Yahoo News What Enzo Maresca's comical answer tells us as Leicester City finally stir up long-lost feeling
“We are where we deserve to be.” That was the line repeated by Enzo Maresca after Leicester City returned to the top spot with a victory over West Brom on Saturday. But this was the game and the performance where everybody believed him.
There’s no clearer way of proving your promotion credentials than swatting aside one of your rivals. Since their first meeting with Southampton, City had lost twice to Leeds and drawn twice with Ipswich. They’d not tasted victory over one of the promotion contenders since that game at St Mary’s in September. And back then, the Saints were a shadow of their side they are now.
Or were, until last night. Because City absolutely blew them away, inflicting the kind of result on Russell Martin and his players that leaves you questioning how they’re now going to cope in the play-offs.
READ MORE: Enzo Maresca told Abdul Fatawu he'd be benched at Preston – and he may not be joking
READ MORE: Leicester City task finally clear but Enzo Maresca says Southampton demolition not their best
City were better in every aspect of the game. They pressed more aggressively, more diligently, and as a unit, rather than as individuals. They attacked with greater threat and incisiveness. They had more bite in the tackle. They controlled the emotions of the game better. They finished with five goals and without even affording Southampton a shot on target.
It’s been a peculiar season, where off-field matters, one long run of bad form, high expectations, and a conflict between the manager and fans over the style of play have meant that the euphoria associated with a promotion campaign has been absent. But now, with less than a fortnight to go until the season finishes, they’ve reached that point, where there was unabated jubilation everywhere you looked.
There have been great moments – the late winners scored by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Harry Winks, and Stephy Mavididi against Coventry, QPR, and Birmingham to name but three – but now there is a great game to remember the season by. Well, provided they get the job done.
Maresca's comical answer begs question over Enzoball
Because of the scoreline, the opponent, the occasion, the quality of the goals, and what it means for City’s promotion bid, this, for many, was the performance of the season. One man disagreed: Enzo Maresca.
Having denied it was the finest display of the campaign at the top of his press conference, Maresca was asked at the end if there was a showing that stuck in his mind as the one where he felt his team performed their best. His answer was almost comical in how his selection contrasted with Tuesday’s match.
Maresca’s pick was Watford away, a 2-1 win at Vicarage Road in February. Admittedly, City did score an extremely nice goal through Ricardo Pereira, but it was also the match in which they had the fewest shots of the season (five), and the fewest number of progressive passes (25).
For the manager, while City were “fantastic” against Southampton, they were not good enough in possession for it to rank as the pinnacle of his tenure so far. Perhaps it’s not surprising he thought that way.
Maresca has been preaching control of the ball all season. Here, City had 34 per cent possession, their lowest total of the season. Southampton play a similar way on the ball and were better at keeping hold of it on Tuesday night. Or, less risk-averse.
Because, pleasingly, City took the opportunities that presented themselves. The space was there to move the ball quickly through the lines and into the attacking areas, and they did just that, with their front five electric when playing at speed. They ripped through Southampton at times.
It may not have been that City moved away from Maresca’s idea. It was just that Southampton were far more open than any other side who have been to the King Power Stadium this season.
Where City did excel was in their pressing, something Maresca does preach. There’s been a few games of late where late-season tiredness has stopped being quite so effective on that front, but here they were exceptional.
Wout Faes gave Che Adams a rude welcome back to his hometown by charging through him every time Southampton tried to feed their central striker. Ricardo Pereira and James Justin were so quick, tight, and aggressive in their battles with Adam Armstrong and David Brooks that two of the division’s best attackers were completely shut down.
So was it Enzoball? Yes, but just a more pragmatic version. And one that bodes well if City do make the Premier League as top-flight teams are more likely to play as openly as Southampton, rather than like some of the Championship strugglers, who adapt their game to try to shut down City.
Fatawu's first goal shows potential of an elite winger
This season has shown that Abdul Fatawu is a thrilling dribbler of the ball, a supreme creator, and an enthusiastic defender (maybe sometimes a little too enthusiastic). But what he has not been is a goalscorer.
Before Tuesday night, he had four goals. For comparison, Kasey McAteer had five by the end of September. It’s been an area lacking in Fatawu’s game and where he needed to improve if he was to become an elite winger.
Well, there’s his response. The 20-year-old scored three goals of great quality, and all of different types too. The second was perhaps the most memorable. It was classic Fatawu as he cut inside on his left foot and curled a shot into the far corner. It’s also the sort of goal that is going to see the giddy Ghanaian try to do the same 10 times at Preston.
However, it was the first of his goals that showed his improvements. Fatawu tends to stay wide and offer himself as an outlet on the touchline, but here, he switched things up. Seeing Dewsbury-Hall on the ball in space, he darted in behind, making a run off Kyle Walker-Peters’ shoulder before coolly slotting away.
It was a goal unlike any other he’d scored this season. Adding that variation to his game not only showed development and intelligence, but it completely bamboozled Walker-Peters.
It was the same with his assist for Jamie Vardy. So often he’d gone inside on his left foot that the defenders closed that route off. So he just teased a cross in with his right foot and Vardy finished it off.
Amid their transfer embargo, it’s unclear quite what is going to happen with Fatawu this summer and whether his loan from Sporting Lisbon can become permanent. But if it’s possible to do a deal, it’s obvious he needs to be signed. He’s a terrific player already, but one that’s getting even better.
New deal for Vardy may not need to be emotional after all
Talking of deals, Vardy continues to make the case that he’s worth one more year. Despite being asked to start twice in four days, something rarely requested of the 37-year-old, he was at his pesky best.
He was an irritant for Jan Bednarek and Taylor Harwood-Bellis all evening, making the runs they didn’t want to have to follow and forcing them to play passes they didn’t want to play. By the second half, they completely lost track and lost heart, allowing Vardy to peel off them to score the fourth goal and set up the fifth.
If City go up, it’s often felt like the right decision from a PR and emotional perspective to give Vardy a new contract. But in a ruthless business like football, and especially for a club with financial concerns, it’s debatable whether any decisions can be made on those bases.
But Vardy has proven, particularly in the second half of the season, that it might make sense from a footballing perspective too. Only Norwich’s Josh Sargent has scored non-penalty goals at a better rate than he has. That goal-getting ability is still alive and well.
There’s a tifo planned in tribute to Vardy for the final game of the season, in case it was his final game with the club. But, it’s feeling less and less like it will be.
Jubilation needs to be tempered for one more game
As mentioned, this felt like the game to remember the season by. It felt like the game in which City’s promotion was secured. But it’s not. As enjoyable as it was, the job is still not done and there will need to be a period of re-focusing so that fans and players alike don’t fall into celebration mode.
One more win is required. With mid-table Preston and stuttering Blackburn to come. They should do it. But they should have beaten Millwall and Plymouth too and didn’t manage.
Three times this season City have lost back-to-back games, so it’s not out of the question. Let’s get those final three points and then the Southampton game can be properly celebrated for how good it was.
