Rodgers hopes to slip one by old tormentor

BRENDAN RODGERS has admitted he will have to raise his game if he is to put one over Jose Mourinho.

Leicester City’s boss goes head-to-head with his former mentor having never tasted a league victory over the

Special One.

Rodgers failed to better his one-time colleague when he was in charge at Liverpool, and was on the end of a threegoal lesson when the Foxes visited Tottenham in July.

But most famously, the Premier League crown was within the Ulsterman’s grasp with the Reds in 2014, only for Demba Ba to take advantage of Steven Gerrard’s slip and set Mourinho’s Chelsea on their way to a 2-0 victory that had a decisive bearing on Manchester City eventually winning the title race.

Rodgers said: “I’ve played against Jose, we’ve had draws, but I’ve lost games too.

“And there’s always room for me to improve, that’s my job as a coach.

“I don’t really think of it from a personal perspective, but I’ll do whatever the game needs.

“We look to work a certain way but if I have to change and be adaptable that will be something I will look at.”

The Foxes were in the hunt for a Champions League spot last season when they lost

3-0 at Mourinho’s Spurs – another game that had huge influence. Leicester ended up in the Europa League instead.

Rodgers recalled: “In terms of the goals we conceded, when we watched them back again, we were playing three centre-halves. We made mistakes high up the pitch.

“They scored goals on the counter-attack. We actually had enough bodies behind the ball. If you look at Harry Kane’s finish from the corner of the box it was sublime.

Then you’ve got Son Heung-Min on his breakaway.

“They were goals we could have done better with and made better decisions. It’s something we will look at, as a staff, to see what we can do.

“What you cannot do is give them space in behind, that’s absolutely key.

“They are very much a counter-attacking team, sitting in, happy in their block and then they have explosive speed, especially through Son with that pace of his.

“They are devastating. What’s interesting is that they don’t need many passes to get through and bear down on your goal.

“But we can cause Tottenham problems too.

“We can threaten them. I think the first goal is going to be very important.”