If Leicester City fans are questioning whether Dean Smith can keep the club in the Premier League, the message from the man himself is clear – he has not come alone. This is a three-man salvage job.
He has two assistants but that feels an insufficient way to describe them given their role in persuading him to take this opportunity.
“I would not have come if John Terry did not think we could do it,” Smith tells Sky Sports. “I would not have come if Craig Shakespeare did not think we could do it. We spoke at length, the three of us. There had to be that belief among the three of us.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Dean Smith believes he can put smiles on the players’ faces and lift confidence at Leicester
It is unusual for a head coach to be so outspoken about the importance of his deputies but then it is unusual for a head coach to have deputies like these. Shakespeare is a former Leicester manager himself. Terry, of course, is a former England captain.
“We all bring something different, that is why I felt it was important for all three of us to come in,” says Smith.
Trending
- Pep: If Leicester beat us title race is over | Arteta: We need luck
- Transfer Centre LIVE! Ancelotti: No doubt I’ll be Real boss next season
- PL Predictions: Title twist! Leicester to nick draw at Man City
- Shaw in contention to face Forest | Ten Hag defends Sevilla subs
- Klopp on Bellingham saga: ‘Why talk about things we can’t have?’
- Klopp on poor form, staying motivated, smart recruitment and more
- Papers: Chelsea invite Nagelsmann for face-to-face talks
- Former PL player cleared after arrest on suspicion of child sex offences
- ‘JT’s eye for detail and Maddison stardust’ – Smith’s survival blueprint
- Joyce must beat Zhang to target Fury, Usyk or AJ | ‘They know I’m here!’
- Video
- Latest News
“Craig’s history with the football club: he has won the Premier League with this club as an assistant manager. He has kept them up as an assistant manager. He has taken the club to the quarter-final of the Champions League as a manager. His experience is massive.
“And then obviously, JT with his experiences as a player and as a blossoming coach. One day he will go on to become a top manager. He has not had that opportunity yet but the great thing was that when I phoned him and I asked him he was all in.”
Also See:
What does Smith bring? “Leadership skills,” he says. That means empowering others. It is not just his assistants that he intends to lean on. On Monday evening, there was a meeting with Leicester’s five-man leadership group to identify where it has gone wrong.
Jonny Evans, Jamie Vardy, Wilfried Ndidi, James Maddison and Youri Tielemans were asked to come in on Tuesday with ideas of their own, all part of an open conversation to help change things. “One of my big strengths, I think, is to listen to the players,” he says.
“I will ask them questions. Players are not always used to being asked questions but I want to know what they know and what they think. We have our own ideas, of course, but some of them will alter slightly through speaking to the players and getting their views.
“It is a clean slate. Three fresh pairs of eyes. For players who probably have not played the minutes they would have expected, it is a fresh start for them as well. We want to see the levels on the training ground lifted. We feel we have seen that so far.”
Everyone agrees that it must change. With eight games remaining, Leicester are two points from safety and in worse form than the teams above the relegation zone. Last time out, they lost at home to Bournemouth. It is Manchester City away on Saturday.
Manchester City
Leicester City
Saturday 15th April 5:00pm Kick off 5:30pm
In the press conference before this interview, Smith joked that his confidence dropped from 80 per cent to 50 after watching that defeat at the King Power. He tells Sky Sports that he is now “100 per cent all in” but the fragility of that display has stayed with him.
“The performance obviously was not great and you are thinking, this is going to be a really tough job.” But he stresses that he is really pleased with what he has seen from the players so far. What he will demand is that his team shows more resilience.
“You are still in a game at 1-0 and 2-0,” he says. “We have to have that mentality. That is a big thing in football and we have to instil that. We have come in to lift the morale, lift the confidence and get a tune out of players to win football matches.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Alan Smith’s verdict on the appointment of Dean Smith at his old club Leicester
Freedom for Maddison?
It was Maddison’s error that presented Bournemouth with their winning goal, but Smith knows that he will need Leicester’s playmaker if they are to stay up. It took four questions at the press conference for the comparison with Jack Grealish to come up.
Smith helped Grealish to shine at Aston Villa, earning him that £100m move to Man City. The winger has since spoken of how his old boss gave him the freedom to seek out the weaknesses in the opposition defence. The hope is that he can help Maddison too.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from the match between Leicester and Bournemouth
“Jack would also say he had to be disciplined at times as well. Yes, he had to go and find areas to hurt teams but I think people are seeing he is a good player without the ball as well. James will need to be part of the team and have those connections too.
“But all teams need that sprinkling of stardust. James gives us that. You can see that with the quality that he has, the goals that he scores, the delivery that he has. Our job is to get the best from him.”
It is likely, particularly given his mistake, that Smith will want that to be higher up the pitch. “There will be some tactical differences for James.” Different to before but also different from game to game. “We have to be adaptable as a team with each game.”
Smith: I am in a better place
“It has been nice, actually. I have not had that time before. My son is playing soccer out in the States so we managed to go out and see him. During Covid, as a family, we did not see an awful lot of him so I was able to give the wife and kids some time which I have not been able to do so much over the last 12 years.
“Since coming back to work, mine and Shakey’s wives have been in touch saying they have lost their odd-job men now and their project managers for anything that needs doing. It has been a nice break but it is nice to be back.
“It was a really useful period because it gave me time to reflect and review what I was doing before. I am experienced but I also feel I am a quick learner who has learned from mistakes. I feel in a better place.”
Terry’s defensive details
Whatever Maddison can do in the final third, Leicester will have to improve defensively too. They have not kept a clean sheet in five months. Though Smith says that “between the three of us, we have certain principles about how we want to defend,” it is Terry’s domain.
“JT has already had a defensive meeting with the players where I just sat at the back. He was showing clips of Man City and their goals, how they could have been defended better and the little details of how he does not like certain things, how we should react.
“These are the small details that others can miss.”
Smith was sacked by Norwich in December with them fifth in the Championship. “I still firmly believe we would have got them up this season,” he says. But it does feel significant that Terry was not with him in Norfolk. He left Villa before Smith’s sacking there too.
Reunited again, the three men hope they can give Leicester’s fans – and even more importantly their players – a reason to believe.
“It is just the clarity and the positivity on the messages that we can give. I said to the players right away that we would not be here if we did not believe we could stay in the Premier League and that is true.”
Watch Man City vs Leicester live on Sky Sports Premier League from 5pm on Saturday; kick-off 5.30pm
Win £250,000 with Super 6!
Another Saturday, another chance to win £250,000 with Super 6. Play for free, entries by 3pm.
Sourse: skysports.com
