‘It Will Be Tough’ – Maresca On Returning & Watford

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‘It Will Be Tough’ – Maresca On Returning & Watford

Leicester City intend to get back on track in the Sky Bet Championship this weekend following the resumption of the league campaign, says Enzo Maresca.

2023-11-25T07:00:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

25 Nov, 2023

‘It Will Be Tough’ – Maresca On Returning & Watford

Leicester City intend to get back on track in the Sky Bet Championship this weekend following the resumption of the league campaign, says Enzo Maresca.

Sam Jones

2023-11-25T07:00:00.000Z

‘It Will Be Tough’ – Maresca On Returning & Watford

Leicester City intend to get back on track in the Sky Bet Championship this weekend following the resumption of the league campaign, says Enzo Maresca.

Sam Jones

2023-11-25T07:00:00.000Z

‘It Will Be Tough’ – Maresca On Returning & Watford

Leicester City intend to get back on track in the Sky Bet Championship this weekend following the resumption of the league campaign, says Enzo Maresca.

Sam Jones

2023-11-25T07:00:00.000Z

‘It Will Be Tough’ – Maresca On Returning & Watford

Leicester City intend to get back on track in the Sky Bet Championship this weekend following the resumption of the league campaign, says Enzo Maresca.

Sam Jones

2023-11-25T07:00:00.000Z

Back-to-back defeats stalled an excellent start to 2023/24 for Maresca’s men, with the Italian twice picking up the Manager of the Month award at an early juncture in the season, leading the Foxes to top spot in the division.

Still ahead of second-placed Ipswich Town on goal difference, the intention is to maintain or extend that gap by picking up three points when Watford visit King Power Stadium in Saturday’s 3pm BST kick-off.

Returning from international duty

The latest international window has enabled a period of analysis to take place, alongside more time spent on the training pitch, a benefit Maresca is always keen to implement when the rigours of the Championship schedule allows, as he told reporters during his pre-match press conference.

The 43-year-old commented from Seagrave on Friday: “We tried to analyse a little bit of all of our games and we tried to find some more solutions in behind, always respecting the idea and way that we want to play.

“We tried to see where we can improve. It doesn’t mean we are going to play long ball. It just means that after the process we can try to exploit a little bit more of the space in behind. Will it happen tomorrow? I don’t know, we will see.

“[The break] could be more useful having all the squad, but that’s my situation and every manager’s situation. That’s why we try to focus on what we can improve with the players we have in the moment.

“We try to do extra work with the players we have and also analyse all the situations to see if we can start something so that when the other players join us, we have already started and they can see something.”

Aiming to bounce back

Remaining at the league’s summit in spite of successive losses, the aim is very much to return to winning ways this weekend, City’s Manager assured, while also assessing the threats the visitors will pose on Filbert Way.

“It’s a team who press very well, they are very aggressive,” the Italian explained. “It’s a team that create chances and then they have very good players in general. It will be a tough game.

“There is no doubt that it is not a good thing to lose one game or two and three is even worse. But it’s our job. We try every game to win, it’s our target, but sometimes it doesn’t happen for different reasons. We’re going to try and win the game for sure.”

Squad competition

Harry Souttar (two goals) and Patson Daka (three goals) both made meaningful contributions for their countries in the week and although game time has been hard to come by for the pair this term due to the form of other players, they provide Maresca with options that he is more than willing to use in the coming games.

He continued: “Patson [Daka] and Harry [Souttar] are unbelievable in terms of being very good guys, very polite, and training very well. The reason why they don’t get minutes is, first of all, because at the beginning of the season the idea was that they could leave. Then they stay, which doesn’t matter. We are all here and we are going to use them.

“In general, there is no issue or problem with them. They are fantastic and work very good every day. The problem for Pat is that we have Kel (Kelechi Iheanacho), Jamie [Vardy] and now Tom [Cannon] is back. Kel and Jamie are two players doing very well.

“Harry is exactly the same. He had chances against Liverpool and Stoke and he played well. But at the same time, Jannik [Vestergaard] is doing well, Wout [Faes] is doing well. I’m happy for him (Vestergaard) because any player that doesn’t get minutes is not happy.

“The only thing I can say is that he is giving us what we want on the ball and off the ball. Then he was also with the international team. We also have more solutions because there are many games, so we see for the future.

“Conor [Coady] is another guy who is an important player even if he is not playing. The reasons are very simple, it’s not because I have any problem with them. The only thing you can say is to keep working and wait for the chances.”

Winks’ absence

A fifth yellow card picked up at Middlesbrough leaves Harry Winks out of contention for the visit of Watford, with Hamza Choudhury set to start in his place against the Hornets. While acknowledging the qualities that City’s No.8 provides, Maresca stressed that nothing will change in terms of philosophy and style of play in his absence.

“Nobody can give us the same things as Harry Winks, because they are all different,” the former Manchester City coach explained. “We are going to use a player who is going to give us different things. Unfortunately, Harry is suspended, but we have another player who can play in his position.

“Hamza is going to play because we consider he is the right player to play in Harry’s position. We are not going to modify the way we want to build or play. For sure, the player that is playing in Harry’s position can probably give us something more in one way and something less in other way. But in the end, it doesn’t mean we’ll change.”

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