GO THE WHOLE NINE YARDS
Rodg: You got to run for your money
BRENDAN RODGERS has revealed the secret behind his success at Leicester City – no lazy days.
The Foxes chief has been showered with praise this season as his side have again produced impressive performances – both at home and abroad.
Leicester remain among the Premier League pacesetters, cruised into the fifth round of the FA Cup last week and have a Europa League knockout tie against Slavia Prague to look forward to.
Rodgers goes into today’s clash against Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds – a side famed for its work-rate – with a reminder that the Argentine is not the only one whose team put in the hard yards.
He said: “It’s a feature of our philosophy. We ask players to run themselves into the ground but we never ask anyone to do any more than anyone else.
“Our idea is to get the ball back as quickly as you can. When you can’t and you are in that resting phase, it’s setting the team up to get it back.
“So it doesn’t matter how gifted you are, everyone has to run.
“Whether you’re a full-back, centre-half, striker – everyone has to participate in that side of the game.
“And if you don’t, it is difficult to play in a team of mine because it relies on the collective. Teams are not set up and based around one individual player. Everyone can flourish within it. But there has to be a collective mindset.
“I’ve always said it’s one team with one brain and both have to be functioning well to be successful.”
The Foxes were unfortunate not to take more than one point from their midweek trip to Goodison Park with Youri Tielemans’ goal scant reward for their second-half domination.
And Rodgers has praised the group he has assembled at the King Power for taking on board his messages during his two-year tenure.
He said: “You can’t have lazy days at Leicester.
“It’s a constant, every day you can’t switch off. It’s your training.
You have to come in and want to improve.
“You need a desire to want to be better and improve. You’ve got to turn up in your best moment, ready to work and absorb information, ready to do your recovery and rest.
“That mentality may seem boring but it’s what the elite players do.
“You go about your life as quietly as you can. You lead a solid, professional life and you work with intensity. You repeat that in different ways and I, as a manager, show signs about how I prepare and work and then I’m hopeful it rubs off on the players.
“The type of players you bring in also helps. It’s a constant. It’s always changing. Eventually, over time, that message hopefully drips through.”