The Best Is Yet To Come – Maresca Speaks Pre-Rotherham
It’s a case of so far so good for the Foxes in the Sky Bet Championship. Three wins from three, nine points on the board and a 100 per cent across league and cup competitions has placed a feel-good factor around King Power Stadium.
There’s still plenty to work to do, Maresca warns, as he prepares his team for another Championship bout, this time against Rotherham United, with the Millers’ New York Stadium the venue for Saturday’s 3pm BST kick-off.
Developing the idea
Speaking to the media at LCFC Training Ground on Friday afternoon, ahead of bidding to notch up another success in south Yorkshire, the Italian was effusive in his praise for the way the players have adapted but is eager to see more from the squad as the season progresses.
“Most of the time we judge the results, but we also need to judge the performance and I’m quite happy in terms of improvement,” Maresca told reporters from inside the King Power Centre. “It’s never easy to win a game in football, it doesn’t matter who the opponent is, you need to do the right things.
“It’s not just Leicester, for all of the rest of the clubs, we are just in August. It’s normal that there are many things that are working well, and there are many others that are working, but not good enough. For us, it is the same. For sure, we have just started and from here we can only improve.
“In our case, we’ve faced Coventry, Huddersfield and Cardiff. Most of them were waiting for us and then recovering the ball and attacking in transition. It’s probably something that we need to improve on.
“This is a big change. It will happen but not so often that it is happening now. But I’m not worried at all about this, because any team that wants to play, will concede something. Because at the end, you are open when you try to play in the opposite side.
“The idea is to have the ball as much as we can, but the opponent is also there to play the game and to win and to try to use their weapon to help us. I think it’s normal that in the same game you concede something.
“Probably against Cardiff in the last game, during the first 45 minutes, the only shot on target was the goal. From there, to try and play 95 minutes without conceding anything is a bit unrealistic, to think that you are not going to concede.”
Rotherham in focus
It took a late second-half strike from Stephy Mavididi to come away from Huddersfield Town with victory and Maresca is predicting a similarly testing trip at Rotherham this weekend, despite the Millers’ failure to register a win of their own so far in 2023/24.
“It’s a difficult league, the Championship,” the 43-year-old stated. “It’s exactly what I expected. All the opponents that we’ve faced are well organised. It’s another difficult game. To be honest, they are very aggressive and another good team who are well organised.
“I think last year they got over 50 points. It’s a club that, especially when you start three games and have lost two and drawn one, the desire to win is big. So, for sure we are going to face a team that are very aggressive and we need to be aggressive too.”
Casadei’s qualities
New boy Cesare Casadei was the hero against Cardiff City last weekend, scoring an injury-time winner on debut, just days after making a loan move from Chelsea. The midfielder can become a key player for the Foxes this season, his Manager believes.
“I know Cesare quite well,” the former Manchester City assistant revealed. “He’s from Italy and he’s a player who is always there, even in the goal that he scored in the last game. You can see that the shot from Kiernan [Dewsbury-Hall], if the defender does touch the ball, he is there to push the ball to score.
“And even when Jamie [Vardy] is on the floor and everyone is shouting for a penalty, he is the only one who is focused on the ball and scores the goal. This is a clear message of how Cesare is. The simple thing is that we pushed a lot to get him because we are sure that he is going to help us a lot.
“He did in the first game, but this is very similar in that we don’t think that we won’t concede chances or lose a game. It’s the same thing for Cesare. We cannot think that every game is good, creating chances. For sure he is going to help us, but also he’s only 20 years old. He needs time, he needs to go step by step.”