‘We Deserved It’ – Maresca’s Swansea Assessment
- Leicester City defeated 3-1 Swansea City to remain clear at the top of the Sky Bet Championship
- Enzo Maresca’s side have achieved a club record six successive away wins after success in Wales
- Jannik Vestergaard, Abdul Fatawu and Kelechi Iheanacho all scored at Swansea.com Stadium
- Patience and full belief in the idea allowed the team to triumph, Maresca believes
Falling behind 20 minutes into Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship clash, it took Jannik Vestergaard’s first goal for the Club to restore parity at the break. From there it was largely one-way traffic, with Abdul Fatawu striking and Kelechi Iheanacho adding a third to wrap things up late on.
A seventh-straight league victory, Club records tumbled as Maresca’s men notched up a sixth consecutive away triumph, eclipsing the previous record held since 2014. They've now also achieved the Championship’s best-ever start of 11 wins from 12 matches.
“It’s good, I’m happy to be honest,” the Italian said, reflecting on the performance and result following full-time. “Especially because we have won one more game, which at the end is the most important thing. We played a good game.
“We could have scored some more goals and been a little bit more clinical, especially first half, but in the end, I’m very happy. It was important (to score an equaliser). But at the same time, we completed deserved the draw (at half-time) and to score the goal, because before the goal we created some chances.”
Michael Duff’s Swans posed a tough challenge, with Matt Grimes’ controlled volley seeing the hosts seize the early advantage. But with belief in the idea, Leicester were able to turn the game around, much to the 43-year-old’s satisfaction.
“At the end it’s always difficult, they also want to create chances and score,” the Manager explained. “But we controlled it quite well in the first half. We always said, when you play, the opponent is waiting for the mistake and you can concede some transitions.
“But we created situations and in the second half we continued in the same way. It’s character and especially not losing our way to play, continuing our way to play even at 1-0 down because at the same time, we know that we’re going to create some chances.
“They did not panic. The good feeling is that when we were 1-0 down, I can see players in the box like Harry [Winks] and Jannik. At the end, something is going to happen. They tried with their wingers to close our pockets, so the space was outside.
“It’s clear that the space is not inside and we need our wingers to behave in the way they did today. It doesn’t matter if they lose a one vs. one, we can cause problems. This is the way.”
With Storm Babet raging overnight, it was not an easy journey for the travelling 1,953 Foxes fans to make it across to south Wales. The 43-year-old was appreciative of the support from the stands, as ever.
The former Manchester City coach continued: “Once again, we said after Southampton, Norwich, Blackburn and now today, when we play away there is always lots of them to be honest and we are very thankful because to play away and to have them here with us is always very important.”
We Played A Good Game, Says Maresca
Enzo Maresca offers his post-match thoughts on Leicester City's 3-1 victory over Swansea City.
It’s a quick turnaround with Sunderland on the horizon next Tuesday, just over 72 hours after the win in Wales. Leicester have become accustomed to the Championship’s rigorous schedule and recovery will be key for Maresca.
He’ll be assessing the squad prior to facing the Black Cats at King Power Stadium, including Yunus Akgün, who had to be replaced late on after appearing to pick up a knock.
“I just asked him and he said he didn’t feel something important,” Maresca confirmed. “He said it was just something, but I don’t think it is anything important so hopefully he is not going to lose any game or any days, but we’ll see.
“Now we are going to play every three days, so it’s always a tricky one, because you never how we are in terms of tiredness, but for them it is the same.”