Schmeichel: Rodgers is benefiting from all the work done by Pearson
BRENDAN Rodgers is the perfect manager to take Leicester City forward – but he is benefiting from work done by Nigel Pearson, Kasper Schmeichel has said.
Rodgers and Pearson go head-tohead at lunchtime today when City visit Watford for their first game of the Premier League’s restart.
And although Rodgers began his tenure at the King Power Stadium nearly four years after Pearson’s exit, Schmeichel believes the Northern Irishman is building on top of the foundations Pearson laid.
“He (Rodgers) has brought real leadership, a clear vision and a clear identity of what type of football club we want to be,” the goalkeeper told talkSPORT.
“We have a clear direction of where we want to go.
“The infrastructure of the club, which a lot of it Nigel put in place, is brilliant.
“It’s moving on, there’s a new training ground coming, and the expansion of the stadium.
The owners want to back that, and we have the perfect manager for that.”
The Danish goalkeeper added: “You can go hell for leather and that’s certainly what we’re expecting to do, and I’m sure Nigel will be geeing them up and doing the same.
“You can see what Nigel’s done there. He gets this response out of people and he’s an amazing guy.”
The trip to Watford, where Schmeichel will be hoping for his 11th clean sheet of the season, is potentially the first of 12 games in 43 days for City.
It’s going to be a physically and mentally demanding six weeks for the squad, but Schmeichel says they wouldn’t have it any other way as they try to chase down secondplaced Manchester City, particularly as it’s the kind of schedule they want next season, when they hope European games will be included.
“We had a tough schedule during Christmas, too, and hopefully the weather and the pitches are better now than during that period!” Schmeichel said.
“It’s not something we are concerned with. It’s the kind of schedule we want.
“We want to be playing European football and that’s the kind of schedule that brings.
“It’s 100 days since the last game, so we’re fresh, we’re ready and we’re looking forward to it.
“We’ve got ourselves into a really good situation and, for us now, it’s about finishing.
“We have a great opportunity with nine games to go, plus an FA Cup quarter-final. “We’re in a great position, a really good place, and we can have a really good season, so it’s up to us to finish it properly.”