Enzo Maresca insists table-topping Leicester can still improve

Posted Sunday, December 24, 2023 by PA

Enzo Maresca insists his Leicester side are still improving and learning after easing to a 3-0 win against bottom-placed Rotherham to move six points clear at the top of the Championship.

The Foxes opened the scoring on the hour mark when Patson Daka finished from close range before the striker doubled the lead from the penalty spot five minutes later after he was fouled by Viktor Johansson.

On-loan midfielder Cesare Casadei sealed the points after 72 minutes with a diving header from Ricardo Pereira’s cross from the left to earn the Foxes a fifth successive league victory.

Maresca said: “I’m very happy, at the start of the season I didn’t expect to have this many points at the halfway stage, nobody expected that.

“Winning 19 out of 23 games is not easy but we have many things that we need to improve.

“We are learning how to play teams who sit and who play with a high press, it’s not easy. I was happy with the first half because we were doing the right things.

“We created three or four clear chances in the first half which is difficult against this type of team, when they sit back it’s complicated to find a solution.

“In the end we did the most difficult thing and scored a goal and it was easier after the goal.

“The target is to get promoted, we need to continue, we are almost in January, the players know if some of them drop (their levels) they won’t play.”

Rotherham are nine points from safety at the foot of the table and have failed to win any of their last 11 league matches having lost all three games under new boss Leam Richardson.

Richardson said: “It’s a challenging league and a challenging position that we’re in but one of the things we can guarantee is that we’ll make a right good fist of it.

“It’s my job to build a habit and instil a mentality within the training ground that filters out onto the pitch, if we do that, we’ll make a fist of it.

“You can go into any football club and have an ideal way of playing and what you want to do and force things on the players.

“The best thing to do is find the good attributes you’ve got within the group and try and bring them to the front as quick as you can and build from that platform.

“Every game we’ve got to try and deliver a performance, there’s a lot of work to do and a lot of things that need to happen to move forward.

“Everything is a habit, winning is a habit, losing is a habit, if you’ve got bad habits you’ll serve for them but if you’ve got strong habits they’ll come to the front and that’s what we need to change.”