There are just a few days until the Championship season begins, Leicester City hosting Coventry City, and there are just a couple of tasks for Maresca to complete
In just a few days’ time, Leicester City’s promotion bid begins. The result of five weeks of planning and preparation under Enzo Maresca will be on show at the King Power Stadium.
But in the final few hours before Coventry’s visit, what does the Italian boss need to work on? Here, we take a look.
Make four selection calls
Typically, the final pre-season match of the summer is a big indicator of the line-up for the first game of the new campaign. But the return to fitness of a few key players for City could mean that there are a handful of changes.
Against Liverpool last Sunday, none of Wout Faes, Dennis Praet, nor Jamie Vardy were in the City squad, but all three were in training on Wednesday as both the men’s and women’s teams held an open session in front of supporters at the King Power.
The trio had been regular starters in the early weeks of pre-season, and had seemed like they were among Maresca’s favourites. If fully fit, all three could come back into the side for Sunday.
Faes could replace Jannik Vestergaard in a straight swap at centre-back, or could come in for Timothy Castagne, with Callum Doyle then pushing out to left-back. Praet would be a straight swap for Wilfred Ndidi, the Belgian more suited to the advanced midfield role.
Then, Vardy would compete in a three-way battle with Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho for the striker role. If Maresca thinks Coventry will sit deep, restricting space in behind, he may be tempted to go for Iheanacho, especially if there is more pace on the wings.
And there should be, with Stephy Mavididi likely to come straight into the team. That would give Maresca one more big choice to make, on the right-hand side. Marc Albrighton and youngsters Kasey McAteer and Wanya Marcal-Madivadua are the likely contenders, albeit Castagne could move further forward.
Get Mavididi up to speed
He’s not played any pre-season matches for City having only officially arrived on Monday, but that does not mean he will be eased in. The club are short on senior wide options that fit how Maresca wants to play, so Mavididi seems likely to go straight into the side.
He’s got pace and he has the ability to beat defenders in one-on-one situations, but he will need to be brought up to speed with Maresca’s tactics. He will need to get used to making himself an option for the long diagonals from the back three, while also making the runs in behind for the midfielders to find.
A key aspect of City’s play early in pre-season were runs to the by-line and cutbacks into the box, so the quicker he can get on the same wavelength as the strikers, and learn where they want to receive the ball, the more effective an attacking outfit City will be.
When they got it right against Liverpool, City were able to put together the passing moves that quickly moved them up the pitch and into dangerous areas. It was when they got it wrong that they were in trouble.
Nearly all of Liverpool’s most dangerous attacks came from moments where City gave the ball away in their own half. Those kinds of scenarios are part of the risks of the way Maresca wants to play, but City can be better organised structurally so that in those moments, they can get into a shape to shut down opposition attacks.
If teams are going to score past City this season, they want to make them work for it. Handing goals to the opposition on a plate will see fans lose patience more quickly.
