Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers out to extend personal cup success
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Tuesday 17 December 2019 23:12, UK
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers insists his players have the mentality to add cup silverware to their Premier League push this season.
Ahead of Wednesday night's Carabao Cup quarter-final at Everton, Rodgers has not lost a domestic cup tie since April 2015 while in charge of Liverpool - a legacy of his trophy-laden time at Celtic prior to joining the Foxes in February.
It is an enviable run he is determined to maintain for as long as possible with Leicester.
"You've just got to prepare and respect the competition," said Rodgers when asked about his cup record. "I've never seen any competition as just giving players a chance to play.
"We're there to win and that will be the same idea going to Everton on Wednesday. It will be a tough game for us but you've just got to be very focused and prepare, and let the players know how important it is.
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"But the players know, because it's something we want to do in our time working together."
While attacking the league is the bread and butter for any club, Rodgers has always added importance to cup competitions.
"When I first went to Liverpool the big challenge was to get the club back into the Champions League. Within the first two seasons we did that," recalled Rodgers.
"After two seasons I realised that we hadn't done so well in the cup competitions, so the focus went onto that.
"We lost in the Capital One Cup semi-final and the FA Cup semi-final [in 2015). Then we went up to Celtic and did great.
"It's there to win and we want to give everything we can to win. There's obviously other great teams in the competition but, for us, the hunger is there to give everything to try and achieve that."
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Leicester go into the game on the back of a 10-match unbeaten run, including a club-record eight straight wins in the Premier League that only came to a halt on Saturday with a surprising 1-1 home draw against relegation-threatened Norwich.
Rodgers, though, is confident the mentality spawned from such form will spill into the clash at Goodison Park with the Toffees.
"We want to challenge, but there are so many steps for us to make," said Rodgers. "Everyone can't win the trophy, but we have to fight and show that we're ready to do that.
"The consistency of this team in the league has been absolutely first class since we've come in and that's all about mentality.
"We'll take that same mentality into the Everton game and look to see if we can get a result."
With one eye on Saturday's league clash at Manchester City, Rodgers is certain to make changes, which could mean starts for goalkeeper Danny Ward, defenders James Justin, Wes Morgan and Christian Fuchs, midfielders Demarai Gray, Marc Albrighton and Hamza Choudhury, and striker Kelechi Iheanacho.
