Inside Brendan Rodgers' Leicester revolution: How periodisation and Kolo Toure's videos are fuelling City's rise

[urban.spaceman]

 

Inside Brendan Rodgers' Leicester revolution: How periodisation and Kolo Toure's videos are fuelling City's rise

• John Percy

Brendan Rodgers puts his Leicester players through their paces during training Credit: getty images

In his first day as Leicester manager, Brendan Rodgers staged a presentation in front of his new squad outlining his vision for the club’s future.

It was a brief but powerful message, challenging the players to join him on a journeyand that everyone - from players to manager to backroom staff - would be held to the same exacting standards, every day they walked through the gates of the club's training ground.

The message - which was received in near-reverential silence - clearly hit home. Only Liverpool and Manchester City have accrued more Premier League points since Rodgers's first match - a last-gasp defeat at Watford - and the team are unbeaten in all competitions so far this season. Three years after their fairytale title win, and as they prepare for Saturday's meeting with Manchester United and a reunion with Harry Maguire, Leicester have the top flight's established 'big six' in their crosshairs.

“The narrative has changed, from where everybody maybe felt they were at [before]. The big reason I came here from Celtic was because of the potential in the squad,” says Rodgers. “If we can create a culture where players can learn, develop and improve, we can be really competitive. It’s about trying to break the mould, really.

“It’s going to be tough and there’s a lot of work still to do. But it’s been a very good start to the season and our job is to get to the halfway point and see where we are.”

It is still early days, just four league games in, yet the Rodgers impact has been significant, blowing away the torpor which had shrouded the club under the dour and often bewildering Claude Puel. 

The seeds of the transformation have been sown on the training pitch. The week’s sessions are largely based on tactical periodisation, essentially a form of training in four phases - attack, defence and the transitions in between. The emphasis is on shorter, sharper sessions and the workload usually decreases nearer to matchday. It is a philosophy favoured by the likes of Louis van Gaal (initially at Ajax and then Barcelona), Pep Guardiola and England Rugby's head coach Eddie Jones. Jose Mourinho also employed the approach in his first spell at Chelsea, where a young Rodgers was first making his name coaching in the club’s academy.

Mourinho's protegee has now adopted it, and added his own imprint. Rodgers prefers a tight training group of 20 players who can remain “super-competitive” and know they are connected to the matchday squad. His reasoning is that “if you have 25 players training, five or six can think they’re too far away from the first team.”

Training is mapped out weeks before and much of the focus is on ball retention - including never being more than 10 yards away from a team-mate - and pressing opponents.

This season there have already been encouraging signs: in the 0-0 draw at home to Wolves, the visitors achieved their third-lowest number of shots in an away game since their promotion back to the top flight.

Harvey Barnes, the attacking midfielder, believes Rodgers’s training methods have already made a huge difference. “There is a lot of intensity to training and the tactics are very precise going into the games,” he said. “It’s always tough and you know you’ve got to work hard to get in the team on a Saturday.

“He has given everyone a real uplift and the message is always about having a winning mentality. Whether it’s against Man City or someone at the bottom of the table, we’ve got to have the same mentality and go positive. 

“There’s a few places in the top six up for grabs, we’re being thrown into the mix and we have our own ambitions.” 

Harvey Barnes has enjoyed a great start to the season Credit: getty images

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Barnes is flourishing under Rodgers and so are many others. James Maddison is back in the England senior squad and Rodgers has worked closely with the £21 million midfielder, particularly on his tactical discipline and how he can express his talents in a team structure without feeling pressure to show them by being a maverick.

Before the draw against Chelsea, Maddison watched clips of Kurt Zouma and spent a long time in training practising set-pieces to get the ball above the defender. Wilfred Ndidi scored the equaliser at Stamford Bridge from a Maddison corner. 

Çağlar Söyüncü, the Turkish centre-half, is another player to have impressed, seizing his opportunity after the sale of Maguire. Rodgers relies heavily on his backroom staff and first-team coach Kolo Touré’s work with Söyüncü has been significant.

