Maresca: Finishing Well The Message

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Maresca: Finishing Well The Message

Enzo Maresca is purely focused on reaching Leicester City's final target as the end of the Sky Bet Championship season nears.

2024-02-23T07:00:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

23 Feb, 2024

Maresca: Finishing Well The Message

Enzo Maresca is purely focused on reaching Leicester City's final target as the end of the Sky Bet Championship season nears.

Sam Jones

2024-02-23T07:00:00.000Z

Maresca: Finishing Well The Message

Enzo Maresca is purely focused on reaching Leicester City's final target as the end of the Sky Bet Championship season nears.

Sam Jones

2024-02-23T07:00:00.000Z

Maresca: Finishing Well The Message

Enzo Maresca is purely focused on reaching Leicester City's final target as the end of the Sky Bet Championship season nears.

Sam Jones

2024-02-23T07:00:00.000Z

Maresca: Finishing Well The Message

Enzo Maresca is purely focused on reaching Leicester City's final target as the end of the Sky Bet Championship season nears.

Sam Jones

2024-02-23T07:00:00.000Z

The race for Premier League promotion is hotting up and plenty more twists and turns are expected in the coming weeks, starting with this weekend’s bout between the division’s current top two.

Ahead of City travelling up the M1 to Elland Road to face Leeds United on Friday evening (8pm kick-off), Maresca provided his thoughts and expectations on the encounter…

Wrestling back momentum

A rare reverse to Middlesbrough behind them, the Foxes must now concentrate on picking up points in the remaining 13 matches. That home defeat did not concern Maresca too much however, preferring to analyse the positive aspects of the performance, with the overall statistics, barring the result, very much in the home side’s favour.

“For sure it’s an important game,” City’s Manager told reporters on Thursday, looking ahead to Leeds. “As we have said already many times, from now on, every game is important because when you win, you see yourself close to the final target. When you drop points, you are a little bit sad.

“In this moment, it’s a matter of balance. We still have 13 games, 12 after tomorrow, so we are in the final rush and final plan, hopefully we can finish well. At the end, it’s three points tomorrow and three points in the next game.

“We never give any importance to the points difference. It was 17 but it was also eight. Now it’s nine. It could be six or could be 12 (after Friday). It’s the final target, we’ll see.

“We try to prepare for the game in the way we want to. We can’t control the final results. We saw that the other day when we completely dominated the game, had many shots, but at the end we lost.

“You can see us dropping points against Boro, Southampton dropping points, Leeds winning every game now, so we don’t know how many they are going to win. It’s difficult. We’ll see after tomorrow’s game. We are going to try and play our game.

“But I don’t think in this moment that tomorrow’s result matters, we are not more confident or less confident. Since day one, we are there trying to finish well. It’s one more game. If we are able to finish first, good, but it’s important for the Club, for the fans, for us, to finish well.”

Leeds’ threats analysed

Daniel Farke’s men are yet to taste defeat at home this season, with Leicester likely to face another electric atmosphere under the lights at Elland Road on Friday night. Also reflecting on the reverse fixture between the sides, which Leeds came out on top in, the attacking talent within their front line is a clear danger.

“I think they are quite similar (to the last game),” the Italian revealed. “They are very dangerous when the opposition has the ball. From the moment that they recover the ball, they are quite a transitional team. Also, on the ball they are very good players, especially the four up front, they are very dangerous, very quick, with quality.

“It’s not about how many games you have won or lost, it’s just tomorrow. They haven’t lost this season at home but last time I was there, they lost to [Man] City, so they can lose.

“Their environment is very good, that is true. But the fans are not going to win the game, it’s 11 vs. 11. But especially at home, if they are already like this (aggressive) away, they can be even more so at home.

“If we are able to decrease the environment, it will be key. But the only way we can is keeping the ball. We’re going to try and control the game with the ball, avoiding some of the transitions that happened in the first game.

“Most of their chances were because we lost the ball. But also at the same time, we cannot think to go there and think we’re not going to lose the ball. It is going to happen but it’s a matter of managing the moment.”

'Fight until the end'

While Maresca believes it is a potentially pivotal fixture for Leeds, any game in which the Foxes can pick up points at this stage of the season will be welcomed, a message he has relayed to the players prior to this one.

He added: “It’s an important game but it’s a huge game for them, because they are nine points behind. For us, it’s one more game. Winning tomorrow, it would be good - it means you need less points to reach the final target.

“If we are not going to win, if we draw or lose, we’re still there and are going to fight until the end. We go there, like always, to try and win the game. Every time you win games, you get closer to the target.

“This year, we have lost two games in a row (once) – against Leeds and Boro. Then after Boro, we won eight of 10. Hopefully tomorrow we can win and start again. If you are able to get four or five wins in a row, it is finished because they are not many games left.”

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