‘We Have To Bounce Back’ - van Nistelrooy Looking For A Reaction

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‘We Have To Bounce Back’ - van Nistelrooy Looking For A Reaction

Ruud van Nistelrooy spoke of the need for further improvement from his Leicester City side in the lead up to facing Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday (2pm GMT kick-off).

2024-12-22T07:00+00:00

by Sam Jones

Published

22 Dec, 2024

‘We Have To Bounce Back’ - van Nistelrooy Looking For A Reaction

Ruud van Nistelrooy spoke of the need for further improvement from his Leicester City side in the lead up to facing Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday (2pm GMT kick-off).

Sam Jones

2024-12-22T07:00+00:00

‘We Have To Bounce Back’ - van Nistelrooy Looking For A Reaction

Ruud van Nistelrooy spoke of the need for further improvement from his Leicester City side in the lead up to facing Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday (2pm GMT kick-off).

Sam Jones

2024-12-22T07:00+00:00

‘We Have To Bounce Back’ - van Nistelrooy Looking For A Reaction

Ruud van Nistelrooy spoke of the need for further improvement from his Leicester City side in the lead up to facing Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday (2pm GMT kick-off).

Sam Jones

2024-12-22T07:00+00:00

‘We Have To Bounce Back’ - van Nistelrooy Looking For A Reaction

Ruud van Nistelrooy spoke of the need for further improvement from his Leicester City side in the lead up to facing Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday (2pm GMT kick-off).

Sam Jones

2024-12-22T07:00+00:00

The first blot on the new Manager’s copybook came at Newcastle United last weekend, with the Foxes beaten at St. James’ Park off the back of two positives results on Filbert Way.

Now tasked with facing a Wolves team who have a new man at the helm themselves in Vítor Pereira, there was plenty of discussion around being the first to take on the new regime in Friday’s pre-match press conference…

‘Be ready’

Pereira, formerly manager of the likes of FC Porto, Corinthians and Flamengo before his most recent stint with Al Shabab, inherits a team positioned inside the Premier League relegation zone, five points away from Leicester in 17th.

Asked about the difficulty of preparing to face the relative unknown, van Nistelrooy believes plenty of work and analysis can be done to be ready for the challenge that a side expected to get a ‘new manager bounce’ will provide.

“That’s the situation that we’re facing,” the Dutchman declared. “Of course, you can do some research on how he’s been doing in Saudi and how he’s been playing in the teams that he managed before.

“We’ve also had a good look at what Wolves have been doing over the last month, because of course there can be changes made but there’s only a [small] amount of time he has had to implement changes. These are all questions that we have to face and prepare for.

“We have to be ready for some surprises and deal with it in the moment itself. Even with a team that you’re analysing, you’re preparing your team for an opponent to play in a certain way. Sometimes they come up with new things and during the game you have to analyse what is happening and react to it from the sidelines.

“That can happen in any game you prepare; you have to be ready for the unexpected. That will also be the case on Sunday. We’ll prepare the team in a certain way and the current situation with Wolves, how they have been playing, and in the game on Sunday, we have to be ready for changes.

“We know where we are in the table and Wolves as well and the situation we’re in and they’re in. For us, it’s important that we continue developing. This is our third week together. From the three games, there’s two positive results and a negative one last weekend.”

‘Protect ourselves’

Wanting more from his side.

Naturally unhappy with the defensive display at Newcastle, conceding four times in the North East, improving on set-piece frailties has formed the basis of this week’s work in Seagrave.

“It’s one that we have to bounce back from and react to,” the former PSV Manager explained. “It wasn’t the performance that we were looking for. It’s important to react on that.

“It’s more things than just the table and where we are and where the opponent is. It’s the next step in the development of where we want to play, want to act and also the reaction from the defeat at Newcastle.

“If you look at the goals we conceded, three were from set-pieces, from a short corner and a free-kick from the side and a throw-in where we weren’t aware and alert enough. That’s cost us the game.

“In open play, in our defensive organisation, we didn’t give that much away. More were on the three or four counter attacks that we gave some chances away and had a good look at.

“We had some good meetings on what cost us the game at Newcastle. Set-pieces were a big part of that, evaluating the phases of the set-pieces and the intention to improve. We’ll look at that and transfer it to the training pitch. I’m expecting to see improvements there.

“Also, I think the most chances we gave away at Newcastle was from when we had the ball and we lost it. It has to do with the decision making and also the structure off the ball.

“After giving away these chances, we have to protect ourselves better on the ball to prevent counter attacks. That’s what we’ve been working on.

“You get to know the players in that way and they get to know me in terms of what I want and the coaching staff. It’s still a work in progress but I’m happy with the attitude and the intensity in training and how the players are buying into it. That can only lead to improvement.”

‘Bring the best performance’

Facing questions posed by reporters at LCFC Training Ground on Friday.

Deemed by some in the media as a critical fixture in the calendar, van Nistelrooy believes that the team must embrace the pressure, thrive in it and not look any further ahead than Sunday’s game, with both Liverpool and Manchester City to come the other side of Christmas.

He added: “It’s important to get a good focus in the game and focus on performing on Sunday and being prepared, which gives us the best chance of a good result. That’s happening during the week.

“Players are buying into the game model and how we want to play in different phases on the game and getting more aligned in that with some good results.

“We had a lesser result against Newcastle, but instead of only looking at the result, the focus has to be on the team performance, the energy, that they are together, and everyone is defending and everyone is attacking.

“And showing great reactions when we lose and win the ball. That has to be the spirit of our team. We’ve been working on that. We’ve seen some very good bits and some disappointing bits so far. But it’s a journey we’re on and that’s what we want to improve on.

“Rather than looking at the table, I would rather emphasise my players to be a winner every day. And as a collective, bring the best performance on Sunday.

“We are professionals. We are facing pressure; we have to embrace it. That pressure is not a problem. We have to handle it. Playing in the Premier League, every game has pressure. We have to be at our best to get results and that is our focus. Let the pressure be a driving force to do well.

“I think that nobody is thinking ahead of Wolves in this moment. I don’t think it will affect our performance because our focus is only on Sunday. We don’t go into a game thinking of a game ahead, that’s not going to help anyone to perform at their best.

“It’s something that we have to block and focus on today and tomorrow to prepare ourselves in the best way and get ready for a peak performance. And after that, we’ll see.”

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