A former defender with Arsenal and Manchester City, Touré has run a series of video analysis sessions with Söyüncü where together they watch his performances back and go through them. Söyüncü is already emerging as a new cult hero, learning off the vastly experienced Jonny Evans alongside him.

Caglar Soyuncu (left) has ensured Leicester have not missed Harry Maguire Credit: getty images

And what of Jamie Vardy? He has scored 13 goals in 15 league games since Rodgers arrived and appears reinvigorated since those frustrating days under Puel. His form is likely to have made any thoughts of an England comeback - recently floated by Gareth Southgate - even more unlikely than they already were.

Recruitment has also been crucial over the past three seasons. Lee Congerton is the new head of senior recruitment, a trusted colleague of Rodgers at many of his other clubs, who works closely with Callum Smithson and José Fontes in the technical scouting team.

Leicester’s recruitment team and analysts usually scout players for at least 12 months before signing them and there is always one eye on the future: Söyüncü is a perfect example, with Leicester moving to sign him from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg last summer for £17.8m as a ready-made replacement for Maguire when United first started sniffing last year. 

Youri Tielemans became the club’s record signing at £40m in July, choosing Leicester at a time when a move to United was still a possibility. Leicester are already assessing targets for the summer, with an ‘A’ and ‘B’ list dependent on possible European qualification.

Leicester’s track record in producing their own talent is also impressive. The academy is vibrant and most recently Barnes, Ben Chilwell and Hamza Choudhury have been promoted to the first team. Rodgers often invites some of the under-23s to train with the squad and is a regular spectator at games alongside Jon Rudkin, the director of football. 

“The faith of the manager is massive,” says Barnes. “He’s not scared to play the younger players and for the likes of me, ‘Chilly’ and ‘Madders’, there’s no better place to be.

“You won't see that at a lot of clubs – the amount of young players here. The boys in the under-23's can see the pathway. There's definitely more to come.”

Rodgers insists there is still more to come from his first team, and the feeling of anger and frustration in the dressing room after that 1-1 draw at Chelsea underlines the huge ambition in this squad.

Their mission this season will also be inspired by a collective determination to build on the legacy of the club’s beloved late owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

Leicester will move into a new £80m training ground in Charnwood for next year's pre-season and it will be intriguing to see how much more progress has been made under Rodgers in that time.

Saturday’s game at Old Trafford represents an opportunity for Leicester to make another huge statement.

[Collymore]

Great article but I feel it's a bit harsh on Puel making him out as some type of bad guy. 

[urban.spaceman]

4 minutes ago, Collymore said:

Great article but I feel it's a bit harsh on Puel making him out as some type of bad guy. 

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/andy-king-opens-up-claude-3161161

[Foxin_Mad]

10 minutes ago, Collymore said:

Great article but I feel it's a bit harsh on Puel making him out as some type of bad guy. 

Was it making him out to be a bad guy? I thought it just said he was dour and bewildering. 

 

He was pretty dour and his tactics were often bewildering, like setting up at home to Palace for a 0-0.

 

Don't get me wrong he did some good with some of the young players and the evolution of our football but I do feel he had taken us as far as he could. 

[Izzy]

Good article although this bit is hardly revolutionary. I learnt it on my FA Level 1 course.

 

The seeds of the transformation have been sown on the training pitch. The week’s sessions are largely based on tactical periodisation, essentially a form of training in four phases - attack, defence and the transitions in between.

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/andy-king-opens-up-claude-3161161

Great proof. A guy who couldn't get in the squad unhappy with the man who made the decision.

[shailen]

Rodgers has increased the intensity and we play with more purpose now then under Puel, but it was Puel who cemented the foundations for this controlling and possession based game.

 

One thing I really like under Rodgers is that we are not afraid to launch it long if we need to play in that way. If teams press us too high, we have the perfect man up front to exploit that. I think we are becoming more of a complete team under Rodgers.

[urban.spaceman]

4 minutes ago, FIF said:

Great proof. A guy who couldn't get in the squad unhappy with the man who made the decision.

Mods he's at it again. Sharing his own opinion FFS.

