Leicester City supporters have an important role to play as Brendan Rodgers tries to find a solution to one of the team’s long-standing problems.
City welcome Fulham to the King Power Stadium this weekend in Rodgers’ first home match as Leicester manager and the relegation battlers may sit deep in a bid to frustrate the hosts and perhaps nick a goal on the counter-attack.
Under previous manager Claude Puel, City often struggled to carve a path through deep defences and failed to beat bottom-half Burnley, Southampton and Cardiff on home soil.
Rodgers is aware of the problem and said his players need the fans to stay patient, even if they pass the ball backwards to find another route past their opponents.
On occasion, supporters have been agitated by sideways balls and the away contingent at Watford tried to drive the squad forward with a chant of ‘attack, attack, attack’.
At Vicarage Road, only 49.7 per cent of City’s attempted passes were forward, their lowest rate this campaign.
“We need to be better with the football, there’s no doubt about that, especially because of the recent history of Leicester City,” said Rodgers.
“Most teams now, especially at home, will sit back and deny you space.
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“We have to be a team that has to be able to play any type of game. If a teams sits in deep, we have to have the patience and that’s where our supporters are so important.
Leicester City 3-1 Fulham
“Hopefully over time they will understand that a back pass isn’t a negative pass. It’s a chance to start another attack and play forward.”
While Rodgers thinks his team need to be better on the ball, he believes they have the physical attributes to prosper.
He added: “I can see we have lots of good traits in the team in terms of speed and power but we want the creativity and the unpredictability in the team and that’s something that will hopefully grow over time.”