Memories come flooding back of some happier times. The happiest. When Leicester pulled off probably the biggest club football surprise of the 21st century. A house party happened again. And again the goals of Jamie Vardy were played. And that’s about it for the similarities. No more N’golo Kante or Riyad Mahrez. Claudio Ranieri has been gone for a long time…Vardy remained.So did Marc Albrighton. And again there are some new doubts. Because even before that championship-winning season in 2016, a frantic fight for survival was expected, so now Leicester have more reasons to worry than to be optimistic about their comeback performance in the Premier League.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Leicester are threatened with the very real possibility of starting the next season like Everton in this one: with a points deficit. A double digits one. They have already been found to be in breach of the Premier League’s rules on club sustainability and the announced lawsuit against the Premier League is unlikely to help the club. This season, Everton managed to cope starting with minus eight. But Everton have long been a member of the elite. The Foxes still have a difficult task ahead of them to strengthen the team for the top rank.Last summer they hit the bullseye with everything they needed. Now they will have to sell first. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is being targeted by Brighton, Fulham and Brentford and could leave for a release clause of €35,000,000. Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfred Ndidi and Albrighton are out of contract and unlikely to stay, while Vardy and Jannik Vestergaard would have to accept significantly lower wages to stay. There will be no money for expensive reinforcements.As we said before, the sports sector led by the head of recruitment Martyn Glover did a perfect job this summer. Abdul Fatawu, Glover’s great find, shone on loan from Sporting, Harry Winks, brought in from Tottenham for 11,700,000 euros, was the brain of the team on the pitch, while goalkeeper Mads Hermansen – arrived from Brondby for 7,700,000 – personally chosen by the manager, Enzo Maresca, from the list of candidates.##NAJAVA_MECA_8073000##ENZO’S WAYAnd it is with Maresca that we come to the reason for optimism at the King Power Stadium. The former midfielder of teams such as Juventus, Fiorentina, Sevilla, Olympiakos, Serie A champion and two-time UEFA Cup winner, a man whose coaches included Marcello Lippi, Carlo Ancelotti and Manuel Pellegrini, among others, attracted the attention of many, primarily as a pupil of Pep Guardiola who was an assistant at Manchester City.And you know what it means when someone is Guardiola’s disciple. The Italian fell in love with Pep’s coaching style when he played against Barcelona as a Malaga player. Today, Leicester fans sing about “Enzo’s way”. Which is not very different from Pep’s way. Although it is one thing to perform it with the biggest stars of Europe in Manchester and something completely different with the second division players in Leicester. Aside from the fact that the Foxes certainly had the biggest budget in the Championship and a playing staff full of aces capable of playing in the Premier League as well.All of that is true, but this was Maresca’s first independent season and anything could have gone wrong. And although between February and April, they went through a difficult period – after six defeats in ten rounds, they fell out of the top two in the table – in the end, this promotion was relatively comfortable in an otherwise very uncertain season. Even in such a situation, Maresca managed to stay consistent with the idea, and it was not at all easy to impose it.Enzo Maresca (©Getty Images)Even during the summer, Maresca forced the players to spend days and nights in the training center so that they would understand his philosophy. He organized an Argentinian barbecue to bring the team together. He led the entire team at “Sapori”, an Michelin star Italian restaurant.”It’s about togetherness and building team spirit. We will probably do the same again this summer. And it would be the same if we were relegated, it’s important to spend time together. That’s how something is built,” Maresca said along the way.He talked a lot more about football. At the start, the emphasis was on controlling the ball in tight spaces. Already on the first day, he explained to Ricardo Pereira as a defender that football has become such that he must enter the middle. Guardiola’s school is visible at every step: possession of the ball and patience, pressure on the opponent until you squeeze the blood out of them. Not everyone immediately believed in the idea. It seemed too complicated.Because Maresca insisted on details, for example, each pass had to go to the receiving player’s stronger foot.”If I’m on the right and you send the ball to the left, I need one more touch to transfer it to the right foot. If the foot is wrong I can lose the ball. These are small details, but they save a lot of time,” he explained to the players.EDERSON OF THE SECOND LEAGUE, WINKS AS THE BRAIN AND VARDY AS THE HEART OF THE TEAMHe chose Hermansen because he is the Championship version of Manchester City’s Ederson, a goalkeeper who plays almost like a libero. He had 2,042 passes, the most of any goalkeeper in the league. He additionally conceded the fewest goals, just in case they neglected the main part of the job. Another summer signing, Connor Coady said of Hermansen that he was so good with the ball at his feet that he could also play in the midfield.Coady, brought from Wolverhampton for 8,700,000 euros, was supposed to be the sweeper from whom everything starts, but when he injured his foot, Vestergaard, who did not play a single minute for Leicester last season, stepped into his place. He returned to the field in brilliant fashion.Even Maresca does not hide that, although Vardy is certainly the most famous player of the team and with 18 goals the best scorer – although perhaps he played the biggest role when, during the mentioned April crisis, he gathered the team to tell everyone what they have to do and explain to them that they are gambling with the success that will give them something to remember for a lifetime – all Foxes play starts from the defensive four (usually Wout Faes, Vestergaard; Pereira and James Justin) with the help of the “six” in the form of Harry Winks.”If the five of them play well, the whole team plays well. The other five – the two wingers, the fullbacks, Kiernan, Dennis Praet and Vardy – bring victories. But the process starts with the back five and when it works, then we are fantastic,” said Maresca.FATAWUUUUU 🕺 🇬🇭 🕺 pic.twitter.com/m9ip6gx07Q— Leicester City (@LCFC) April 29, 2024 Just ask Millwall, they had 22 percent possession on December 13th. Cesare Casadei’s goal in the clash with Rotherham was preceded by 54 passes. Leicester was grinding opponents. But when difficult moments arrived and Maresca, like Guardiola at times, was accused of boring football, the absence of a “B” plan, stubborn insistence on always the same style of play… You already know. He replied that he would not change “even if he gets jumped at in a toilet”.All that faith paid off for him in the end. It’s just that no one believes that it can happen in the Premier League. Vincent Kompany tried at Burnley and failed: the team suffered 21 defeats and is likely to be relegated.Leicester? Leicester will wrestle with that points penalty and try to pull off another miracle in the transfer window. Last summer they succeeded despite being without James Maddison, Harvey Barnes, Yuri Tielemans, Jonny Evans, Nampalis Mendy, Timothy Castagne and Daniel Amartey. But they succeeded in the Championship. Not in the Premier League.Vardy & Coady (©Getty Images)They succeeded thanks to Maresca. And he knew how to celebrate, so the Queens Park Rangers’ 4-0 victory over Leeds – and it was the one that ensured Leicester promotion, before the 3-0 in the collision with Preston brought him the title of champion – was watched right in the boss’s house. The whole team was there.Like that time the draw between Tottenham and Chelsea and Eden Hazard’s goal that won Leicester the Premier League title was watched collectively at Vardy’s house.
