It means nothing – Dean Smith won’t let Leicester relax after win over Wolves

Posted Sunday, April 23, 2023 by PA

Dean Smith insists Leicester have achieved nothing and must keep pushing after they climbed out of the drop zone.

Timothy Castagne’s first goal since August earned a vital 2-1 comeback win over Wolves.

Kelechi Iheanacho’s penalty cancelled out Matheus Cunha’s opener as Leicester won for the first time in 10 Premier League games.

It was Smith’s first win in charge after replacing Brendan Rodgers this month, with the Foxes now above the relegation zone on goal difference.

They travel to Leeds a point and a place above them on Tuesday before hosting Everton – who dropped into the bottom three – next Monday.

“It means nothing, we need to keep climbing out of there and separate ourselves as much as we can,” said Foxes boss Smith, with Leicester the only team in the bottom five to win this weekend.

“We will enjoy this moment and how it feels to win a game after a while and get ready for Tuesday and Leeds.

“It’s a massive win, one we’ve needed. It shows an awful lot of character to come from a goal down and a mistake which led to a goal. Mentally it will give all the players a lift.

“I think there’s relief because of the run we’ve been on. I’ve just addressed them in the dressing room and said, ‘enjoy it but don’t get too high because we’ve got another big game on Tuesday’ and recovery is the most important thing for them now.”

Smith had to tinker with his plans on Saturday morning after losing James Maddison to illness and Leicester were bright, with Jamie Vardy threatening and Toti Gomes needed to block from Tete, but any early optimism evaporated with a Wolves opener after 13 minutes.

Youri Tielemans’ heavy touch saw the midfielder robbed by Mario Lemina with the ball running to Cunha, who fired low past Daniel Iversen from 18 yards.

For a while Leicester were creaking, with Pablo Sarabia threatening and Craig Dawson having a shot deflected wide before the Foxes levelled against the run of play.

A quick break allowed Ihenancho to dash forward and slip in Vardy, who was brought down by Jose Sa for the former Manchester City striker to dispatch the penalty.

Vardy failed to reappear for the second half after being caught on his ankle by Sa and replacement Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall blazed over 11 minutes after the restart.

The Foxes had rediscovered their belief and Sa denied Caglar Soyuncu before Leicester grabbed their crucial winner with 14 minutes left.

Boubakary Soumare and Daka combined to set Victor Kristiansen free and his left-wing cross was converted by Castagne from 12 yards.

Iversen still needed to turn Ruben Neves’ late free-kick over but the Foxes held on to leave Wolves six points above the drop zone and boss Julen Lopetegui remains alert.

“This is the worst message we can send to the players (that they have a cushion). It’s a very dangerous message because I know how football is and how the Premier League is,” he said.

“Until you have achieved one aim you have not done anything yet. Sometimes it’s not easy to explain it but it’s about the football. We are very clear with this message for the players, they know.

“Of course we have frustration because we didn’t get any positive things here. We have to recover very fast. We have a very hard challenge in two days (against Crystal Palace). We did good things but not enough.

“I think you want to have positives, to win or draw away. You need to keep your focus on the little details.

“We have done 55 minutes very well but we had the possibility to get more and score a second goal which we didn’t do. It was a pity we suffered the second goal.”