‘Anything Can Happen’ – Maresca On Bristol City & Beyond
A duo of fixtures are coming up over this busy Easter weekend, with Norwich City set to be welcomed to King Power Stadium on Monday, three days on from visiting Bristol City on Friday (12:30pm GMT kick-off), a game that Maresca looked towards in Thursday’s pre-match press conference…
Recovery key
The week’s work has centred around the steps taken to ensure the players available are in top condition for the trip to the South West, while also having the quick turnaround from Friday to Monday in mind.
Full focus, however, must solely be on the Robins, Maresca warned, in order to walk away from Ashton Gate with a positive result. Although Liam Manning’s side sit 14th in the standings, nothing can be taken for taken for granted at this stage of the campaign.
“This international break, the focus was just about recovering players,” Leicester’s Manager explained. “We tried some new solutions in case the games requires them, not just tomorrow’s game, but in general until the end, hopefully not, but the most important thing in this moment is to recover energy.
“We have nine games to go, and every game until the end, for us, but for any team, will be very difficult and a very tough game, because every club is playing for some target. Teams are playing to survive, to get promoted, or for the play-offs. Anything can happen.
“Now it’s to go game-by-game because if you think about Monday, you probably lose the focus on tomorrow. Now the target is tomorrow and then from tomorrow afternoon we start to think about Norwich.”
‘A perfect situation’
Now trailing Leeds United at the top of the table, albeit only on goal difference with a game in hand to play, the Italian insisted that concentration has not shifted away from the team’s main aim as the final stretch comes into view.
“Forty-six games is something unbelievable,” Maresca analysed. “It’s a difficult league but the league that we belong to, so we need to adapt. We probably need around 100 points to get promoted this year, which has never happened in the past.
“The good thing is that we are in a perfect situation; we are happy where we are, we just need to finish well. I can see that the players are quite focused on our final target. Most of the noise is outside.
“Before we were playing to win games and we continue with that. We have one game in hand in this moment and the goal difference is for Leeds, but for me, because of the amount of games in such a short period, you don’t have time to sit and look at the table. You just have to win games and that’s all.”
The race is on
Putting a sticky patch of form behind them, having taken four points from a possible six prior to the international break, as well as producing an encouraging display away to Chelsea in the Emirates FA Cup, gives the 44-year-old assurance of continuing to reach the required levels when it really matters.
The former Manchester City coach added: “It’s already 25 years that I am involved in football. I know that the reality is not to win with 10-15 points higher than second. Also I respect Leeds, Southampton and Ipswich and I know that until the end they are going to be here with us.
“Since we started, I have said it is not the reality - what they have done is something incredible. Winning 19 of 23 games in the first round was not normal. In the last 12 games, Leeds have won 11 and drawn one, that is fantastic and they deserve to be where they are now with us.
“For me it will be that every game is crucial until the end and when you win you’ll be there and if you drop points, you’re not. It’s a race. Sometimes you are going to be in front, sometimes you are going to be behind.
“The most important thing is the players continuing to perform in the way that they are every day. The games that we have already played are there, but the games we analyse, it’s football, you can lose a game, it happens, but not one of those games we lost we finish and think we deserved to lose.
“Now we focus to try and win and reach our target.”