Play with heart and not with the head is the request from Ruud van Nistelrooy to Leicester City’s attacking talents.
The City manager does not want to overload his goal-getters and chance creators with information, instead allowing them to play on instinct at the top end of the pitch. That’s where creativity comes from, he believes.
City have netted five times in van Nistelrooy’s two games in charge and they now rank 12th in the Premier League for goals scored this season. They will hope to add to their tally at Newcastle on Saturday afternoon.
“Heart is spirit and fighting and doing everything you can to win the game from the first to the last minute,” van Nistelrooy said. “But heart is also setting some straight ideas.
“Within those borders there's a freedom to play with your heart and to have the intuition of movement or skill, like you saw over the last two games with our attackers and strikers. There needs to be space for them to be creative and play with the heart.
“I've seen that so far. I’ve seen it's important that creative players are calm. That they know what to do, but they're not served with too many things to think about so they are capable to play with the heart instead of the head. That's where creativity comes from. We have plenty of them with a lot of creativity.”
One of van Nistelrooy’s most creative players should return to the line-up on Saturday. Facundo Buonanotte, one of the stars of City’s season so far, was ineligible to play against parent club Brighton last weekend, but is expected to start at St James’ Park.
“We know the talent he has,” van Nistelrooy said. “He’ll be 20 in a couple of weeks. At such a young age, he made a move to Brighton and then to here, playing in the Premier League and making a great impression and being picked for the national team.
“You don’t get any presents in this profession. When you achieve that, you deserve it. It’s a great talent to work with. Every day we’re in, I will try to improve him, because he can learn a lot more.”
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