It didn’t need Harry Winks to explain that Leicester City’s goal against Nottingham Forest was born out of the work the players did under Enzo Maresca last season.
The quick exchange of passes between Winks and Ricardo Pereira to get City away and into space in the build-up to Jamie Vardy’s finish will have prompted flashes of deja vu for any supporter who regularly watched the team during their Championship title triumph. It was the highlight of the evening as Steve Cooper revived Maresca’s system for the first time.
In his post-match interview on Sky Sports, Winks spoke about how the move was a feature of last year’s play. He said: “We worked on a lot of that last year and it was the way we played out from the back and me and Ricky having that combination play to bring people onto us.
“It worked really well because we wanted to invite them onto press us to try to find the space in behind. It worked really well and first half I thought we were excellent at doing that.”
The clip of Winks explaining Maresca’s influence on City’s goal has been treated in parts as some sort of ‘gotcha’ moment for Cooper, as though the team have ignored the boss and taken matters into their own hands. That is the wrong way to view it.
For a start, they won’t have played against instruction. Ricardo was not inverting into the midfield of his own accord. Cooper, perhaps following conversations with the squad, will have decided that was the way to play. He will have chosen to start with the nine available players from last season’s regular 11, with the sold Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall replaced by Facundo Buonanotte, and the injured Jannik Vestergaard replaced by Caleb Okoli.
It should be viewed as a positive around Cooper. If he recognises that a system and a style of play under a previous manager can be utilised successfully, that’s good management, not an admission that he can’t coach the team. It should be encouraged that a manager develops on what has gone before, rather than start from scratch with their own ideas, even if they’re not compatible with the squad they’re in charge of.
The issue now is whether they play that way going forward. Because ultimately, City lost by two goals. Despite their control in the first half, they didn’t create a glut of chances, and they had no answer when Forest adjusted to shut them down in the second period.
But the squad do like that way of playing. They said so throughout last term. Particularly for Winks, who excels in a possession-based team, it’s the way he wants to continue.
He said: “First half, we were excellent, we were back to how we were. We controlled the game, we made sure we up the pitch to counter them when we lost the ball and made sure we were there to win the ball again.
“We knew we’d concede a couple of chances on the counter-attack, but that was okay, because we wanted to dominate the ball. The most important thing was that we played positive, we played free, and we enjoyed it.
“If we can try to bring that first half into every match this season and try to play like that throughout the season, I think we’ll be fine. We showed today how much quality we have and how many good players we have in the team. It’s just about trying to find that consistency and keep doing that throughout every match.”
Now Cooper has to decide the direction City go. But whether he opts for Maresca’s plan or reverts to his own tactics, he will deserve credit if it’s ultimately successful.
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