoming Obstacles

Brendan Rodgers says he has enjoyed building Leicester City's tactical plan to face Leeds United and studying Marcelo Bielsa's side in detail ahead of Sunday's encounter at King Power Stadium.

2021-01-31T07:00:00.000Z

While the Foxes registered a meritorious 4-1 triumph at Elland Road in November, Leeds have acclimatised smoothly to life in the Premier League following their second-tier title last season.

Instances like a 5-0 success at West Bromwich Albion, or the 1-0 victory at Everton, have already proven the West Yorkshire outfit's credentials, leaving them sat in 12th place at present.

Leicester, meanwhile, remain third in the Premier League, five points adrift of leaders Manchester City, with Rodgers' men unbeaten in their last nine outings in all competitions.

Despite meeting several times in the Football League, Sunday's clash will be the first occasion in which King Power Stadium has staged Leeds in the Premier League since a 4-0 home win back in 2003.

Previewing City's 21st outing of a remarkable top-flight campaign, Rodgers detailed the depth of his respect for Bielsa specifically and the impact the Whites have made so far in 2020/21.

"They’ve been outstanding," the Northern Irishman said in the King Power Centre. "I’m a huge admirer of the coach. The team have played, very clearly, the way they want to play in every game.

"They want to attack the game. They have good mobility. They want to create and score goals and they play without any fear.

"That has got them some really positive results and it’s got them some results where they’ve lost heavily, but they’re a fantastic team and a real credit to their club.

"Both teams will go into the game with a positive attitude. Both teams want to create and score goals and fundamentally we know, to attack well, we have to defend well.

"When you play against a team like Leeds, you’re going to have to have no ego in the game. You’re going to have to run, to defend well and take opportunities when they come."

Analysing Leeds and designing a stratagem to nullify their threats has been particularly rewarding for Rodgers, who continued to outline the Elland Road side's strengths at LCFC Training Ground.

"It’s really enjoyable," he added. "When I look to the first game, they were coming off the back of some great results. Marcelo’s teams, I’ve obviously followed, over this last decade.

"They always play an exciting brand of football. The style is something you don’t see, virtually, at all in the Premier League, where it’s up eight players man-to-man marking.

"That in itself is great from a coaching perspective, to look at them. Obviously, I’m a big admirer of Marcelo Bielsa and, of course, the job he’s done there and how the team have come up.

"They play with no fear and in a really respectful way. If you watch them, they’re not arguing with referees so much. They have great integrity in the game.

"I’ve enjoyed watching them and preparing to play against them and, of course, we had a very, very good victory, but we know we have to work equally as hard to gain another win."

City's players have been forced to remain agile to a succession of setbacks and interruptions so far this season, with a succession of injury problems being combined with a hectic fixture schedule.

While many teams have battled admirably with fixtures being more tightly packed together, Leicester in particular have had to overcome various obstacles with UEFA Europa League duties also on the agenda.

Rodgers, though, has been thrilled with the progress made, especially the maturity on show: "It’s what you expect, the team’s evolving and gaining experience all the time.

"It's not always through the winning. After the Everton game, which we lost (in December), you go away and look at that failure in the game, learn from it, and look to win consistently.

"It’s a great credit to the players that they have that openness in order to learn and develop and be better. The beauty of this squad is they have no ego.

"They want to work hard, learn and improve. You can see that in the manner of their performances and their authority in the games is getting better all the time.

"We just try to adapt. It was difficult for us last March (when professional football was suspended due to COVID-19). We came back and had interruptions with players being out injured.

"Hopefully what we’ve learned and what I’ve learned is how to cope with that better. We’ve tried to show that this season. It’s a credit to the staff and the players up until this point.

"We’ve been able to cope with the various interruptions we’ve had and tried to see the positives in them and take that positivity into every game."

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