Maresca: Putting Building Blocks In Place
- Leicester City face Tottenham Hotspur in Thailand on Sunday (11am kick-off)
- It will be the first fixture of the Club’s pre-season tour of Southeast Asia
- New Manager Enzo Maresca spoke to the media ahead of the game
- He referenced the importance of the trip to prepare for the new season
The Foxes, who flew out to Thailand on Friday, resumed preparations for the new Sky Bet Championship campaign with an open training session, having been greeted by waves of Thai LCFC supporters upon touchdown in the country.
And speaking alongside defender James Justin in Bangkok, the Foxes’ new Manager outlined his ambitions for the trip, which will see City take on Tottenham Hotspur – at 11am BST on Sunday – and then Liverpool during the Singapore leg of the tour.
In the pre-match press conference, the 43-year-old commented: “I’m very happy, proud and excited to be here, to see our supporters in Thailand. We are in the pre-season moment now. The only thing we can do is to train every day and work to get better and better to be ready for the first official game.
“We started one month ago in pre-season. We are in preparation. We have 25 or 26 players. We’re happy to have the squad with us.
“We are very happy to see all our supporters. We have so many of them so tomorrow will be a big, good game against an important opponent. It’ll be good to have them with us in the stadium tomorrow.
“The weather plays an important part in this moment, but at the same time, it’s the same for them. It’s football. It’ll be 90 minutes and that’s all. We need to adapt.”
Maresca & Justin Preview Spurs Clash
Manager Enzo Maresca and James Justin preview Sunday's showpiece friendly with Tottenham Hotspur in Bangkok.
With full focus on being ready to take on Coventry City in 2023/24 curtain raiser at King Power Stadium on Sunday 6 August, the upcoming pre-season fixtures against Premier League opposition will provide another chance for Maresca to get eyes on how his new-look squad are shaping up, having already met Peterborough United, Northampton Town and OH Leuven.
“For me, it’s clear,” the former Manchester City assistant added. “It’s day by day to see tomorrow how the team adapt to my idea, how we grow and improve. This is the only target I have in this moment.
“Every manager has a different idea with a different squad and different ideas. We just try to adapt to do good work.”