Maresca Sees Encouraging Signs From First-Half Display
- Leicester City were defeated by Liverpool in their final pre-season friendly
- The Reds found the net four times at Singapore National Stadium
- The Foxes will now travel back to the UK ahead of the new campaign
- Manager Enzo Maresca gave his views on the contest following full-time
A final chance to get a look at his squad before the Sky Bet Championship commences next Sunday, the Manager watched on as City made a solid start to the pre-season fixture with the Reds, before being beaten 4-0 at Singapore National Stadium.
Bringing the pre-season tour of Southeast Asia to a close, Darwin Núñez, Bobby Clark, Diogo Jota and Ben Doak were all on the scoresheet for Jürgen Klopp’s side, who quickly took the game away from the Foxes with three goals in eight minutes towards the end of the first half.
“It was good to spend some days here in Singapore,” Maresca told us. “It has been 10 days between Thailand and Singapore. Today I think the team started very, very well in the first half an hour. We were playing good football from the back, creating chances, finding solutions, finding the space.
“Then they are one of the best teams in terms of transition. We concede from that transition, but for me today was important. The result is always important, for sure, of course, but it was important to take a look at the players, to see how they take on the idea, and they were good.
“We created two or three chances against this team. It’s enough sometimes to score without making that many chances. It was very good, but then we concede a goal. When you do that against this sort of player, this team, it’s always dangerous.”
The 43-year-old believes the players are implementing his ideas and strategies to good effect, though there is still work to do in the days to come, to be ready to take on Coventry City at King Power Stadium in a week’s time.
Maresca continued: “I think it was quite clear. Not only in the first half an hour, but also in the second half, the team always tried to find solutions, to play and it even surprised me because I was sure that the players and the team are getting better, but I didn’t expect to see the way we played in the first half an hour. It was very good.
“I’ve said to the players, now we have a rest, one or two days with family after 10 days away and then we start the week on Tuesday, focused already on our first Championship game.”