Liverpool won their second pre-season game today, defeating Leicester City 4-0
Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca admitted his club was punished by “one of the best teams in transition” after falling to Liverpool 4-0 on Sunday.
The Reds scored four goals for the fourth game in a row, dating back to the final day of the 2022/23 Premier League season, with goals from Darwin Nunez, Bobby Clark, Diogo Jota, and Ben Doak, as Jurgen Klopp’s side continued their unbeaten pre-season run.
Leicester started the game brighter and came near twice early on through Wilfred Ndidi, who was excellently denied by Caoimhin Kelleher before being halted by Virgil van Dijk.
Liverpool, on the other hand, quickly found their groove, scoring three goals in the eight minutes before the break before adding a fourth in the second half. After this defeat, Leicester manager Nigel Clough was left in no doubt that his team had paid the price for allowing the Reds to assert themselves in perilous situations.
“I believe the team started very well in the first half hour.” “We were playing good football from the back, creating chances, finding solutions, and finding space,” claimed the Foxes’ new manager.
“Then they’re one of the best teams in terms of transition,” Maresca said of Liverpool. “We conceded from that transition, but today was significant for me.” Of course, the outcome is always significant, but it was also vital to look at the players and see how they approached the concept, and they did well.
“Against this team, we created two or three chances.” It’s sometimes enough to score without taking too many chances. It was excellent until we conceded a goal. It’s always risky to do that against this type of player and squad.”
On his team’s promising start and the encouragement that can be drawn from it, Pep Guardiola’s former Manchester City assistant continued: “I believe it was fairly evident. Not only in the first half hour, but also in the second half, the team strove to find answers and play, which shocked me because I was convinced the players and team were improving, but I didn’t expect to see the way we played.
“I told the players that now we have a rest, one or two days with family after 10 days away, and then we start the week on Tuesday, already focused on our first Championship game.”
Leave a Reply