Dean Smith Manager
DS: “The main reason I took the job on was because Craig and JT wanted to come with me as well. I looked at the squad and I looked at the fixtures and I felt there were games there to be won, and points there to grab, where we can climb out of the bottom three. It’s been a season I’ve not seen before in the Premier League where nine teams are involved in the relegation battle. The more we can keep in that, I feel it’s not insurmountable to getting out of the trouble we’re in.”
Q: You said you want to lift the confidence in the squad. How have you gone about that?
DS: “We’ve lost seven out of the last eight games, so confidence isn’t going to be high. I watched the Bournemouth game and if I was 80-20 for taking the job then, I probably went down to 50-50! But I know the players. We’ve come across them before. We know they just needed a lift, and with the three of us coming in, I was confident we could give them a lift.
“The first three days we’ve had with them, we’ve seen great attitude, great quality, and great enthusiasm. We’re trying to put smiles on their faces, which is tough given the situation we’re in, but I’ve always been a big believer that if players go out and train with a smile on their face and play with a smile on their face, they can lift their confidence very quickly.”
Q: You have experience of relegation battles with Aston Villa. Are there are any comparisons between that side and this Leicester side?
DS: “There are comparisons of being in that situation before, such as not setting targets, apart from the one that come the last game of the season, we want to be not in the bottom three. We’re taking it one game at a time and assessing after each game. We did that when we were at Villa. Craig has also been through the experience here at Leicester, which was a big thing for me. Everyone knows his relationship with this football club. He believed we could do it as well, so his experience will come in really helpful.”
Q: Are there any comparisons between James Maddison and Jack Grealish and getting the best out of them? You said earlier in the week you wanted to be quicker on the transition.
DS: “I did wonder how quickly we’d get to James Maddison and Jack Grealish. We do need to transition the game more quickly than we have been.
“James is an excellent footballer. He held his hand up after his mistake. The first things I said to him were: Why are you coming so deep to get the ball? Why are we giving it to you when you’ve not got a pass on? But yes, it’s a mistake. He will learn from that and will get better from that.
“He can be a big player for us. Our job is to get him into the areas of the pitch where he can hurt the opposition, which is similar to what we did with Jack.”
Q: Have you had any conversations about taking the job on after this season? Is that something you want to do?
“It’s not a conversation we’ve had. Ultimately it’s an interim job. It’s eight games in seven week. Last week I was watching the Masters in Augusta and now I’m back to England. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Q: How do you go to Man City and impose your game?
DS: “We’ve watched an awful lot of very good teams try to impose their game on Man City and come unstuck. We have to have a gameplan and stick to it, and stay in the game as long as we can. We’ve seen teams like Brentford go there and get a result. They are one of the strongest teams in the Premier League if not the world, but we have to have belief in ourselves that we can go there and get a result.”
Q: How has John Terry instilled more belief in the defensive unit?
DS: “Straight away, bringing in someone like JT, who helped sure up the defence at Aston Villa when we worked together there. The first season, I think Emi Martinez equalled the clean sheet record at Aston Villa in the Premier League. That’s with the details that JT, myself and Craig can give them.
“We’ve got six centre-backs here at the club, Evans has just come back from injury and some have not played as many minutes as we would have liked, but we’ve got real good players who we can work with and are trying to work with.”
Q: If you were to survive, where would it rank among your achievements?
DS: “I’ll tell you that at the end of the season if and when we’ve kept them up.”
Q: Is it the strangest relegation battle you’ve seen?
DS: “I think it is as strange as it’s been in the Premier League, to have so many teams involved and so few points between everyone. It’s a real interesting period. The games we have after Man City will be interesting, but we have to focus on Man City and hopefully get a really good performance from the players, get a big lift, and hopefully get some points.”
Q: Are you surprised by where Leicester are in the table?
DS: “Yes, I am. One of my first points of action was to speak to the leadership group on Monday evening, have a meeting with them and get their thoughts on why they think we are where we are and what they think we can do to get out of it. We have our ideas and will put demands on the players and staff, giving leadership and guidance. Ultimately players make the decisions on the pitch.”
Q: What would you say to the more sceptical fans about your suitability to get out of this position?
DS: “In terms of my suitability for the job, tomorrow might be my 600th game as a manager, coming up through Walsall in League One to Brentford in the Championship, and to Aston Villa and Norwich in the Premier League, so we’ve certainly got experience.
“As a three, it’s strong, all we’ve got different qualities. All three of us have been in relegation battles in the Premier League and come through it so I think that experience will hold us in good stead.”
Q: Do you sense any complacency at the club about the position in the table?
“No. From the first day I came in, from the first time I spoke to the players, I’ve been really impressed with the enthusiasm and attitude and quality.
“Unfortunately, we’ve got a couple of players missing at the moment in some key areas. Harvey Barnes got injured in the last game and will be out certainly for Saturday and is touch and go for next Saturday. The quality has impressed all of us. We’ve been impressed with what we’ve seen.”
Q: How’s Youri Tielemans and how important is he?
“He’s available for selection. He hasn’t done a lot of minutes in training, so we’ll have to assess whether he’s ready to start or to come on as a sub. He’ll play a big part. I look at the likes of him and Jonny, and I think they give the team calmness. They give them experience and give them quality as well, so they’re going to be very important.”
Q: Do you have any other injury concerns?
“Ricky felt his hamstring after the game last week. His looks a little bit worse than Harvey’s. He’s going to be out for a few weeks, whereas Harvey’s is in an area of the hamstring that you’re a little bit less concerned about. That takes away a little bit of our wide options.”
Q: What’s it been like to come into the club on a personal level?
DS: “You can’t help but be excited when you see this training centre. There are fantastic facilities here, a fantastic training ground. You can see the ambitions are elite level. If you get John Terry saying ‘oh wow’, then you’re doing something right. We did well to get him off the golf course, but then we turn up and there’s a golf course here! He’ll probably have his clubs in the back now! It’s a great club. We’ve seen what this club can do and have done over the years. What I’ve experienced so far, meeting the staff and owners, has been refreshing. I’ve seen humility amongst everybody. They’re willing to help us and be there for us if we need them. At the end of the day, we want to be a success together and the only way we can is by working together.”
Q: You’ve said survival is not insurmountable. What have you seen to say that’s not the case?
DS: “Looking back to the Bournemouth game, what I saw on the pitch were players without confidence and players who looked a little bit lethargic. To get that out of them, we’ve tried to make training more fun and a little bit more intense. We’ve tried to make it more frantic. We’ve done that and I feel we’ve had a response. Yesterday was more of a tactical day, and today will be a tactical day. The buy-in from the players has been good so far, so hopefully we can continue with that. Because time is not our friend at the moment. We’ve got eight games.”
Q: What are the qualities to expect from a Dean Smith side?
“Focus, concentration, energy levels, commitment, everything that you would like to see. A connectivity between the players throughout the team. When we came in here, it’s a clean slate for everyone. We have fresh eyes on the players. We’ve liked what we’ve seen so far. Tomorrow we’re playing against one of the best and we have to have all of those components to get a result.”
Q: What can you change in a short amount of time?
“I don’t think we’ve got time to change fitness, but certainly energy levels yes. Mentally it’s tough when you’re on a run like we’ve been in. What we can bring is freshness, some new ideas, a little bit of clarity, get the basics right. If we do that, I do believe we can get there.”
