Good Mentality, Good Feeling, Says Rodgers
- Leicester City beat Sevilla 1-0 at King Power Stadium on Sunday evening
- Brendan Rodgers speaks to LCFC TV following the final pre-season friendly
- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall netted the only goal of the game in the second half
- The manager expects his side to improve for the Premier League opener
Sunday evening’s friendly against the Spaniards marked City’s final pre-season clash ahead of the 2022/23 campaign, and first in front of a home crowd on Filbert Way.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s 68th-minute goal separated the sides and after full-time, the manager assessed the performance, identifying areas for further improvement in order to start the new top-flight season in a positive fashion.
“The boys have had a hard week (of training) so we lacked that little bit of sharpness in all fairness,” Rodgers admitted to LCFC TV. “We had some good moments but there’s still a lot of work to do.
“We need more work, and we need to be a little bit more dynamic in getting through, but Sevilla are a very experienced European team and they are very well coordinated and that’s why it was such a test for us before we start the season.
“The mentality of the side was good, because we wanted to try and ensure, with it being the last game here, that we go in with a good feeling for next week. We know that performance-wise it will continue to improve.”
Brentford will pose that first test on the opening weekend, which for the Foxes begins at King Power Stadium on Sunday (2pm BST kick-off). Four straight wins over Hull City, Derby County, Preston North End and Sevilla send the team into that game with plenty of momentum.
“The Premier League is the Premier League, there’s nothing like it,” the Northern Irishman explained. “Technically you are tested because of the speed of the game, tactically also there are some top teams in it, and for us, we’ve had a good pre-season and we’ve got to finish next week and be really strong.
“Hopefully we’ll be flying for Sunday. In the main, these boys are brilliant. They give me everything. We haven’t brought anyone in, but they haven’t moaned, they have just got on with it and we’ll get ready for the test next week.”
Ricardo Pereira started the game against Sevilla but was brought off 37 minutes into the encounter, due to an Achilles injury. The Portugal full-back will now be assessed in the coming days.
The 49-year-old commented: “Obviously there’s a disappointment with Ricky, so we’ll see how that is tonight. That doesn’t look so good to be honest, which is a huge blow because he’s been very good for us in pre-season, but we’ll see what the scans come back on with that.”