Shakespeare: We Showed Resilience & Character
- Leicester City’s battling spirit paid dividends against Liverpool on Tuesday night, says manager Craig Shakespeare
- The Foxes advanced to the Carabao Cup Fourth Round with a 2-0 victory
- Shinji Okazaki and Islam Slimani were on target at King Power Stadium
The Foxes had to do plenty of defending before the break, but stood strong to head into half-time with a clean sheet intact.
Shakespeare introduced Shinji Okazaki seven minutes into the second period and the Japan striker fired home to break the deadlock shortly after, before Islam Slimani added a brilliant second with 78 minutes gone.
“We’re obviously delighted because it’s all about the result in football and obviously performances can have a massive bearing on that result,” said Shakespeare.
“We lead a charmed life in the first half and we know that our goal was under threat. I was just delighted to get into half-time.
“We asked the players to be a bit more aggressive, we needed better hold-up play from the centre forwards in the second half and we wanted to play on the front foot.
“Fortunately, Shinji [Okazaki] got his chance to come on in place of Leo [Ulloa], who took a knock. I thought that was a key moment for us.
“You saw the response in terms of Shinji getting in and around people and it was a major factor in contributing to the win.
“It’s always about staying in the games at times and for as much possession and chances they had, they didn’t take them.
“We really showed our resilience and character and I thought we put a really good performance in the second half.”
Shakespeare credited Aleksandar Dragović and Vicente Iborra’s performances, as the City duo made their debuts for the Club.
“They needed the game time,” added the Foxes boss. “You can see the experience that they’ve both got. With Dragović you can see in terms of position he is very good and has all that experience and uses it.
“I think Vicente, I was asking him to play a slightly different role in a two, rather than a three. You can see at the end his game understanding and intelligence.
“He reads the game very well, but also he’s a team player in terms of organisation as well.
"Not just Vicente, I think we got stronger as a team because we played on the front foot a lot more in the second half.”