Mark Hughes has given his thoughts to the media at the pre match press confernece ahead of the visit of Claude Puel's Leicester City side to St Mary's.

On the defeat at Everton Hughes felt there was room for improvement and that he was nearer knowing his best XI.

"We had a disappointing result. It's always difficult going to Everton, they're a very accomplished side at home, with a new manager in his first home game, but apart from a couple of defensive lapses which damaged us I thought it was an ok performance. There were elements that needed to be better and I'm hoping and expecting those elements will improve in our third game."

"I've got an idea of that. At this stage of the season there's still a few vagaries in terms of guys who have come back late from World Cup who've had disrupted pre-seasons, so there's still a levelling off in terms of what people are producing and capable of. I think that will resolve itself in the next couple of weeks."

Looking at the Leicester City fixture at the weekend Hughes had this to say.

"Leicester are probably the club that gain more points on the road than most. They're a very accomplished counter-attacking team and it's very difficult to go up against them. You want to be on the front foot, but you've always got to be mindful of the threat they have on the break"

"You would imagine that Jamie Vardy would be a bonus for us, but they have good resources. He's been there a long time and is a big part of how they play, but they've got guys who can come in and affect the game in similar ways."

Hughes did have some good news on the injury front though, although he didn't mention the absence of Jannik Vestergaard at Everton, so we can aonly assume that he is now available.

"Moi Elyounoussi has trained today, so we're hopeful he can be an option for us. Obviously, he needs to have a good day tomorrow in terms of no reaction from the work he's done today."

Hughes also praised Danny Ings after his first couple of weeks at the club.

"He's a goalscorer. He's a technical player as well, who can link the play between the lines, and that's something we need to be better at."

On the possibility of loaning out more young players before the full window closes Hughes has this to say.

"There's been a number of enquiries to us from Championship clubs in regard to our young players. Some may go through. We'll have to see what develops. It's just whether we feel it's the right club at the right time for these young guys' circumstances."

Photo: Action Images

codge added 21:59 - Aug 23 A couple of defensive errors trouble is its the same people over and over again, hopefully we change the defense up a bit Saturday and win Coyr.
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1970 added 22:51 - Aug 23 The problem is without Elyounossi's pace or long's tireless running we are methodically slow so Leicester or any other team will see us as 3 points gained if we cant play any of these two, so for me the best side we could put out is Mc Carthy,Cedric Vestagaard,Hoedt,Bertrand,Romeou, Lamina,Hojberg,Redmond,Elyounoussi,Ings, with long for Redmond predictably on the hour, but I'd expect Hughes to just match up like for like with little or no attempt to win the game but we're see, saying that I've just done that for him with the above team but to be honest its about all we have.coys a big win required

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