'Be Focused On The Game' – Maresca's Coventry Message
The Foxes have adapted superbly to the Sky Bet Championship this season and currently hold a 10-point lead at the top of the table after a December which saw them take 19 points from a possible 21.
Maresca, though, knows the success which the Club is striving for can only be achieved by retaining those high levels through the entire season. City travel to Coventry this weekend for this year's second instalment of the M69 Derby, after narrowly winning the first 2-1 at King Power Stadium back in August. Ahead of what promises to be another thrilling contest, the Italian spoke to the media to offer his thoughts ahead of a second-tier clash which he expects to test his side.
'April or May is too far away'
Maresca believes his side's improvement since their last meeting with Coventry is clear to see, but says there is still much to work on over the coming months.
"When you have time to work with your team, you always try to improve your team," the Manager said. "I think we have improved in many things, but as I’ve always said, we have many, many things that we can still improve and we are going to try to improve. Compared with August, five or six months ago, it’s normal that now the team is getting better. Hopefully, with more games and more training sessions, more days together, we can improve more."
Confidence is rising among a group of players which includes many who suffered the heartache of relegation. With fresh faces added in the summer, there's a newfound positivity among the group which is pushing Leicester towards the top once more.
"Results always help – as a manager, a coaching staff and also the players," he explained. "Since we started, I think we are in a good mood. The results help a lot but we have still three or four months to continue in this way. We are just looking at Coventry tomorrow. I always say the same. We are in January, April or May is too far [in the future]. We’ll see where we are. For sure, we are happy for the fans because I said many times, when you get relegated, for a fan it’s a very bad moment. We are very happy that they are enjoying results and the way we play. Hopefully we can continue and give them a big joy at the end of the season."
'I love the environment of a derby'
While the Foxes Manager is excited for the occasion at Coventry Building Society Arena on Saturday, he is looking for his players to manage the atmosphere and continue to play their football on the day.
Initially recalling the last encounter in August, he added: "It was a very difficult game. Probably one or two months before, they lost the [play-off] final, so that means a lot in the way they were working and are still working. The good thing was that we won the game in the way we won the game. We started 0-1 down. We continued the way we want to play and, in the end, we scored two nice goals in terms of build-up and gave our fans the joy to win the first game. As a player and as a manager, I love the environment of a derby, but for us, we’re going to try to be focused on the game and try to win the game, that’s it."
Maresca is full of admiration for Coventry manager Mark Robins' work, with the former Foxes star leading the Sky Blues to promotions from League 2 and League 1, also lifting the EFL Trophy in 2017. Missing out on a rise to the Premier League on a penalty shootout in last term's play-off final, Coventry are looking to make a late dash for the top six once again.
"He has been there for many years," Maresca continued. "He did a fantastic job last year. They were very close to reaching the Premier League. This year, they are there. I think they are on the same path to last year in terms of they struggled a little bit at the beginning and then the second half [of the season] was fantastic. Now they are in the same way. Absolutely [Robins] is doing a great job there."
'Hopefully he can take 25 per cent of Jamie Vardy!'
Tom Cannon's form has been a headline of City's start to the New Year, with the summer signing from Everton recovering from an injury to net three goals in his last two outings. With Jamie Vardy, one of the English game's most prolific strikers of the 21st century to learn from, Maresca is confident that the Republic of Ireland youth international can continue to impress.
"Hopefully he can take 25 per cent of Jamie Vardy!" he joked. "Tom, for me, is doing the same thing that Pat (Patson Daka) did. They waited for their chances and they took it. Now it’s Tom, he’s doing fantastic and hopefully he can score more goals with us."
Another player in supreme form for the Foxes at the moment is winger Stephy Mavididi, who was rewarded with December's Sky Bet Player of the Month prize. After netting five goals last month, the former Arsenal youth prospect is now achieving a level of consistency in his game, something Maresca and the coaching staff have helped him with.
"The reason why Stephy is here is because we really like Stephy," the Manager said. "Before we buy any players, we have a look at many games. We liked Stephy. Since we started the season, the only problem for him, especially at the beginning, was that one game was good and two games were not good… two games were good and one game was not good. There was not consistency.
"Now, in the last one or two months, he’s improving a lot in this aspect. Hopefully he can continue to improve. He is very happy about the Player of the Month [award] but he knows that, to be ambitious, he has go for Player of the Year, or he has to get promoted. That is much more important than winning Player of the Month."