Ranieri Has Been Backstabbed.

[SheppyFox]

We have an issue with the manager:

/staff/players. The quickest fix isn't to replace the players or staff, fair or not he's got to resign.

[Skippy]

CR's credibility took a massive hit for me after he joked to a reporter giving the Chelsea pre-match interview answering something along the lines of "ah yes we need much luck" and then laughed out loud as the reporter finished the interview with a customary good luck comment. That spoke volumes to me. Yes we were about to play the current top team and yes there was a good chance we'll get flogged but come on to have a jolly good laugh about the impending game in the precarious position we were/are in was just bizarre and very unprofessional. Even the commentators on the Optus sport channel were amazed he responded like that.  Any ballsy manager would not have behaved like that... CR has lost the plot, he's not the manager to get us out of this rotten rut. 

[Crazy Kop Corner]

The players have let him down it's as simple as that.

 

Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Vardy, Albrighton have all been crap.

 

No manager would have expected the majority of his side to capitulate in such a dramatic fashion. Usually the nucleus of a good side remains the next season. Even in Peter Taylors first year the team were still good for the 1st part of the season until his incompetence started to shine through.

 

It is not solely done to Kante going as we were flying in the early stages of last season and he wasn't in the side.

 

These players need to have a long hard look at themselves in the mirror this morning and decide what they want to do and who they want to be,

[STUHILL]

2 minutes ago, Crazy Kop Corner said:

The players have let him down it's as simple as that.

 

Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Vardy, Albrighton have all been crap.

 

No manager would have expected the majority of his side to capitulate in such a dramatic fashion. Usually the nucleus of a good side remains the next season. Even in Peter Taylors first year the team were still good for the 1st part of the season until his incompetence started to shine through.

 

It is not solely done to Kante going as we were flying in the early stages of last season and he wasn't in the side.

 

These players need to have a long hard look at themselves in the mirror this morning and decide what they want to do and who they want to be,

Add Drinkwater to that list. He has been woeful. 

[volpeazzurro]

7 hours ago, Tuna said:

If you had worked in a job for 30 years with nominal success and then suddenly out of the blue in the twilight of your career, you get an unbeleivable opportunity which delivers the greatest personal success of your entire career, winning worldwide respect and kudos. For the people responsible for that, you would be forever grateful.

 

If Claudio was 10 years younger, we'd not be in this mess right now. He's entwined with these players and cannot bring himself to criticize or replace them. It's a self fulfuilling prophecy. We play dreadfully, he says he's happy with the performance. We play dreadfully again, he says he's happy with the performance. Even recently he's been blaming himself for the results.

 

Footballers like anyone need to be pushed. If you keep saying 'good job' to the players they'll get complacent and go backwards. Ranieri cannot lead this team any further. I would suggest that a new manager would make an immediate impact and the results would improve. And it would look they'e thrown Ranieri under the bus, but unfortunately he's responsible for the situation the club finds itself in.

 

Do you really really think that the Ranieri that you see on the television not criticising his player's in public is the same Ranieri the players get in training? How neive. Sir Alex Ferguson also chose never to criticise his players in public and he was older than Ranieri.  Do you honestly think that behind the scenes Fergie was every players favourite elderly grandad? He turned out to be not to shabby as a manager didn't he.

 

Tactics can only work so much. They have to be implemented by the players . When they've played the same tactics as last year, regardless of Kate missing,  the same workmanlike endeavour has not been there. That's solely down to the players who now get paid handsomely to play. You're looking at a bunch, or some of them, at lazy uncommitted bast Ards. 

[Skippy]

2 minutes ago, Crazy Kop Corner said:

Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Vardy, Albrighton have all been crap.

You forgot Drinkwater, he's as bad if not worse that this bunch. I think he needs to be dropped. 

 

[Crazy Kop Corner]

Drinkwater was okay in the first part of the season but you're right he has been bloody awful in the last few games. It seems like he wants away and has been told he must stay.

 

After they scored just blazing the ball out of play was ridiculous.

 

I felt a bit sorry for Ndid last night as he seemed to be doing an awful lot of work on his own.

[sk3since03]

Ranieri probably does have his own ideas and instructions on how the team play but the players don't have the mental or technical  ability to implement it! They're just bang on average footballers that's it ! Excluding Mahrez maybe Drinkwater. 

 

Frustrating as it's us fans that suffer. 

 

[Guest Danny Clender]

I'm not going to go too deep with this topic.

As most of the points cover it all.

 

I'd like to add how it highlights the sad side of the game where footballers are so alienated from the fans now. 

They are nothing like us anymore and It's a very worrying rift that doesn't look like it will change.

Add the broadcasters disrespect into the mix and football is looking very two faced. 

These past few weeks the club has seen the players, managers and fans all with completely different agendas, this is a big worry. 

[Guest ttfn]

As others have said the most gutting thing about this is that the squad appears to have gone from a "band of brothers" to the absolute worst excesses of everything that is wrong with modern footballers.

 

Total and utter disconnection from the fans, with people travelling on occasion thousands of miles to get no recognition back from the players for their support. This starts with Morgan who time and again is the first man back in the dressing room after another crushing defeat.

