Choudhury says team meetings were vital

THE Leicester City squad held two players-only meetings totalling nearly two hours to correct their course and get their push for the Premier League back on track.

Enzo Maresca revealed last week that the players had got their heads together following the back-to-back losses to Millwall and Plymouth that had left the club at risk of blowing promotion.

But Hamza Choudhury has said the squad actually sat down twice to get everybody’s thoughts in the open and refocus on the task at hand.

Choudhury said: “We had a meeting after the Plymouth game for about an hour. And then we had another one on Monday for about 45 minutes.

“It wasn’t just the leaders speaking, it was everyone who put their thoughts forward. We have so much experience in that dressing room, the lads came together and said: ‘Enough is enough, now is the time to get over the line.’

“The group of lads are so close. There is not one bad egg in there and we care, that game showed that.

“It showed how much we do care for this club and how much we want to go back up to the Premier League.

“They (the meetings) probably gave us that bit of a push. Everyone does care and everyone trusts each other. But it probably refocused us and recentred us and put that focus on each game at a time.”

Choudhury made three goal-line clearances in the WBA win and received a standing ovation in the changing room.

He said it felt like a performance in which he repaid the club.

He said: “It’s the best feeling. It’s what you work for. I’ve been at this club since the age of seven or eight, almost 20 years now, and it means everything to me and my family.

“My mum used to do all the long journeys on a Tuesday and Thursday night, it’s so rewarding, I can’t put it into words. It felt like the biggest game of my life, to pay back to the club everything they have done for me and put them into a position where they could go back up to the Premier League.”