Leicester City have done well but must refocus, says Brendan Rodgers

Leicester City have done very well to make it to this position but they must now refocus to be able to achieve their target for the season, says Brendan Rodgers.

After what was an unbelievably wild start to the Premier League season, the Foxes have slowed down and are continuing to do so still.

There had been expectations of them to get back to their best against Manchester City; however, a 1-0 defeat – helped partly by a VARce – has the Leicester faithful very worried.

Rodgers seems to have realised how critical this period is, for if Leicester do not start improving now, then the European dream could soon turn into a dream indeed.

Speaking after his side’s disappointing loss, he said:

"“For a lot of the players, it’s new.“It’s a club that for the majority of the time, once you got to 40 points, the wheels are out and everyone’s landing. Staying in the division was important, and for a lot of the players that’s how it’s been.“To sustain it and be up there from the third week in that top four, it’s new for a lot of the players. They’ve coped with it so well. They’re improving all the time. They’re going to get better in their stamina, both physically and mentally, over time.“To be in the position we are in with 11 games to go, I’d have bit your hand off at the beginning of the season.“Of course we wanted to cut it to one point [to second place], but if the only teams above you are Liverpool and Man City, you’re doing okay for a club that nobody realistically believed could arrive in there.“We’ve done very well but we have to refocus now. We’re disappointed, we should have taken something from [Saturday’s game], but now we move on.”"

He is right in that sustaining a very high level of performance over the course of an entire season is not something that comes very naturally to most of the current players.

This is a very young squad, and a majority of them are not as well equipped at the moment to deal with the kind of pressure that comes with putting up a top four challenge in the era of the ‘Big Six’.

So that mentality has to come right from the top level, i.e., the manager. Unless Rodgers puts them under pressure, they would not be able to learn the trade.

The senior players have the same job. This is where Jonny Evans and Jamie Vardy et al have to step up and take multiple roles as they know what is it like to win trophies and therefore how to deal with expectations.