Faes: Raise Our Game Further

- Leicester City were beaten 2-1 by Fulham in the Premier League
- Defender Wout Faes scored the Foxes’ goal at Craven Cottage
- He reviewed a first defeat of 2024/25 for Steve Cooper’s men
- City return to action on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup Second Round

The Belgian’s goal on 38 minutes cancelled out Emile Smith Rowe’s opener, but Alex Iwobi popped up with the winner to leave Leicester looking for a first victory of the new campaign.

The ruthlessness of the Premier League was on full show in the capital, Faes believes, though the narrow reverse did provide some good opportunities to learn before moving on to a busy week of fixtures, starting with Tranmere Rovers in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening.

“It’s a tough one to take,” he admitted following full-time in west London. “I think we were in the game for the 90 minutes so it’s a bitter one. I think you see the quality that there is and one or two mistakes means you get a goal against. We have to raise those little moments and then when we get our chances as well, take them.

“In the end, there’s some positives but we have to get the three points as soon as possible, starting next week. We go again on Saturday. We have to look back and see what we did well and what we didn’t do well.

“Then obviously the coach will speak to us about it and we will take that into training and improve. It’s all about the dynamics that he (Steve Cooper) puts into it. He gives me a lot of responsibility, which I like, so I hope to keep playing a lot and play all season.

“Of course, we now have to focus on the cup first. We have a good game at home again to get some momentum going into the weekend to maybe get the first win in the Premier League as well.”

VAR intervened on the Faes leveller, after the offside flag had initially ruled out his header from a Facundo Buonanotte corner, with the defender outlining the significance of taking those sort of opportunities more frequently in the weeks to come.

The centre-back explained: “We do work a lot on set pieces because we know it’s an important part of the game. It’s good to get a goal out of it. That proves that the work has paid off. Obviously, we targeted the second zone in this game and luckily it counted.

“There’s a guy who really takes care of the set pieces so it’s very specific in an attacking and defensive way because it’s a big part of the game in the Premier League which can make us win games, but also lose games, so we really have to keep paying attention to that aspect of the game.”

New recruits Oliver Skipp and Jordan Ayew have already made an impact, Faes revealed, despite limited time on the training pitch with their new team-mates ahead of being introduced from the bench for their Leicester debuts during the second half at Craven Cottage.

“It’s good that they are here,” the 26-year-old added. “They are going to help the team a lot. You can see the quality that they bring.

“Obviously, Jordan has a lot of experience and you could see when he came into the game, some of the little fouls that he won, it’s all about that experience that we need, especially in some big moments in games.”