Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca has said that he will look to mould some of his players in the squad to be able to play left back to prevent James Justin from being injured.
Justin has made two starts in a row against Liverpool and then Blackburn for the first time in eleven months after recovering from an Achilles rupture.
He has come in to play on the left side of his hybrid-defensive role, which sees him play left-back out of possession, and centre-back in possession.
Callum Doyle, who started the season in this position, is out until the new year, but with only Justin able to pay that position instead, Maresca has said he will look to come very other players to be more versatile and play that position.
Maresca told the Leicester Mercury after Sunday’s win at Ewood Park: “JJ, if you remember, I always said, even when he was not playing, like with Hamza (Choudhury), because the season is very long and because they work very good and are very professional, for sure they are going to help us. JJ today was unbelievable, even if he was on the left side. He can play with the left foot. I’m happy for JJ.
“We’ll see, fortunately we can take some decisions. We don’t have a natural left-footer like Callum so we need to adapt some players there. But in this moment it is JJ. We’ll see if we need to find different solutions.”
Enzo Maresca looking to rotate
Maresca explained that there are a lot of games for his side this season, and so he has to be careful with how often he selects players.
“We have many games and you realise that when you see the schedule,” Maresca added. “We play Wednesday at Liverpool. We play today Sunday, then we play Wednesday again, and then we play Saturday.
“Between Sunday and Wednesday, it’s Monday and Tuesday. Monday they need to recover and Tuesday you need to prepare the game. Thursday and Friday it happens the same.
“We can adapt. The only thing we can do is adapt. Sometimes some of them are going to be tired. Look at Macca (Kasey McAteer). Inside, he tried to help, but because he played two days ago, it’s not easy. They are human beings.”