Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers believes he will have to instil confidence back in his players following two chastening Premier League defeats either side of Christmas.
The high-flying Foxes have been brought crashing back down to earth over the past week, following up a 3-1 loss at Manchester City with a crushing 4-0 defeat at home to runaway leaders Liverpool on Boxing Day.
Rodgers knows he will have to use his managerial experience to nurse wounded pride ahead of City’s trip to West Ham on Saturday.
“You’re not going to have it all your way all the time,” said Rodgers. “Up until this point we’ve been terrific, second in the league and into the semi-final of a cup competition.
“That’s where a manager comes in, just to install that belief again. You’ve got to go back to your basics when you lose games, work hard, get your aggression back in your game and play your football.
“And that’s what I’ll look to do, to give them that confidence back.”
Given the divide witnessed between Rodgers’ burgeoning side and Liverpool and Manchester City, the Northern Irishman has also suggested he could dip into the transfer market in January in a bid to start closing that gap.
“That’s constant for us,” assessed Rodgers, when asked about bringing in fresh faces next month.
“There’s that perspective of we know where we are. This is an incredible club, and because we’ve done so well in this opening period of the season, that’s catapulted us into this space with these two super clubs now.
“But we’re a club that’s developing, improving, we’ve got talents and those talents have been really tested in the last couple of games.
“The excitement is we can improve, and over the course of the next number of seasons we want to improve the squad and keep developing.
“If that’s in January, great. If it’s not, then we will continue to push on through the second part of the season.”
For the clash with the Hammers, Rodgers has again reiterated he will make numerous changes to ensure there is energy and freshness in the side, in particular after the drain likely to have been felt by those who played against both City and Liverpool.
Recalling a similar experience when he was manager of Swansea, with two games in three days either side of New Year’s Day, Rodgers said: “We played Tottenham on a Saturday and then we played on Monday against Aston Villa.
“Ironically, Aston Villa had had a fantastic result on the Saturday, beating Chelsea away. They went with virtually the same team on Monday and suffered through fatigue and a lack of energy, whereas we made eight changes and won the game (2-0).
“I’m not saying that’s going to happen (against West Ham). But it gave us the opportunity because the team was fresh, had energy, and also I had trust in the squad.
“I trust in what we can bring to the game, even if I have to make changes.”