 

Edited 13 September 2019 by urban.spaceman

[lgfualol]

23 minutes ago, Collymore said:

Great article but I feel it's a bit harsh on Puel making him out as some type of bad guy. 

Puel had to be the bad guy though tbh, if we hired someone that wants to be everyone's best mate we would still have the older players that aren't good enough involved in the matchday sides and still playing hoofball, and not this young exciting team. Puel obviously was a questionable character and the football was often painful, but what he did was pretty important to get us to this point.

[Nicolo Barella]

39 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

Rodgers prefers a tight training group of 20 players who can remain “super-competitive” and know they are connected to the matchday squad. His reasoning is that “if you have 25 players training, five or six can think they’re too far away from the first team.”

 

This sounds cool, but isn't cutting the squad size to reduce the players who think they're too far from the team to play a bit counterproductive? Now they KNOW they're too far from the team... and do they train solo? Seems a bit harsh. 

 

I wonder who the twenty would be.

 

Schmeichel

Ward

Ricardo

Evans

Morgan

Benkovic

Soyuncu

Chilwell

Fuchs

Ndidi

Mendy

Hamza

Tielemans

Praet

Maddison

Barnes

Albrighton

Perez

Gray

Vardy

 

Leaves Iheanacho, J. James out.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Nicolo Barella said:

This sounds cool, but isn't cutting the squad size to reduce the players who think they're too far from the team to play a bit counterproductive? Now they KNOW they're too far from the team... and do they train solo? Seems a bit harsh. 

 

I wonder who the twenty would be.

 

Schmeichel

Ward

Ricardo

Evans

Morgan

Benkovic

Soyuncu

Chilwell

Fuchs

Ndidi

Mendy

Hamza

Tielemans

Praet

Maddison

Barnes

Albrighton

Perez

Gray

Vardy

 

Leaves Iheanacho, J. James out.

Great point.

 

Don't see that Iheanacho is left out of training. no chance. J.James won't be either though from what I've seen he could fit in with the U23s.

[ajthefox]

8 minutes ago, Nicolo Barella said:

This sounds cool, but isn't cutting the squad size to reduce the players who think they're too far from the team to play a bit counterproductive? Now they KNOW they're too far from the team... and do they train solo? Seems a bit harsh. 

 

I wonder who the twenty would be.

 

Schmeichel

Ward

Ricardo

Evans

Morgan

Benkovic

Soyuncu

Chilwell

Fuchs

Ndidi

Mendy

Hamza

Tielemans

Praet

Maddison

Barnes

Albrighton

Perez

Gray

Vardy

 

Leaves Iheanacho, J. James out.

I was wondering that as well. Sounds a bit odd to me but I can sort of see positives too.

[urban fox]

7 minutes ago, Nicolo Barella said:

This sounds cool, but isn't cutting the squad size to reduce the players who think they're too far from the team to play a bit counterproductive? Now they KNOW they're too far from the team... and do they train solo? Seems a bit harsh. 

 

I wonder who the twenty would be.

 

Schmeichel

Ward

Ricardo

Evans

Morgan

Benkovic

Soyuncu

Chilwell

Fuchs

Ndidi

Mendy

Hamza

Tielemans

Praet

Maddison

Barnes

Albrighton

Perez

Gray

Vardy

 

Leaves Iheanacho, J. James out.

HMMM. I thought we actually had named twenty three in the PL squad including Silva and Slimani. Take them, Matty James (injured) and third keeper out add Nacho and that gives twenty. JJ is under twenty one so is a free hit.  besides surely, unless you were going to draft some of the academy players in you would need at least 22 for a full practice match?  I think when he talks of a core squad of twenty he is not necessarily being literal.  Even with that number and a certain amount of rotation, certain players will know that they will most likely be bit part players (eg anyone who plays up front but is not called Jamie Vardy, or back up keepers etc)

[Xen]

39 minutes ago, Nicolo Barella said:

This sounds cool, but isn't cutting the squad size to reduce the players who think they're too far from the team to play a bit counterproductive? Now they KNOW they're too far from the team... and do they train solo? Seems a bit harsh. 