 

Utterly disinterested collective performances and a basic lack of preparation and professionalism seeing us fall behind early on several occasions this season, particularly (but sadly not exclusively) away from home and often from set pieces.

 

Heads dropping the moment we concede. A hallmark of the last 2 seasons in particular (it wasn't really needed the season before) was an extraordinary ability to bounce back after going behind. Today you still hear the crowd roar on the team when we concede but god knows why because we never get a response. In fact, often conceding seems to make things worse and we just completely collapse.

 

Furthermore one of our players has actually gone on strike. This seems like a minor issue given the rest of what is going on at the club, but a highly paid professional contractor is refusing to go to work because "promises weren't kept". Another player basically didn't try for 6 months to force through a move.

 

To make matters worse there are now strong rumours that the only player who seems to have maintained the standards from last season is briefing against the manager because he "doesn't rate" the man who delivered the most extraordinary title win in sporting history.

 

The club will be forever grateful to the players and manager for last season but is that gratitude reciprocated? These guys were nobodies and has-beensbefore they came to play for us and they're now treating with utter contempt Ranieri and the club which has given them the opportunity to achieve the unthinkable.

 

The club is obviously partly to blame for rewarding (some of) them in the manner it has, but the basic lack of professional application is unbelievable.

 

[Rialto 290352]

At this level the players hold most of the cards.  If they play badly then the manager is the one who will get sacked.  Generally the players will have a lucrative contract to see out and then a nice lucrative move to another club.  Club loyalty means little or nothing to them.  As has been shown recently if a player won't play for a club he will, in the end, get his move.  

 

The least players should have is to show professional pride and give 100 per cent effort all the time.  Play for each other and for the side.  

[Guest Col city fan]

9 hours ago, Donut said:

Ranieri is attracting a lot of criticism. Hes made mistakes this season and thats clear.

 

But before his seemingly inevitable departure from the club, i want to get this off my chest:

 

1) This club has treated these players like royalty off the back of what they did last season. And have they given anything back? anything at all? Course they havent. Because they are the epitome of the modern footballer, self centred, selfish, arrogant and detached. Happy as larry one moment, throwing toys out the pram the next

 

2) The post match interviews. All Ranieri has ever done, is try to protect the players, never dig anyone out, and keep a positive atmosphere around the club. Again, have the players appreciated this? have they fvck. And yet, if he started digging people out which he should have done long ago, youd have plenty of people on here complaining he shouldnt have done that.

 

3) The senior players. Could you be bothered to stand up and be counted? course you couldnt. Players who were clamouring for an opportunity to play, have you staked your claim? course you havent. Youve got the perfect excuse for all your failings, hide behind the man who helped you win the league, when you could be bothered.

 

4) The man inspired Leicester to win the league. We bin him off, we bin off a man capable of winning the league. We probably wont ever have a manager of that quality ever. Or certainly for a long, long time.

 

5) Claudio is obviously left carrying the can for everyones failings behind the scenes. HE IS NOT BLAMELESS, lets be clear on that. But Shakespeare, Stowell, Benetti, the sports scientists, WALSH (for some of his recommendations). Claudio is going to carry all of your blame.

 

6) Those shouting their heads off for Claudio to go have about as much respect as the players. There is absolutely no need for the level of vitriol Claudio has attracted. It is way over the top. You can call for a manager to go in a dignified way, and when youre talking about a man whos given you the best days of your Leicester supporting lives, you should show this man significantly more respect than he receives from this forum.

 

 

I see this OP has attained a huge amount of plus ones. Possibly one of the biggest I've seen.

Personally, although I agree that the players seem like they aren't bothered, is the manager not still the boss?

I can't remember Alex Ferguson ever bowing down to player pressure? Didn't Stam, Van Nist and Beckham get the boot when he thought they were either over the hill or taking the piss?

In more modern times, even Pulis has taken the stance he did with Berahino, to good effect. He binned him, wouldn't play him, then sold him.

 

The manager manages the players. A strong character and personality will not let the likes of Vardy do what he's doing OFF the field, if it means he's not performing ON it.

I see this slightly differently. Like the OP, I have no doubt the players motivation is not there this season, like it was last. But I also have no doubt that Ranieri has allowed this to happen to some extent because he's like Sven. He's a pussy. He's defended awful performances with the same boring diatribe each time. If the rumour was correct, it was the players who were deciding the tactics. It's even come down to Ulloa...a consummate professional and apparently thoroughly decent bloke, feeling like he has to go public.

 The club have been just as bad. I've said I think it's been run in a shocking way ever since the success of last season, in terms of signings, lavishing further riches on the players and everything that goes with it.

 

To conclude....one thing that Nigel Pearson (and more importantly his managerial TEAM) did not do was to allow any player to take the piss. Knockeart was shown the door. Players were usually dropped when they weren't performing. There seemed to be very little dissent. Yes, the football wasn't always brilliant, but you got the feeling that it was Nigel running the club and the players. With Claudio, like with Sven, you get the feeling it's the other way round. And that is never ever a good thing. 

