Puel: Not sure of my best team!
Graham Thomas
LAST time Jamie Vardy came up against Mickey Demetriou there was no party for the Leicester City hitman and Newport County’s pooper-in-chief aims to make their reunion another sober affair today.
Seven years ago, Demetriou denied Vardy any goal celebrations and last season the League Two centre-back kept Harry Kane off the scoresheet for 82 minutes.
Two strikers enjoying spells when goals oozed from every pore – like booze in early January – and nothing to toast for 172 minutes up against the landlord of Rodney Parade.
Those dry spells means Demetriou, 28, and his Newport team-mates host the Foxes feeling they have nothing to fear from their FA Cup third-round clash.
Vardy scored 34 league goals in his final season for Fleetwood back in 2012 but Demetriou, then of Kidderminster Harriers, recalls of their clash: “He didn’t score that day and hopefully he won’t on Sunday, either.
Quicker
“We did lose 2-0 but Vardy didn’t get one. He’d had a really good year and scored all the time that season so just stopping him was an achievement.
“Vardy already had a massive reputation at that level going into that game. We all knew he was going to be the next big thing.
“He was a good player then, but he’s probably even quicker now and he’s become a world-class player. You could tell then that he was going to make the step up.
“It was only a few months later that he went to Leicester, so it will be great to test myself against him again if we are both on the pitch.”
Demetriou versus Vardy is what the FA Cup is all about.
Just as it was last season when the Newport defender hardly gave Kane a kick.
Winning their personal battle put County within eight minutes of the shock of the round, until Kane was left alone for a split-second and stabbed home an equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw.
Harder
Spurs comfortably won the replay, 2-0 at Wembley, but the former Bognor Regis, Eastbourne and Shrewsbury defender reckons Kane gave him the tougher time than his first duel with Vardy.
He said: “Kane probably gave me the harder afternoon, but that was because Vardy was younger then. But it will be a very tough afternoon, although I’m really looking forward to it.
“It was nice that Kane didn’t score for 82 minutes last year, when he was scoring for fun in the Premier League.
“The experience was great. I was able to test myself at the very top. I can use that experience and it means there will be no panic.
“If you haven’t played in a big game before, you can get nervous and panic a little. Thankfully, a lot of this team were here last year.
“Spurs had a very strong team that day and we nearly beat them. The FA Cup still allows players to test themselves against the very best in the game. You have to want to embrace these kinds of challenges.
“We need to be solid and show them the respect they deserve – but not too much. We don’t want to be run around the pitch, because that will ill be no good for anyone.”
Last season’s Cup run, when n Newport also o knocked out t Leeds, earned the Welsh club a life-saving e-saving £ 1million and nd meant manager Mike Flynn was able to buy weighted plastic lastic cones for the training field instead nstead of the flimsy ones that blew away.
Knock out Leicester today and Flynn might even en stretch to buying a player or two this month.
Neil Moxley
CLAUDE PUEL has defended himself against accusations he will play a weakened side in today’s tie at Newport saying: ‘I don’t know what my best team is.’
Leicester’s boss is under pressure from supporters to progress in the competition with the Foxes seventh in the Premier League. Rotation for the visit of Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup was not wellreceived last month, sparking grumblings of discontent.
A visit to mid-table League Two Newport is seen as a potential banana skin but with three Premier League victories out of four during the holiday period, relegation fears have eased. The Foxes last played on New Year’s Day at Everton, leaving them with a five-day break before today.
Puel, however, while admitting he will not take any risks with his players – launched a bizarre defence of his methods by insisting he doesn’t know his preferred line-up. He said: “I’m confident in my squad. I want to put in place a team to compete at a high level. But I have players who have given a lot at international level. And I don’t know my best team.
“We need to rest some players to prevent injury, to protect two or three. I have to be careful. I will put out a strong enough team to win the tie. But I don’t know what my best team is.”