Nugent Praises Cambiasso Influence

Cambiasso earned rave reviews from the watching media for his display, and Nugent confirmed that the Champions League winner is already having a positive impact on the squad. 

“He is a quality player,” said Nugent. “He can see the passes before he plays them, balls around the corner and in behind the defence. His experience is going to do our squad the world of good and that showed in the second half. 

“He is an excellent talker on the pitch. His English is very good, which I didn’t expect, and he is a quality man as well, on and off the pitch. 

“The gaffer did well signing Esteban. He’s a quality player and showed that when he came on. Him and Danny Drinkwater put the ball down and started playing football. Basically, that changed the game for us. 

“We are a young squad with not much experience of playing in the Premier League. There is only really Paul Konchesky and myself who have played a few. So Esteban coming in from Inter Milan, a Champions League winner, is a great coup for the club. He has been excellent so far.” 

It was certainly a difficult test for the Foxes against an in-form Stoke, who had recently beaten Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, but City were resilient defensively, and clinical in attack. 

League debutant Ben Hamer was impressive beaten the sticks under an aerial bombardment from the hosts, who had corner after corner, but it was the Foxes who emerged on top and moved onto five points from a hugely difficult opening four games. 

“It was tough,” reflected Nugent. “They are a good side and they beat Manchester City away last time out so to come here and win is a great result for the lads. 

“First half wasn’t too good but we looked a lot better after the break. We knew ourselves that it wasn’t too good in the first half but the gaffer made two changes, bringing on Danny and Esteban and we seemed to play a lot better. 

“In the end we took our chances and they started to lump it forward. It was a tough game but we deserved the three points. 

“We weren’t our usual selves. We weren’t closing down as much, as we usually do, but we came out and produced the goods. We deserved to win.”