"It's up to the players on the pitch to generate the atmosphere by giving a good performance,

[davieG]

Merc

It is up to the Leicester City players to inspire the supporters to generate a great atmosphere at The Walkers Stadium, says assistant manager Derek Fazackerley.

A red-hot atmosphere is expected on Monday when City face local rivals Nottingham Forest on home soil, but Fazackerley said the emphasis should be on the City players to give the Blue Army plenty of cheer.

While Fazackerley admitted the three points were always the priority and they would accept a scrappy victory, he said they also aimed to entertain the supporters and give them value for money.

City are sixth in the table for average attendances in the Championship, with 21,853, and Fazackerley would love to see some sell-out crowds at The Walkers Stadium.

"I think it's up to the players on the pitch to generate the atmosphere by giving a good performance," he said.

"Now, it's obviously helped at times by the fact it's a local derby, but we want to get into a position where we're filling the stadium week in, week out.

"To do that, we've got to continue to produce good football, and winning football. That's the most important thing.

"I think supporters will come along and they'll be prepared to pay their money, get the enjoyment they're looking for and get behind their team.

"It's not rocket science – it's expensive for people to come to watch football, and they want to be entertained, and that's what we should aim to do.

"It is entertainment. Of course you want to win football games. Sometimes you will win and you will win scruffy and we'll accept that, of course. But over a period of a season, people will want to feel as though they've got value for money.

"There are lots of ways of delivering value for money; there's the result, there's the way in which you get the result, and there's the effort and commitment that you put into the game.

"But, generally speaking, if you put all those three things together, then the supporters go home happy.

"Even if you don't always win, they'll come back and see you again next time because they can see that you're heading in the right direction."

Fazackerley added it was vital City maintain the pressure on the visitors throughout the 90 minutes on Monday and not let Forest off the rack.

"I think we've had good spells in the home games against Preston, against Hull, against Sheffield United, but we haven't been able to dominate teams as much as possibly we would have liked to have done and really peppered the goal," he said.

"That's the type of football that supporters are really looking for as well. In the last home game, against Derby, we certainly had more of the play, we played more of the game in the other half of the field.

"I think Derby had a little spell, but certainly we came out in the second half, got hold of the game again and pretty much pushed them back and dominated the game.

"It was as good a performance and result as we've had so far, and we need to maintain that level of performance."

[purpleronnie]

Nonsense.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Nonsense.

Yes it is. Supporters - true supporters - get behind their team at all times.

However, this article is an interesting read and shows the drive in the new management, not wanting to give their players any excuses or anywhere to hide.

[Fosse Boy]

Daft statement. Sadly it's an attitude shared by many of our support though. Expecting entertainment before they raise their voice in support. Ridiculous.

[MPH]

Nonsense.

Yes it is. Supporters - true supporters - get behind their team at all times.

However, this article is an interesting read and shows the drive in the new management, not wanting to give their players any excuses or anywhere to hide.

Trav is absolutely nright and its very refreshing tosee someone put some responsibility and expectation on the players. We are not plucking players with potential any more out of the lower divisions. Some of the lads we have right now have played often in the prem and come with a hefty wage.

I like Fazarkerly's style alot.

[1964FOX]

Yes it's the player's job to play to their best ability and put in 100% but you won't be surprised to hear me say it's down to the fans to create the atmosphere. It won't be an issue on Monday night as it's usually ok against Forest. Its the rest of the games we need to show more passion, sad thing is we make more noise getting on the players backs if we are not playing well than when we are playing well at most games.

So my opinion is it's a stupid comment, but I do like the fact he at least cares and wants atmosphere.

[unreachable]

Yes it's the player's job to play to their best ability and put in 100% but you won't be surprised to hear me say it's down to the fans to create the atmosphere. It won't be an issue on Monday night as it's usually ok against Forest. Its the rest of the games we need to show more passion, sad thing is we make more noise getting on the players backs if we are not playing well than when we are playing well at most games.

So my opinion is it's a stupid comment, but I do like the fact he at least cares and wants atmosphere.

Faz's comments are quite reasonable. The sound/atmosphere fluctuates depending upon how the team is playing. That's hardly controversial but there's always people ready to criticise. Fans' groups also influence the atmosphere but the quality of the team's play definitely stimulates the majority of fans to clap/chant.

[Daggers]

Maybe if some stickers were put up in the tunnel they players would emerge more invigorated?

[Kitchandro]

I think he's just stating the obvious, the crowd does tend to go quiet when nothing is happening or we are playing badly. That's the same anywhere. People get fed up with singing and start to get a bit anxious.

It would be nice if everyone could sing non-stop, but I think it does work both ways, fans care and they are going to get a bit frustrated if we are playing poorly. Doesn't take much to get them going again though.

I'm sure the atmosphere will be great on Monday

[Bettsj2]

Maybe if some stickers were put up in the tunnel they players would emerge more invigorated?

What kind of stickers?

Only reason I ask is the band i'm in always seems to rehearse better if the rehearsal room has pictures of fit women plastered all over the walls.

I know Sven would be up for it.

[Thracian]

Maybe if some stickers were put up in the tunnel they players would emerge more invigorated?

Or even some strikers!