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Football

10th Nov 2019

Rio Ferdinand on why he’s so impressed by Brendan Rodgers

Wayne Farry

Leicester City have been a revelation this season

Since Brendan Rodgers took over at Leicester City in January of this year, the former Liverpool manager has overseen a steady evolution which has taken the Foxes from mid-table to comfortably within the top four a third of the way through the Premier League season.

Through coaching and clever recruitment, Rodgers has helped turn Leicester into one of the most exciting teams in English football, and has turned Jamie Vardy, once again, into the most lethal striker in the league.

JOE caught up with former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand at the launch of Train Effective, a subscription-based football training app, to discuss the Premier League season to date.

Unsurprisingly, one of the key topics was Rodgers’ Leicester team, and the manner in which they have started the season.

Ferdinand revealed just how impressed he has been by the Northern Irishman’s team, and stated that he would have enjoyed being coached by Rodgers.

The reason? Simple. Rodgers improves his players, no matter where he plays.

“I knew they’d (Leicester) improve under the guidance of Brendan Rodgers. There’s no doubts that he’s a great coach,” said Ferdinand, when asked if he was surprised by the early success of the team.

“You’ve seen that at Liverpool when he was there. The improvements they made there. The way they played. You’ve seen it at Celtic, and you’ve seen that at Leicester now.

“The way he coaches players, very rarely do you see players that don’t improve under him. That’s there for all to see.

“Why I’d like to be coached by someone like him is because he improves players. Soyuncu looks a top player – centre-half. Jonny Evans is playing brilliantly again. Ben Chilwell’s gone on again to another level. Maddison.

“People are just improving. Vardy’s gone on another level again. Top scorer in the league at the moment. So he’s improving people.”

Rio Ferdinand was speaking at the launch of Train Effective, a new app to help any aspiring footballer improve their physical, technical, mental and tactical training skills. Head to: www.traineffective.com