Maresca Pleased With Pre-Season Outing
- Leicester City beat Thai side Port FC 1-0 at Alpine Football Camp Training
- The pre-season friendly formed part of the Club’s tour of Southeast Asia
- Manager Enzo Maresca assessed the benefits of a competitive game
- Singapore is City’s next destination to take on Liverpool on Sunday
The Foxes defeated the Thai outfit courtesy of Wilfred Ndidi’s early strike, as the Club’s pre-season tour of Southeast Asia continued in searing heat at Alpine Football Camp Training.
Speaking at full-time in Bangkok, the 43-year-old outlined the progress made across the 90 minutes of action he oversaw.
“I think the performance was good,” the manager revealed post-match. “Thinking that we are where we are, we started less than one month ago, so I’m quite happy. The players, they tried to find the solution that we prepared since day one.
“There’s no doubt that they are improving. No doubt that they are understanding the idea. But to think that after one month of pre-season, they already know the full idea, it’s impossible.
“Hopefully we’re going to be ready for the first official game, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t many, many things to learn.”
While the bulk of City’s squad have now gained minutes in the tank, summer recruit Conor Coady continues to be assessed back in the UK, with a decision yet to be made on whether he will join up with the rest of his team-mates for the final leg of the trip, in Singapore.
Explaining the current situation, Maresca commented: “We arrived here less than one week ago and then the Tottenham game was suspended. Some days are very hot, some days it is raining a lot. It is difficult, but it is what it is and we need to adapt.
“Conor unfortunately got an injury against OH Leuven one week ago. Now we see what is happening in the next few hours. Probably then we will know something more about him. He’s in Leicester, so we need to wait a little bit.
“Because he was one of the new players who signed, since day one he was in the process of our idea, so it’s a shame, but he’s not with us.”
Liverpool are Leicester’s next opposition on Sunday (10am BST kick-off), providing one final competitive fixture prior to the new Sky Bet Championship season commencing against Coventry City seven days later.
The ex-Manchester City assistant added: “Absolutely it will be a good test for us and it’s just one week before the first official game. But our idea on the ball and off the ball will be quite similar. I don’t think that we need to change completely.
“For sure, of course, we are going to modify some things, but we cannot think that because the opponent is strong or weak, we can behave one way or another different way. The team needs to have a clear idea, as we saw today, and from there, keep going.”