It also mentions in the article that Rodgers often invites some of the u23s to train with the first team, so something clearly doesn't add up.

 

At a guess, for general training (fitness drills, practice matches, etc) it'll be the full group plus some youngsters, but when we're doing match-specific training (i.e. set piece routines, specific drills to combat Man Utd's style of play) then he'll reduce the training group size to those he's planning on selecting and a few extra. The reporter has probably picked up on the latter and stated it in a way which makes it seem like that's the default for all training.

 

Players who don't make the cut will probably have separate sessions with the fitness coaches/analysts etc. so that they can break into that main group.

Edited 13 September 2019 by Xen

[Matt]

1 hour ago, Collymore said:

Great article but I feel it's a bit harsh on Puel making him out as some type of bad guy. 

AgEnDa.

[Captain...]

Maybe it is 20 outfield players. Why have Kasper and Ward involved when they can be focussing on keeper training.

[StriderHiryu]

That's a very good article, and fascinating too. The part about players always being within ten yards of each other is something that has been very noticeable since Rodgers took over as generally our positioning has been superb. The 20 core players part I also think is really evident as this season it seems like every time we make a sub, the subs impact the match as they know what they've got to do and how to do it. You can tell they are part of the squad and not just on the periphery.  

[Babylon]

1 hour ago, urban.spaceman said:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/andy-king-opens-up-claude-3161161

 I was thinking, ‘How is this guy who’s been here two weeks, telling me who’s been here 10 years that I’m the one who has to leave?’ That was hard to take.

 

Says Andy King, now on loan at Rangers after another manager who has been here two weeks does't have him in his plans.  

[Goober]

1 hour ago, Collymore said:

Great article but I feel it's a bit harsh on Puel making him out as some type of bad guy. 

Maybe because in reality, as detailed by pretty much everyone that happened to be close to things behind the scenes (Percy, Geoff Peters, Huth etc), he was actually massively shit and a bit of a bellend?

 

I stood up for the bloke at times but the evidence since he left is damning. Sod him

[Babylon]

1 minute ago, Goober said:

Maybe because in reality, as detailed by pretty much everyone that happened to be close to things behind the scenes (Percy, Geoff Peters, Huth etc), he was actually massively shit and a bit of a bellend?

 

I stood up for the bloke at times but the evidence since he left is damning. Sod him

I'm sure he was, but as King highlights himself in his article. He was bombing out a load of past it players who didn't like it... a shit or not, it was a hard task to take on and having loads of bitter players not liking the fact their careers are coming to an end here is going to hinder you. So will being a shit of course. 

[Goober]

3 minutes ago, Babylon said:

I'm sure he was, but as King highlights himself in his article. He was bombing out a load of past it players who didn't like it... a shit or not, it was a hard task to take on and having loads of bitter players not liking the fact their careers are coming to an end here is going to hinder you. So will being a shit of course. 

I'm sure it wasn't an easy job but by all accounts he went about it like a bit of a nob. When said players had such a good history here too, going about it in the way he allegedly did was nothing short of thick.

 

If it were Brendan, or anyone with genuine man management skills for that matter, I'm sure there'd have been far less friction when transitioning the squad.

[KingsX]

Nobody loved the year and a half in the abbatoir.  Now can we just enjoy how the steak turns out?

[Guest SO1]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

Good article although this bit is hardly revolutionary. I learnt it on my FA Level 1 course.

 

The seeds of the transformation have been sown on the training pitch. The week’s sessions are largely based on tactical periodisation, essentially a form of training in four phases - attack, defence and the transitions in between.

Instead of using your knowledge as way to put down the manager and the article why not use it as a way to educate us more about the game?

I'm always hungry for informed information and insights about the way its played. Share please if you have the time.

[Guest SO1]

Sick of threads turning into Puel vs the club/ players/ misc. I do understand the resentment. Just not on a Rodgers thread. Whatever.

 

[Bryn]

Perhaps the twenty doesn't include keepers? So take those out for Iheanacho and JJ.