Brendan Rodgers insists Leicester City are “very, very close” to the level required to challenge for the top six again and believes they have a “fantastic chance” of disrupting the Premier League’s elite next season.
Brendan Rodgers said: “The summer gives us a chance to reset again. We can get some great work into the players and hopefully add quality, because there’s no doubt the team needs quality additions to help us challenge again. Hopefully next season we can get together again, the supporters and team, and see if we can disrupt that top six again. It’s about reminding the players that we’re very, very close to the level. In terms of goals scored, we’re fifth in the league, so that’s a great sign that we can go into any game with confidence to score goals. Goals conceded, it’s purely set-pieces. If we can take care of that and get that side of our game right, we have a fantastic chance again to go and affect the top end of the table. We can disrupt it and we’re really excited by that opportunity next year.”
City finished the season with 10 points from a possible 12 to push themselves up the table. They overtook Wolves on the final day after the West Midlands side lost at Liverpool.
Brendan Rodgers added: “I’m really pleased in terms of where we’ve been this season. It’s been tough in periods because the expectation level has gone right up. People don’t talk about injuries and we’ve tried to avoid it throughout the season but we’re a club and a squad where if we don’t have our best players available then we’re middle to bottom end of the table. That’s the reality. We don’t have the depth without those players. But the players have fought back, kept their composure and patience and kept working away, knowing we’d get our games in hand back and seeing where we’d finish at the end of the season. Eighth is the fourth-highest finish the club has had in 46 years, after winning the Premier League and two fifth-placed finishes. Martin O’Neill’s team was eighth as well so we join them on that. So for all the negativity that’s been around all season, that’s not too bad.”
