Maresca ‘Proud’ Of City’s Performance At Bournemouth
- Leicester City beat AFC Bournemouth in the Emirates FA Cup on Tuesday
- Abdul Fatawu scored the Foxes’ winner in extra-time at Vitality Stadium
- Manager Enzo Maresca was delighted with the team’s performance
- He had made nine changes to the side, including several Academy players
The tie went to extra-time at Vitality Stadium and was goalless until Abdul Fatawu’s stunner in the 105th minute separated the sides and saw the Foxes into the quarter-finals of the competition.
Analysing the performance, City’s Manager was effusive in his praise for the team, with nine changes made to the XI beaten by Leeds United four days ago. The victory ended a run of back-to-back defeats, too.
He said following full-time: “I’m very proud for tonight’s performance and very proud of the way we performed on Friday and against Boro. It’s always there. Sometimes it’s a matter of taking your chances.
“Tonight the performance was really good so I’m happy for all of them, the young players who were involved and the senior players, they did very well. We said, it doesn’t matter the opponent, Premier League, or League 1 or League 2, or Championship, we always try to play in our way.
“Sometimes we are able to do it, sometimes we aren’t able to do it, but the important thing is the way we perform.”
Commenting on Fatawu’s goal, his fourth in a Leicester shirt, Maresca joked that the winger had many attempts in previous games to add to his tally, but was more than pleased to see this one hit the back of the net.
The Italian commented: “He probably shoots 25 times (from that position) during his time at Leicester and finally he scored that one tonight. I remember many other shots in the stands from him so if we are to wait another 25 shots, it’s a bit long!
“I think we had once again many chances. We missed all of them but at the end it’s important to create chances and to be more clinical for sure.”
Fatawu was one of five substitutes to make an impact, with the whole squad called upon to ensure it was the Foxes who progressed into the last-eight, while Jannik Vestergaard and Conor Coady were superb at the back to earn a clean sheet after 120 minutes.
“The game dictated the changes a little bit,” the 44-year-old explained. “Tonight was starting with nine changes compared to Leeds and afterwards we made some changes which were good. Sometimes they are not, but overall the performance from them was very good.
“It was fantastic. I was impressed with both of them (Vestergaard and Coady), especially Conor. I’ve always said he’s a very important player and unfortunately he is not playing many minutes but he’s doing a fantastic job and hopefully we can give him more minutes for the final rush.”
The Performance Was Really Good, Says Maresca
Hear Manager Enzo Maresca's take on Leicester City's 1-0 win over AFC Bournemouth in the Emirates FA Cup.
Queens Park Rangers are up next in the league at the weekend and full focus is back on the Sky Bet Championship, with a special mention also going to the near-2,000 supporters who travelled down to the South Coast.
“The important thing is QPR on Saturday,” he added. “This is the most important thing. There’s no time to enjoy. Now it’s already time to think about QPR so, on the way back, we’re going to start preparing for the game on Saturday.
“It’s always nice. I’ve said many times, we would like to have the same environment at home but tonight was fantastic. During the week to travel from Leicester to here is a long trip and thanks to all of them.”