leicester city

why the Leicester City loss to Coventry filled him with greater pride than ever

Published

8 months ago

January 15, 2024

Enzo Maresca is prouder of his Leicester City team than he ever has been before after their valiant effort with 10 men at Coventry.

City have won 21 of their 27 Championship fixtures this season and yet the second-half showing at the CBS Arena instilled more pride in Maresca than any previous performance this campaign. The manager was particularly ecstatic at the way his team defended with a man disadvantage, restricting the home side’s chances until Callum O’Hare’s equaliser with just over 10 minutes to go.

“I feel proud when we win, win, win, win, but today I feel even more proud because with 10 players we continued to play and continued to try to fight and we didn’t concede important chances until the goal,” Maresca said. “The way they behaved today has been huge, has been unbelievable. But it’s part of the game, part of the process, and with so many games it can happen.

“There were two completely different games. The first half, we could have had a penalty before the penalty, we created some chances, we were 1-0 up, controlling the game and playing the way we wanted to play. Then with the red card, it changed completely.

“We were defending very well. We were well organised. We don’t like to see it in the way we see the second half, it’s not our idea or our style. But it happens. The way they adapted has been unbelievable. It’s a shame, but we know that with 10 players, it’s not easy.”

Maresca had no complaints over the red card that he felt changed the game, referee Darren England sending off Abdul Fatawu for his reckless challenge at the end of the first period. The Ghanaian needs to learn to be more calm, the City boss explained.

“Abdul is very young,” Maresca said. “He needs to learn many things. One of the things is this, that in some moments he needs to be more calm.