Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Brendan’s hit the Marc
BOSS WANTS US TO PRESS & BE AGGRESSIVE
MARC ALBRIGHTON believes Brendan Rodgers’ brand of football will be a big hit at the King Power Stadium.
The affable winger won the Premier League title with the Foxes, but rates this current squad as the best he has seen at the King Power Stadium.
The conditions for that 5,000-1 Premier League triumph will never be repeated, but Albrighton, 29, believes that the players and manager are on the same page with respect to the way they want to play.
And he thinks the
Foxes’ fans will lap it up.
“I think people will see a change,” he said. “We will be aggressive, particularly in our pressing. The gaffer wants us to press at the right times. He wants us to put teams under pressure and win the ball back quickly when we lose it.
“But, with the ball, he wants us to play freely, to keep it flowing and play some attacking football, which is what everyone wants.
“The fans want that and the manager does, too. Ultimately, if we can provide that, everyone is happy. Come the start of the season, we’ll be ready.” Leicester’s summer has been dogged by talk about Harry Maguire’s future.
And Maguire’s £80million transfer to Manchester United – a world record fee for a defender – is poised to go through.
However, regardless of that, Albrighton believes that the current squad assembled in the east Midlands is the strongest he has been involved with.
He said: “Ayoze (Perez) and Youri (Tielemans) have added to it, definitely, but James Justin, who has come from Luton, looks fantastic in training and has done well in the games he’s played.
“From my point of view, competition is fierce. There are five players who consider themselves to be wingers, so you have got to be on it. “Since I arrived at the club, we have improved every single year. We have added players – top players – every single season.
“If you look at players such as Youri, the calibre and pedigree he has, it shows fantastic ambition from the club and it’s fantastic from a player’s point of view as well.”
Despite one or two hiccups – notably under Claude Puel (above) last term – Leicester have managed to finish comfortably in the top six in each season since winning the title three years ago.
Since succeeding the Frenchman, Rodgers maintained that the Foxes would have a clearer identity with a summer’s work under their belt.
So far, the focus has been on the fundamentals, with Rodgers not yet outlining his aims for the campaign.
Albrighton added: “The manager hasn’t set any targets – not for me, yet, anyway – but he did say we’d be having a chat as the season approached.
“We’ll have a conversation as a group, we’ll go into a meeting room and he will lay out a few targets for us.
“You’ve always got to work towards something. I don’t think you have to treat it as the be-all and end-all.
“What I mean is that, if you’re not halfway towards meeting them, I don’t think it’s a source for too much worry.
“It’s good to have something to aim for. In terms of where we will be looking to finish, that’s something we will discuss among ourselves.
“Ideally, we want to break into that group at the top, but there are some very good sides – so it’s going to be tough.”
From my point
of view, competition
is fierce. There’s
five players who consider themselves to
be wingers, so you
have got to be on it