Enzo Maresca’s full time celebrations after his Chelsea side beat Leicester City told you the story of the game.
Chelsea dominated, as expected, but were made to work for it as they beat the Foxes 1-0.
Marc Cucurella’s second half strike was the difference between the two teams, but Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side frustrated at Stamford Bridge.
Despite their efforts, it wasn’t enough and the Foxes suffered a 12th defeat in 13 Premier League games and leave them six points off safety with 10 games of the season remaining.
Maresca still keeps in contact with Leicester players and embraced many of them at the full time whistle.
After the game, the former Leicester manager admitted that he found the game more frustrating than expected due to one decision made by Van Nistelrooy.
Photo by Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty Images
Enzo Maresca highlights tactical change Ruud van Nistelrooy made
After weeks of demanding, Leicester fans got their wish when Van Nistelrooy made a huge tactical tweak by switching to a five-at-the-back formation instead of the usual 4-2-3-1.
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The change allowed James Justin to impress for Leicester, whilst forgotten man Luke Thomas was excellent for the Foxes as a makeshift centre-back.
Leicester fans seemed pleased with the tactical switch but for Maresca, he revealed that he had to change his entire game plan after being caught out by his former side.
He said: “We watched almost every Leicester game since Ruud arrived – you can imagine how many games. They always play with a [defensive] line of four, they arrive here and a line of five. They completely changed the plan.
“So all the training sessions we have done to prepare for the game, they go. Rubbish. So you need a new plan. Before the players go out for their warm-up, we need to give them a new plan.
“You have to completely change your plan, the way you want to attack and the way you want to defend. So Leicester come here with a back five. The players have been so good this season in the way they have been adapting.”
Ruud van Nistelrooy not giving up hope on Leicester’s Premier League future
It’s hard to imagine how anyone associated with Leicester still has genuine hope of staying up.
The Foxes haven’t scored in over 500 minutes of football and are leaking goals for fun left, right and centre.
Even Gary Lineker, an eternal optimist, thinks Leicester are down but until it’s mathematically impossible, there is still hope.
“We don’t know if we’ve run out of time. What we do know is that we have today and we have tomorrow. The players are working everyday to be the best they can be,” said the Leicester boss.
“We are here for the coming games to represent ourselves in the best possible way. We also depend on others in the moment that we are in, so we can only perform on a daily basis for 10 more games and see where we are.”