- Enzo Maresca speaks following Leicester City’s triumph over Stoke City
- The Foxes triumphed 2-0 courtesy of Kelechi Iheanacho and Jamie Vardy
- City’s Manager offered his post-match thoughts as his side remain top
- The Championship leaders go into the international break with six straight wins
The Foxes managed to record a sixth straight league success and a second successive clean sheet at King Power Stadium on Saturday, with goals from Kelechi Iheanacho and Jamie Vardy securing the three points against the Potters.
It wasn’t a straightforward afternoon for Maresca’s men, who remain top of the Sky Bet Championship having collected 30 points from a possible 33, but were made to wait for the right opportunity to pounce.
“A complicated game, a complicated win,” the 43-year-old admitted, offering insight into the tactical idea. “As we always say, when the opponent sits back, it’s complicated to find a solution, because they have 11 players and there’s no space.
“But the important thing is that we continue to try and we found the goal. It was a fantastic [first] goal. But as you can see, there wasn’t much space, so it was difficult, it was not easy. First of all, be patient. Let them run, because the game for them is very long.
“After 70 minutes, we can find more space and more solutions. But even [in the] first half, we were trying to find some solutions inside, some switches with Abdul [Fatawu] and Yunus [Akgün] in this side. You can always do better for sure, 100 per cent. But it is not easy.
“At the end, we finished with four or five chances – the Kiernan [Dewsbury-Hall] chance, the Wilfred [Ndidi] chance, but also in this kind of game, the players from the bench are very important as already happened many times. They are the main players and it worked today.”
Maresca made six switches to the side that dispatched Preston North End on Wednesday, but it did not affect Leicester’s rhythm. The former Manchester City coach acknowledged the need for changes during a gruelling schedule of games.
“You have to do it because there’s 46 games, it’s a long season,” the Italian said. “We’ve played many games in the last 10-15 days and you need to make changes. Sometimes it’s good because you win, sometimes it doesn’t work and you drop points.
“But in the end you need freshness. As I said many times, the most complicated one was Blackburn away. It was the toughest.”
The latest international window comes up next, with several of City’s stars set to participate in fixtures around the world over the next two weeks. For those back at LCFC Training Ground, there will be time to work on all aspects of their game.
The Manager added: “I don’t know yet [how many players we’ll have], we are waiting. It’s just the players who are going to be here with us to try and improve them, work with them.”