Maresca Expects 'Difficult' Rotherham Game

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Maresca Expects 'Difficult' Rotherham Game

Enzo Maresca referenced the importance of adapting to the schedule as part of Leicester City’s preparations for the festive period.

2023-12-23T07:00:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

23 Dec, 2023

Maresca Expects 'Difficult' Rotherham Game

Enzo Maresca referenced the importance of adapting to the schedule as part of Leicester City’s preparations for the festive period.

Sam Jones

2023-12-23T07:00:00.000Z

Maresca Expects 'Difficult' Rotherham Game

Enzo Maresca referenced the importance of adapting to the schedule as part of Leicester City’s preparations for the festive period.

Sam Jones

2023-12-23T07:00:00.000Z

Maresca Expects 'Difficult' Rotherham Game

Enzo Maresca referenced the importance of adapting to the schedule as part of Leicester City’s preparations for the festive period.

Sam Jones

2023-12-23T07:00:00.000Z

Maresca Expects 'Difficult' Rotherham Game

Enzo Maresca referenced the importance of adapting to the schedule as part of Leicester City’s preparations for the festive period.

Sam Jones

2023-12-23T07:00:00.000Z

Ahead of this year’s final Filbert Way fixture, less than a week on from beating Birmingham City across the Midlands, Maresca had his say on how his team are readying for the run-in and what he expects when tackling Leam Richardson’s side this Saturday…

‘We need to refresh’

A traditionally busy time of year in the football calendar, 2023 is no different, with the Foxes set to face Rotherham United in their last pre-Christmas Day encounter, before away trips to Ipswich Town and Cardiff City prior to welcoming Huddersfield Town to King Power Stadium on New Year’s Day.

“There’s both sides,” the Italian told reporters in his pre-match press conference. “It’s nice to play at Christmas time. When you are abroad and the only country that was playing games was England, it was nice to watch the games. When you are here, you realise how difficult it is, because you don’t have a rest.

“But it is what it is, and we need to adapt. It is an important part, not only at Christmas but all over the season, especially with the number of games that we have. We need recovery, we need to refresh in terms of treatment, vitamins and these kind of things so we can do our best.”

‘The toughest game’

The Millers may sit bottom of the Sky Bet Championship heading into the weekend, but Maresca is by no means underestimating the south Yorkshire side, who have picked up important points against some of the division’s high-flyers and were only narrowly beaten last time out by a late Foxes goal at New York Stadium.

He commented: “For sure, 100 per cent, it will be the most difficult game of the season for us, no doubt. People have forgotten that they drew with Leeds, they drew with Ipswich, the drew with Southampton and they beat Norwich. People only look at the table, but we make the game easy or difficult because of us.

“My feeling is that this a game that will be tough, in this moment it is the toughest that we can face. Probably because of the table everyone is expecting that it will be easy. In the last five or six we have won four or five, but it’s not like this. We saw against Sheffield Wednesday, they were last in the table when we faced them and we dropped points.”

‘Never easy’

By contrast, the Foxes are at the division’s summit and with 18 victories from 22 matches. Reflecting on the season so far, having almost reached the half-way point, the 43-year-old is pleased with what he has seen, while also acknowledging the need for constant development.

“We started a new journey but it’s never easy,” Maresca assessed. “We’re quite happy but we have the second half of the season that we still need to play. The only thing I can say is that there are many things that we can improve. We see it game after game, every day, after each session.

“The good thing is that it’s so dynamic. Every day we see things that we can absolutely improve - how we can attack, the way they defend, how we need to improve the way that we defend.”

Marçal’s new contract

Academy graduate Wanya Marçal signed a new deal until 2026 earlier on Friday, with the 21-year-old winger having scored his first senior goal for the Club at the start of the campaign, before earning more minutes for the Development Squad.

“He deserves it because he did well with us when we needed him,” the former Manchester City coach added. “As we said at the beginning of the season, he had more chances because of our situations in terms of wingers. Now he is not joining us and playing, not because he did badly, simply because we have more options.

“Kasey [McAteer] was not here, Stephy [Mavididi] was not here, Abdul [Fatawu] was not here and Yunus [Akgün] was not here, so we used him at the beginning. Now he just needs to continue to work and wait for some more chances.”

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