Justin Comfortable With New Defensive Role

First Team
18 Sep 2020
2 Minutes
Leicester City defender James Justin is aiming to continue putting in positive performances following the Foxes' 3-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion last weekend.

- Leicester City defeated West Bromwich Albion 3-0 on the opening day of the Premier League campaign
- James Justin played as a left-back at the Hawthorns and says he is comfortable in that position
- City's new-look backline was praised after keeping a clean sheet in the season opener

The full-back was pleased with how the team performed as a collective against the Baggies, with Jamie Vardy (2) and new signing Timothy Castagne both on the scoresheet in the Midlands.

Attention now turns to City's next Premier League encounter, against Burnley, on Sunday (7pm kick-off), when the Foxes will be looking to continue a solid start to the new campaign. 

"It was a good performance from us," Justin commented, speaking to LCFC TV earlier this week.

"More so in the second half, we took a little bit of time to get into our stride in the first half because we hadn't really played together and you could see us gelling much better in the second half.

"Overall it was a good performance and the gaffer relayed that. [The clean sheet] was a massive thing for us.

"We obviously hadn't been together as a back four at all, we only had three days to prepare as a lot of us were on international break, but I feel when you're playing with top players, it's easier to gel and we definitely did that."

The England Under-21 international slotted in seamlessly at left-back on Sunday, with Castagne on the right, and he is boosted by the fact that manager Brendan Rodgers trusts him to play in that role, if required.

"It's quite a big difference to be honest," he added. "Your whole game is flipped over, you're defending with the other foot, you're passing with the other foot, but it's definitely something that I can do and hopefully we can see more of it this season. 

"I've had chats about it, about how comfortable I am at left-back and obviously the result of that is me playing left-back and hopefully I can put in performances like I did at the weekend to show him that I'm not a right-back playing at left-back, that I can just be a left-back.

"When we got the team news, we were thinking this isn't what we prepared for, but I guess it's a big respect from them to us in changing shape (to five at the back) because obviously it's their first game back in the Premier League.

"We didn't really know what to expect, but we dealt with it well and we laid out what our pressing triggers were before the game and we stuck to them well."

All times BST.