Circumspect Shakespeare bracing Leicester for plot twists
LEICESTER, England — Craig Shakespeare refused to declare Leicester safe from relegation despite leading his team into the top half of the Premier League standings.
The Foxes moved up to 10th spot after a 2-0 victory over Sunderland on Tuesday that left beleaguered Black Cats boss David Moyes looking doomed to the drop.
The triumph extended Shakespeare’s winning run at the start of his Premier League management career to five games, and made it six wins from six in all competitions.
The Foxes are nine points above the bottom three, but Shakespeare, who replaced the fired Claudio Ranieri, does not think the job is done.
“No, I am still not going to say that because I think we are never quite sure if other teams are capable of going on good runs,” the manager said.
“I have been in football for long enough to know anything can happen.
“We have to make sure we stay focused and move onto the next one.
“We have to make sure we prepare for Sunday at Everton because that’ll be another big test for us. We have to make sure we’re ready for each match.
“That’s my job. We have to be competitive in every game, but the idea is to try to win it and that’s what we’ll do until the end of the season.”
Shakespeare said his flying start at the helm had exceeded his own expectations after he can showed a Midas touch against Sun der land with inspirational substitutions.
Marc Albrighton and Islam Slimani were introduced in the 62nd minute, and seven minutes later they combined for the opening goal before Albrighton teed up Jamie Vardy for the second.
“It doesn’t feel easy, especially on the sideline,” said Shakespeare. “I’ve never felt really comfortable until the final whistle, so no, it doesn’t feel easy.
“When I saw the games in front of me, starting against Liverpool, I couldn’t have imagined this.
“I am really pleased with the impact of the subs — that is what you make them for.”
Meanwhile, Moyes is enduring a far more torrid time than Shakespeare, with poor results on the pitch combined with controversy off it.
Hours before kickoff at Leicester, his club publicly backed him after he threatened to ‘slap’ a female BBC reporter who quizzed him about his job security after March’s draw with Burnley.
“I’ve been surprised in many ways (by the reaction) but I’ve done my job with the players, prepared them and organized them,” Moyes said.
“The world of football is a great business now, it employs an incredible amount of people, whether it be in the media or at the training grounds, and for that reason football is a big talking point.”
But Moyes conceded his rock-bottom side, which is eight points from safety, faces an almost impossible task to stay up after back-to-back losses at Watford and Leicester.
“It’s tougher. I really felt that to give us a real chance we would have to win one of these two away games and they both were difficult on paper ,” he said.