Rodgers Challenges Foxes To Show Quality On The Ball

- Brendan Rodgers previews Leicester City's trip to Manchester City on Monday (8pm BST kick-off)
- The Foxes overcame Pep Guardiola's champions at King Power Stadium in December
- Rodgers says Leicester have the ability to trouble Manchester City's defence
- Supporters can listen to the match live and for free on LCFC Radio from 6pm BST

As the fascinating Etihad Stadium showdown approaches, Rodgers’ men have been finessing a model of work central to the manager’s philosophy at Belvoir Drive.

Since the Northern Irishman’s arrival, the Foxes have lost on just two occasions in eight matches and most recently delivered a dominant performance in a 3-0 win over Arsenal.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Rodgers said: “We expect that it’ll be tough game for us, but we have a game and a model of work that we believe can beat any team.

“You know that you’re going to have to defend very, very well. You have to be strong, you have to be aggressive, you have to be hard to beat, you have to be compact.

“From that base we know that we have speed in the team. We’ve got players that are incisive, they can make the last pass, they’ve got speed at the top of the field.

“The important thing is to ensure that you defend well, you’re aggressive, and we know we can do that. And then it’s a case of then showing our qualities when we have the ball.”

Gallery 03 May 2019

First Team Training: Manchester City

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Photos

Rodgers believes that only a near-perfect performance will be enough to secure a positive result in Manchester and was effusive in his praise for Pep Guardiola’s management.

“There’s no doubt last year and this year, the level of their game is at the very highest,” he continued.

“It’s a top-class team with a coach who is a real pioneer of the modern game – a genius really in terms of some of the innovations that he’s put in place since he’s been a coach. 

“He’s obviously worked with the top players at Barcelona and played there under [Johan] Cruyff so he fully understands the philosophy there.

“But to take that into Bayern Munich and then to introduce full-backs coming on the inside and all the tactical innovations he produced there… it was incredible.

“He came into the Premier League with probably most people saying that he may not be able to play that way.

“Of course, in the first season, Pep needed to get the players which makes it work. After that first season, they’ve been absolutely incredible.

“We played them at Celtic in my first year and you could see they were bedding into the concepts, but [they’re] a brilliant team.

“People look at how they work, there’s so much work that goes into making the team play that way. I hear people talking about freedom.

“It’s not freedom, this is a team that’s [got] lots of structure, lots of positioning, lots of analysing, lots of work on the training field in order to play that positional game.

“I think he’s a phenomenal coach and he’s produced a wonderful team over these last few years.”