Enzo Maresca is preaching patience after Leicester City again won late on to make it two wins from two in the Championship.
After last weekend’s comeback against Coventry, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scoring twice in the final 15 minutes, City again clinched the points in the final quarter of the game, Stephy Mavididi striking in the 72nd minute at Huddersfield to earn a 1-0 victory.
City were notoriously poor in the final throes of matches last season, and in only one league game did they win when drawing or losing at half-time. Now they’ve done it twice in two Championship matches under Maresca.
While it was Huddersfield who had the best chance of the goalless first 70 minutes, Michal Helik blazing over from eight yards as he rushed in at the back post, City had the greater number of good opportunities, and they eventually forced a breakthrough with Mavididi’s first goal for the club.
That his team did not lose their heads in search of a goal pleased Maresca, who emphasised the need for patience in his post-match team talk with his players.
“I just said now to the players that one of the things we need this year is to not get frustrated, to be patient, because at the end the chance will arrive,” Maresca said.
“Today, between the first half and second half, we had at least five or six clear chances to score, most of them almost one versus one with the keeper, especially in the first half. At the end, we completely deserved to win and get the three points.”
One goal was enough for City after they followed up their clean sheet at Burton with another shut-out. The defensive performance was much improved on last weekend’s clash with Coventry, when the Sky Blues’ counter-attack had City on the ropes.
Maresca added: “I said to the players, I need to know them and they need to know me. We started 40 days ago and I need to give them all the information in 40 days.
So even defensively, I think we improve a lot against a team that is well-organised and created chances from throw-ins and corners, long balls. You need to learn how to manage these sorts of things.”