Following last Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Spanish La Liga side Villarreal, Leicester City won another preseason game on Tuesday night, 2-1, against Shrewsbury Town in front of their fans for the first time under new coach Steve Cooper.
Stephy Mavididi and Kasey McAteer scored for the Foxes while Shrewsbury’s consolation was an own goal by Caleb Okoli.
Zambian striker Patson Daka, who had played 60 minutes in the previous match, was given the starting spot. He played the full 90 minutes.
The Chipolopolo striker had some nice touches, was good at clenching possession, and came close to scoring at the end of the first half after a great run.
Cooper’s reaction after win Shrewsbury
Coopper was impressed with his team, but he stated that winning was not the primary goal in the preseason-friendly games.
“Winning’s not a bad habit so that’s okay, but it’s also not a disaster if we don’t win these games. Objectives are more important and we had some clear objectives in terms of how we wanted to play and some physical returns, some players in positions we were trying. There were definitely some good bits and definitely some bits where we feel we should do better.”
He continued: “The mistakes we made in the game were from the guys trying to play with our idea. I’m okay with that. It’s okay to make mistakes when they’re trying to do what we’re implementing. We played through well, but we didn’t continue our attacks. We turned it over too much. That caused moments in the game that were end to end. We were a bit imbalance when the ball was turned over. We didn’t quite put it together tonight. But the intention was there. That’s how you get better.”
Leicester City has three more friendlies scheduled against Palermo, Augsburg, and Lens before opening the 2024-25 Premier League season against Tottenham Hotspur on August 19, 2024, at the Kingspower Stadium.
They are returning to the Premier League after being promoted last season after winning the Championship under Enzo Maresca, who is now the head coach of Chelsea FC.
READ MORE: From kit master to treble-winning coach: the story of Chisi Mbewe
