Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers has again urged Leicester City supporters to get behind the team and help propel their survival bid, regardless of their opinion of him. At Brentford, City fans did that. They chanted in support of the team during the 90 minutes, only making their opinions clear on Rodgers after the full-time whistle.
Brendan Rodgers said: “Supporters have always been brilliant in my time here. I understand their frustration. It’s not a position the club have been in for a long time. I can only focus on the job, which is steering us away from where we are. All you want is for the supporters to really back the team over this next period, because when they do that it gives them so much energy and hope in the games. We’ve seen that many times since I’ve been here. I never think about myself. It’s natural if you’re not winning as consistently as you did before that you come under pressure from supporters. I respect that, I’m a custodian of their club, and they want to see their club doing better. That’s my responsibility. Supporters work hard all week and pay hard-earned money to come to games, and they can very openly give the opinion they want to. I’ve been in the game long enough to understand that. I respect the opinion of whoever it is, but especially our supporters because, in the main in my time, they’ve been brilliant. It’s been a tough gig for them this season. We’ve seen it around the country, at other grounds and other places. My focus is purely to give them what they want, which is to make sure we’re in a really good position by the end of the season, the best position we can be in, which is in this league. Then we’ll look forward again in the summer.”
There is concern among supporters that players have fallen into the trap of feeling they are too good to go down, leading to a complacency that has seen them pick up just one point from their last possible 15. Rodgers denied that.
Brendan Rodgers said: “That’s something that will never be the case. That’s one of the pitfalls within the game, if you think you’re better than what you are. We have shown over the course of the season that we can win games, and win games really well, but we haven’t been able to do it consistently enough to put us in the top half of the table. The reality is there for us and we can’t hide from that. We’re under no illusions to the challenge. We know the qualities we have in the team, but it’s more than that. It’s about consistency. If you have that, you’ll pick up results on a regular basis.”
