Enzo Maresca handed out another lesson to his Leicester City squad in substituting players who he expected more from in their 2-0 win over Tranmere Rovers.
City made it six wins from six by beating their League Two opponents in the second round of the Carabao Cup, but the goals from Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy did not arrive until the second half, after Maresca had made four changes at the interval.
There had been very little goalmouth action in the first half, City failing to test 42-year-old Tranmere goalkeeper Joe Murphy, and so for the second period Maresca introduced Ricardo Pereira, Ndidi, Yunus Akgun, and Wanya Marcal in place of Harry Winks, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Marc Albrighton, and Stephy Mavididi.
While some of those changes were pre-planned, some of them were because players were underperforming, Maresca said. After the Italian dropped Wanya Marcal for the weekend’s win at Rotherham, telling him he “needs to earn” his place in the team, this was another message to the squad.
“With some things I was not happy, with some things I was already prepared,” Maresca said. “In this moment, it’s important for them to share minutes because we’ve played six games in about 20 days. It’s many games.
“Don’t ask me which players, but I was not happy. I think some of them, I expected more from them. They are important players for me, they are important players for the club, they are important players for their team-mates, and some of them they need to give more.”
Asked if he had told the players directly at half-time, Maresca said: “They already know. Sometimes they are so intelligent. They don’t need the manager to tell them, they can understand for themselves.
“But it’s like what happened with Wanya, it’s a way to help them grow and understand and to improve as a team. If they improve as players, we improve as a team.”
The game ended on a happy note though, with Ndidi getting his second of the season with a shot to the far post, and then Vardy nodding in his first of the campaign from Ndidi’s cross.
The manager said: “I’m happy to continue in this competition. I’m happy for the players, especially the players who are playing less, and the young players like Ben Nelson, Wanya played again, Yunus for his debut. I’m happy for all of them.”
“I’m happy. But I’m always looking for the things I don’t like to see how we improve. As I said, there are many things we need to do. But that’s normal. After two months, I’m quite happy how the team understands the idea.”