As the Foxes prepare to face Brentford in the Premier League this weekend, the fortunes of the two sides have been in stark contrast to one another.
While the Bees sit comfortably within the top half of the table, Leicester have struggled for form, especially in recent weeks, becoming embroiled in a battle with several other teams who are looking over their shoulder towards the bottom three.
Speaking to the media during his pre-match press conference on Thursday, City’s manager referenced how this places extra significance of the value of the final 12 games of the season for his side, starting at Gtech Community Stadium, the venue for Saturday’s 3pm GMT kick-off in the capital.
Concentration is key
Four successive league defeats in recent weeks leave Leicester 16th in the Premier League. Only Southampton, currently at the foot of the table, have lost more games this term. Rodgers gave his view on what must be done to reverse the current trend of creating opportunities without taking them.
“We’ve just had costly moments within games,” the Northern Irishman began. “If I analyse the games that we’ve had since the turn of the year, we’ve got five other games where we’ve been there in the game, playing well and maybe not taken opportunities.
“We’re talking about Fulham, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Brighton and Chelsea where we’ve taken one point. When I see us play, there are lots of really good moments, but then there are moments which are costing us.
“For me, it’s not about the capability, because the players have that. It’s not about the knowledge, because they do their job and they’re doing it well. It’s just about concentration. The minute you switch off at this level and are not 100 per cent, then you get punished and that's what happened.
“It can be a little bit of everything. You always want to create the opportunities. But if we can take them then that’s important. I think the key is not making mistakes which allows teams confidence in the games. Recently, we’ve created opportunities but didn’t take them and we make mistakes which cost us. Then we don’t get back into the game.
“We’re under no illusions of the task. We’ve got 12 games left and we’re virtually competing in a nine-team league now and we want to finish at the top of that. If we can just increase our concentration level, we’ll pick up the points.
“It’s a great coaching challenge. It’s a position where there’s a lot of points to play for. There’s more than enough there to put us into a really good position in the league when it finishes. But we’ve got to focus on the performance.
“We want to win games and it’ll be the concentration within that performance which will get us the points. I really believe in the players. They’ve shown, it’s playing at the highest level all the time and when they do that, we look a good team.”
Opposition analysis
Crediting Thomas Frank’s Brentford for their standout campaign, the 50-year-old also reserved praise for the west London club’s star striker Ivan Toney, who received a call-up to the England squad this week.
Rodgers explained: “I’ve been really impressed with him (Ivan Toney) and with the team itself. What I enjoy watching about Brentford is that they haven’t been affected by the Premier League.
“Sometimes when you’re there for a period of time, you stop doing the basics of the game well, like running and fighting and getting tight to players. This is a team that came up from the Championship and are still hungry for that. They do the basics of the game really well.
“They have good organisation along with talent. They’ve had a very good season and Ivan has been fantastic. You see that he’s grown since he’s come in with the confidence that he has and the technical quality. He’s a streetwise player as well. He’s aggressively strong and he’s an outstanding player.
“We have to be ready for the team because they have some other good players. We collectively have to go and play well as a team to get the result. They are strong on set pieces and their general game is good.
“They play out of different systems. Thomas has predominately played a 4-3-3 this season. Against some of the bigger teams he may switch the structure, but in the main they’ve had a cohesive group over the last few seasons.
“They’ve added to that with quality, without losing anyone, and the players have grown from within that. Obviously playing at home has been really good for them. There’s still that great enthusiasm you can tell with the support and that connection because of arriving into the Premier League and they’ve done very well.”
Raise our own standards
Hard at work on the training pitches in Seagrave this week, Rodgers says everyone within the squad is embracing the challenge in front of them, while earning a positive result just ahead of the latest international break would be a timely boost.
“You train every day in terms of your exercises and repetition work,” the former Celtic and Liverpool manager added. “But clearly, it’s something that under pressure is totally different. For us it’s all about focusing on what is important - doing the basics of our game well.
“Of course, it’s also around decision making. We do a lot of work based around that in training in order to help educate on the right ones. You have players on the field who are your tactical decision makers, but it’s the responsibility of every player to retain their concentration, to keep the team from being passive and stay organised, not just one player.
“In the last few games, those key moments that are important, you’ve got to be clinical and take it. But it’s also the other side of being strong defensively and in those moments of pressure, staying calm.
“We feel we can create opportunities. It’s just getting that balance to the game. If you’re not, you’ve got to make sure you’re not giving too much away.
“Wherever you are in the league, coming into an international break, where there’s a period in between, it’s always good to go into that with a positive performance and result, so that’s what we’ll aim to do.
“It’s been a tough season for us up until now in terms of consistency. We haven’t been anywhere near consistent enough, but the players have given everything. They are a really honest group.
“Clearly, we’re not at the height of our confidence. The frustration is those costly moments when we switch off or don’t quite get into position. It’s my job in this to stay upbeat as a leader.
“We’ve shown before that we can come through that. It’s just nailing some of the main principles of our games - fighting, running, working but also good organisation and cutting out mistakes. That then gives us a really good chance to win games.
"It’s a great challenge from a coaching perspective and a players’ perspective. You are playing under pressure, and it’s been able to deal with that. I’m confident we can do that. Our objective now is very clear - it’s to ensure we gain enough points to stay in the league. We have to narrow the focus in and be clear about what we want to achieve. The goal is very simple.”