hackneyfox
Roofer
Praet?
“He’s still injured. It’s a muscle problem.”
McAteer?
“He works with us the last two days very good. He’s almost fit.”
Any fresh concerns?
“No.”
First four games?
“Very happy. Most of the time we judge the results but we need to judge the performance. I’m quite happy. We are improving. For sure there are many things to improve. But it’s not just Leicester. All the clubs. We’re in August. It’s never easy to win a game.”
Lessons learned?
“It’s been what I expected. It’s a difficult league, with difficult opponents. They are well organised. Most of them they were waiting for us on their side. We need to improve in defending the transition. I’m not worried about this because every club that tries to do something gives chances. Jannik is defending with 50m in behind, Wout is defending with 50m in behind. This is a big change.”
Signings?
“I don’t know. Most of them depends if some of our players go out. We can’t do anything until some of our players go out. Just one week more.”
Ready to press the button on signings?
“We have some targets but we need to wait a little bit. If they arrive, we are happy. If they don’t arrive, we’ll see.”
Rotherham?
“They are aggressive. They are another good team. When you lose two and draw one, the desire to win is big. We need to be aggressive too.”
Casadei?
“I know Cesare quite well. He’s a player who doesn’t go in the pocket, but he’s a player who is always there. If the defender doesn’t block the shot from Kiernan, he scores. When Vardy goes down, everybody appeals for a penalty, but he is the only one focused on the ball.
“Why we pushed to get him is because we are sure he is going to help us a lot. We cannot think that every game he will score. He is only 20 years old.”
Wanya said you told the players 'don't get bored'. What do you mean?
“Yeah. They say everything! I just said that because sometimes even for them it’s a process. Play, play, play, play. Because the opponent is on their side, we want to attack with a rush. But we need to be calm. This is what I said to them, don’t get bored in terms of keeping going.”
Happy with one winger or need more?
“At the moment, we have Marc Albrighton and Wanya on the right side. We use Macca too. On the left side, Stephy is there and we can also use Macca there. But it’s quite clear we need wingers. It’s one, two, three, I don’t know, but we need wingers.”
Kristiansen and Castagne going to leave?
“It’s just for some of them there are noises. It’s normal when the market is open.”
Vestergaard, Praet, Ndidi, Iheanacho - assurances they won't be sold?
“The window market is open. Anything can happen. I can say this player is important and then the club receive a big, big offer, probably we need to think a different thing. For sure, the club knows very well what I think about all of them and how important they are.”
Vestergaard's performances?
“He’s doing very well. I don’t know if it’s correct to say he’s adapting himself to the way we want to play because he’s able to do it. He has a good tempo. Sometimes he plays one touch, sometimes he slows it down. He understands completely the idea of how to play, with two gears, not always quick, not always slow. There is a moment we need to be quick and a moment we need to wait a little bit. He understands completely. I’m very happy for him. Probably the only thing he can struggle with a bit, but it’s normal, is when he defends with 50m behind and you find strikers who are quick or teams that play on the transition. It is what it is.”
Justin?
“The only thing I can say is that I love JJ. The way he works, the way he is, I really love JJ. He is going to help us 100 per cent. Now he is not playing but I am sure he is going to play a lot of games with us. With Hamza, they work very well. These players are going to stay. We need them. We need JJ, we need Hamza, we need these types of players.
“JJ can play full-back when we use full-backs up and down, if that happens. But also when we build three at the back on the right side, and we use him sometimes going inside. He’s learning and improving a lot. It’s a journey.”
If window closes now, would you be happy with squad?
“We are too many men. We have 28, 29, 30 players. I played for 20 years, I can understand, if you feel you are second choice or third choice, you are not happy. You train every day because you want to play football. When you are second choice or third choice, you don’t feel good. So probably because they don’t get minutes, they are thinking to leave because they want to enjoy football.”
“He’s still injured. It’s a muscle problem.”
McAteer?
“He works with us the last two days very good. He’s almost fit.”
Any fresh concerns?
“No.”
First four games?
“Very happy. Most of the time we judge the results but we need to judge the performance. I’m quite happy. We are improving. For sure there are many things to improve. But it’s not just Leicester. All the clubs. We’re in August. It’s never easy to win a game.”
Lessons learned?
“It’s been what I expected. It’s a difficult league, with difficult opponents. They are well organised. Most of them they were waiting for us on their side. We need to improve in defending the transition. I’m not worried about this because every club that tries to do something gives chances. Jannik is defending with 50m in behind, Wout is defending with 50m in behind. This is a big change.”
Signings?
“I don’t know. Most of them depends if some of our players go out. We can’t do anything until some of our players go out. Just one week more.”
Ready to press the button on signings?
“We have some targets but we need to wait a little bit. If they arrive, we are happy. If they don’t arrive, we’ll see.”
Rotherham?
“They are aggressive. They are another good team. When you lose two and draw one, the desire to win is big. We need to be aggressive too.”
Casadei?
“I know Cesare quite well. He’s a player who doesn’t go in the pocket, but he’s a player who is always there. If the defender doesn’t block the shot from Kiernan, he scores. When Vardy goes down, everybody appeals for a penalty, but he is the only one focused on the ball.
“Why we pushed to get him is because we are sure he is going to help us a lot. We cannot think that every game he will score. He is only 20 years old.”
Wanya said you told the players 'don't get bored'. What do you mean?
“Yeah. They say everything! I just said that because sometimes even for them it’s a process. Play, play, play, play. Because the opponent is on their side, we want to attack with a rush. But we need to be calm. This is what I said to them, don’t get bored in terms of keeping going.”
Happy with one winger or need more?
“At the moment, we have Marc Albrighton and Wanya on the right side. We use Macca too. On the left side, Stephy is there and we can also use Macca there. But it’s quite clear we need wingers. It’s one, two, three, I don’t know, but we need wingers.”
Kristiansen and Castagne going to leave?
“It’s just for some of them there are noises. It’s normal when the market is open.”
Vestergaard, Praet, Ndidi, Iheanacho - assurances they won't be sold?
“The window market is open. Anything can happen. I can say this player is important and then the club receive a big, big offer, probably we need to think a different thing. For sure, the club knows very well what I think about all of them and how important they are.”
Vestergaard's performances?
“He’s doing very well. I don’t know if it’s correct to say he’s adapting himself to the way we want to play because he’s able to do it. He has a good tempo. Sometimes he plays one touch, sometimes he slows it down. He understands completely the idea of how to play, with two gears, not always quick, not always slow. There is a moment we need to be quick and a moment we need to wait a little bit. He understands completely. I’m very happy for him. Probably the only thing he can struggle with a bit, but it’s normal, is when he defends with 50m behind and you find strikers who are quick or teams that play on the transition. It is what it is.”
Justin?
“The only thing I can say is that I love JJ. The way he works, the way he is, I really love JJ. He is going to help us 100 per cent. Now he is not playing but I am sure he is going to play a lot of games with us. With Hamza, they work very well. These players are going to stay. We need them. We need JJ, we need Hamza, we need these types of players.
“JJ can play full-back when we use full-backs up and down, if that happens. But also when we build three at the back on the right side, and we use him sometimes going inside. He’s learning and improving a lot. It’s a journey.”
If window closes now, would you be happy with squad?
“We are too many men. We have 28, 29, 30 players. I played for 20 years, I can understand, if you feel you are second choice or third choice, you are not happy. You train every day because you want to play football. When you are second choice or third choice, you don’t feel good. So probably because they don’t get minutes, they are thinking to leave because they want to enjoy football.”
