We can do much better than this!
city aiming to ensure that this season’s european campaign doesn’t end With a Whimper
Brendan rodgers hopes greater squad depth and greater european experience takes Leicester City deep into the europa League this season.
City kick off their european campaign at the King Power Stadium tonight against Italian side napoli in a fixture between two of the competition’s early favourites.
But while thoughts of the trophy are a long way off, there is a confidence of going further than last season’s run to the last 32, where they were knocked
out by Slavia Prague.
With more quality players in the squad after a summer of recruitment, with more experience in the team, and with hopefully fewer fitness issues – a depleted squad prompted them to focus on other competitions last term – rodgers is hopeful the clash with napoli marks the start of a successful season in europe.
“Last season we had to prioritise a little bit when we had injuries and we suffered with that, especially in this competition, but it’s certainly a competition we’d like to do really well in,” rodgers said.
“There is more experience now in the squad of how we work, we have a bit of freshness with new players coming in and we’ve got that bit of depth that gives a different profile to the team. It’s a fantastic game to start the competition with.
“I certainly believe they (napoli) are a Champions League club. They arrive in the europa League as one of the favourites. They’re full of worldclass players. It’s such an exciting game.
“For us, the last two seasons have been great but it’s a new season, new mentality, new hunger and for us this competition is very important. We’d like to go a long way in it and hopefully we can.”
While this is the first time in City’s history they have played in europe in successive seasons, there will be a different feel about this year’s competition.
Firstly, a format change means the group stages are much stronger, with the number of entrants cut down from 48 to 32. Plus, there is a greater incentive to finish top of the pool, with the group winners going straight through to the last 16, but with the runners-up playing a preliminary knockout round.
The major difference for the players will be the presence of supporters, who were not able to attend last year.
“I’m hoping for another special night,” said captain Kasper Schmeichel. “The ones we have had, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.
“Last season being in the competition without fans, it detracted from the experience for the players and for the fans.
“It’s another very big club coming to the King Power, a side who have over the past 10 years been challenging some of the biggest teams in the world. We are expecting a tough game, they’ve got quality all over the pitch.”