The City manager recalls the first thing he told his team back in July because it’s a message he repeats frequently, even as his team soars to the top of the Championship.
Enzo Maresca often informs his Leicester City players that they will make mistakes – and acknowledges that he is not immune to making “wrong decisions.”
Maresca encouraged his players in his inaugural talk in July not to be anxious about game faults, a point he still repeats frequently. But it’s not just the City team that could make a mistake. The Italian also admits to making mistakes in team selection from time to time.
Despite Maresca’s message, City have committed few errors on the ball in their attempts to control possession and build from the back, with Mads Hermansen’s ill-advised pass to Harry Winks at Blackburn being the most evident. City came back to win 4-1.
Nonetheless, Maresca reminds his players on a daily basis that mistakes are a part of the game. The strategy is to ensure that it does not alter their thinking and cause them to stumble.
When asked if he remembered his initial instruction to his players, Maresca responded, “I remember perfectly because I repeat it: do what we have to do and don’t worry if there are any mistakes.” This is something I made at the start.
“It doesn’t matter if we make mistakes; mistakes are a natural part of the process.” We will undoubtedly make blunders in the games that follow. But that’s the way we believe, and we’ll stick to it.”
And it’s not just the players who make blunders. With a large team to pick from and only 11 players available to start each match, Maresca has conceded that he sometimes makes incorrect selections.
With 10 wins from 11 Championship games, it doesn’t feel like the City boss has got too much wrong so far. He’s spread out game-time too to keep players happy and to limit the risk of injuries, with 22 different players starting a league game in the opening two months. Only bottom side Sheffield Wednesday have used more players.
“They train every day because they want to play,” Maresca said. “They don’t train every day because they want to sit on the bench next to me. I know that. I was there for 20 years. You are there outside and working every day and your target is to play. “But sometimes you have 20 to 25 players and you have to take the decision. Sometimes it is wrong because sometimes my decision is not the right one. But they have to accept and be ready when we need them.”
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