Enzo pre/post match comments Sunderland

hackneyfox

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Enzo Maresca Pre-Match Press Conference vs Sunderland

Yunus?
“He’s doing a scan now. So in a bit we will have some news. Tomorrow is complicated. Hopefully it’s nothing serious.”

Any other injuries? Any returning players?
“Tom and Kasey they are very close. Hopefully end of this week or next week they can start with us. That’s all.”

Swansea?
“It has been a good feeling. We continued in the same way we were playing. No panic, calm. We continued with our idea that is giving us results. We are happy about that.”

Sum up start in one word?
“Learning. I try to see what is working well or not working and see what we can improve. It’s a process.”

Relegation a motivating factor for players?
“Probably a question for them. After relegation, it’s always complicated. Many players left. The players who stayed here are not mentally positive. Don’t forget we lost around 14 or 15 players. That’s a big number. The players who are here, like JJ was injured, Ricardo was injured, Jannik was not involved.”

Vestergaard?
“What I saw is what he is doing. In our style, he can give us a lot. At the beginning, we brought in Conor to do the same but unfortunately he was injured for a long time. Jannik has been very serious, very professional. He trains very well.”

Winks?
“It’s a main player, an important player. He was our target number one. He was one of the main targets. I know Harry from a long time ago and when he moved to Italy I thought he was a very good player.
“At the end, every player under different managers can give more or less. Harry’s skills are perfect for us. That’s why he is doing so well for us. We are helping him and he is helping us.”

Sunderland?
“They are third in the Championship for possession and they are very dangerous on the counter-attack. I expect them to be aggressive. They have very good players, like Bellingham.”

Spreading goals around?
“Very happy. When a player scores, it’s always something important. We try to get them all involved in our style. The five players at the front, they have to be close to the box, so it’s easier for them to score.”

Fatawu first goal?
“We are happy for Fatawu but I’m very happy for Stephy because he played a brilliant game on the ball and off the ball. This is the level we expect from him.”

Rotation?
“We’ll see. We have a session today. We’ll see if some of them are tired or if some are fresh.”

Anniversary of helicopter crash and chairman's legacy?
“Every time something like this happens it is sad. I was at the stadium that night. I was on the bench that night, working with West Ham. The legacy they are showing for the family is unbelievable.
“These kinds of things don’t have colours. It’s always bad news. The memory is about sadness.
“You can see clearly. We went for the pre-season in Thailand. I feel proud to be part of this rebuild. All Leicester fans have to be proud about this because it’s not easy to find people who invest like this
 
When this year’s Premier league managerial cull starts happening, he’ll be one of the first names mentioned, but I think he’ll do a Kompany and see what he can do with us if/when we go up.
 
“It was a big, massive result,” City’s Manager reflected at full-time. “They are a very good team. We expected them in the way they arrive here. Off the ball they work man-to-man. It’s always difficult for us because against man-to-man it’s not easy.
“Probably at home it could be [the toughest game]. Every away game we face is difficult but sometimes when they are more aggressive it’s difficult because they want to play and they want to press high, cover the ball and create chances, but that’s normal.

“We work during the week on set pieces. As we’ve said, sometimes we score them, sometimes we concede them, but it’s part of the game.”

Records continue to be broken, with Leicester just the third second-tier team in history to claim 12 victories in their opening 13 games. It’s now eight consecutive Sky Bet Championship triumphs, opening up an eight-point gap at the division’s summit.

The Italian explained: “I’m very happy because what the players have done is something unbelievable, [winning] 12 out of 13 and we need to continue. The only problem is what I just said to the players, that [in general] we lose more than we win so we need to understand that and to enjoy the moment and continue.
“But it’s not normal and the same message for the fans - they have to enjoy the moment but they have to think that what they have done is unbelievable and we need their support always.

“But you see how we struggled to win a game, which means it’s not easy tonight. The last game, we were 1-0 down and then we came back and won the game. It’s never easy.”

Wilfred Ndidi missed out through injury and the Manager provided an update on the Nigerian midfielder ahead of facing Queens Park Rangers on Saturday – City’s next assignment in the league.

“We’ll see, he could be [available],” the 43-year-old added. “It was a small problem, a bit of tiredness and now it’s normal as we play every three days, so we don’t want to take any risks with him.”
 
The point is, unlike under previous managers, we scored from a set piece, and didn't concede.

Was Cov at home the only set piece goal we have conceded so far this season? If so, that's massive progress.
 
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