So I agree with the OP. But i also think that the club, Ranieri and his managerial team have ALLOWED the players to do this. And of course, this is what cuts the best football managers from the others. This ability to keep the players lean, mean and keen, whilst retaining their respect and showing that ultimately, they are in charge.

Its a really tough job. A really tough one. And so far this season, Ranieri has failed miserably at it.

[sylofox]

personally if this clique exist within the club CR should name and shame them. Drop the and make them train with the u23's.

 

Then if need be play u23's looks like we are going down so do it without these cvnts.

Let everyone know which of last seasons heroes are cvnts then feck em off in the summer.

[Guest Col city fan]

1 minute ago, sylofox said:

personally if this clique exist within the club CR should name and shame them. Drop the and make them train with the u23's.

 

Then if need be play u23's looks like we are going down so do it without these cvnts.

Let everyone know which of last seasons heroes are cvnts then feck em off in the summer.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's half the squad.

Therein may lie the problem.

[Rob1742]

9 hours ago, Donut said:

Says you cant have it both ways, then goes on to say Pearsons group won the league and totally dismisses Ranieri's input. Then blames him for this season. Contradictory much?

 

It obviously wasnt solely down to him we won the league. Everyone pulled together to achieve something incredible, now theyre all pulling apart to ruin it and they know at the end of the day, the manager goes. Theyll be alright. The fans will still love me. Ill get a shitload of cash.

 

 

 

The fact is, it is very clear Ranieri is having trouble with this group of players. Fact. Now you either say how wonderful he is and blame others, or you do something about it.

 

We need to change him and see if a new manager can work with the group and get it right.

 

Its alright saying how wonderful he is, while disappearing down the toilet. 

 

I said it in early December, he should have been gone then as it was clear we were always looking at the previous season. We needed to think of the situation we were in then and made the change. 

 

And I stick by it, Pearson created the strong group mentality, Ranieri just had to take over and add a bit of tactical nouse. 

[Guest Col city fan]

1 minute ago, Rob1742 said:

The fact is, it is very clear Ranieri is having trouble with this group of players. Fact. Now you either say how wonderful he is and blame others, or you do something about it.

 

We need to change him and see if a new manager can work with the group and get it right.

 

Its alright saying how wonderful he is, while disappearing down the toilet. 

 

I said it in early December, he should have been gone then as it was clear we were always looking at the previous season. We needed to think of the situation we were in then and made the change. 

 

And I stick by it, Pearson created the strong group mentality, Ranieri just had to take over and add a bit of tactical nouse. 

And that's exactly what Claudio DID do...he just couldn't maintain it over the long term. Which exemplifies his CV. His career record does not read like it reads for no reason.

[SpinneyHillRanger]

the biggest problem is paying these overpaid players a huge long terms fortune for last seasons success....

 

 

too many of the modern day footballers have this diva attitude. Look how west ham dealt with Payet... Vardy, Drinkwater... Mahrez.... even Ulloa to a certain extent.... are given way too much reward/respect.

 

IMO, the carrot doesn't work with most of these footballers.... they need the stick. If they don't perform and they think they are bigger than the club they should've been told to piss off..... especially the likes of Danny Simpson.

 

[sylofox]

5 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

I wouldn't be surprised if it's half the squad.

Therein may lie the problem.

It maybe Col so if they want to act like kids treat them like kids. Ring leaders first then the rest if they continue. Looks like we are going down with them playing so its not going to hurt that much.

[SecretPro]

Something needs to happen today, not sure what, maybe Ranieri out, public bollocking for the players, some sort of explanation as to why we cannot negotiate deals every window. I don't know, but something needs to happen today or I'm going to assassinate every single person in this office. 

[Thracian]

2 hours ago, Crazy Kop Corner said:

The players have let him down it's as simple as that.

 

Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Vardy, Albrighton have all been crap.

 

No manager would have expected the majority of his side to capitulate in such a dramatic fashion. Usually the nucleus of a good side remains the next season. Even in Peter Taylors first year the team were still good for the 1st part of the season until his incompetence started to shine through.

 

It is not solely done to Kante going as we were flying in the early stages of last season and he wasn't in the side.

 

These players need to have a long hard look at themselves in the mirror this morning and decide what they want to do and who they want to be,

I don't think it's that simple at all. Good professionals don't become "crap" overnight.  

 

 

[Babylon]

This isn't just the fault of Ranieri, but at the end of the day he's the manager and the man who carries the can.

 

Yes players probably struggled to get up for it at the start of the season, yes the club probably made a terrible decision to travel the world and get spanked pre season, when really we probably needed grounding with games against league two sides. Yes contract disparity, overloading the squad and poor squad building have all played a part.

 

But ultimately, any issue we've have can be influenced by the manager. He's meant to be the football man and the man that heads up everything football related. If he thought something could impact upon moral he should have put his foot down and asked for it to be done another way.

 

As it is, he seemed to be happy to tick along without any real plan for what came next. Obvious issues remained unaddressed and not planned for, whilst he was off picking up another award... which I hope to christ they put Pearson's name in brackets on, because with his and Walsh's spirit and team building we'd have never got close to what we did.

 

We look like dead men walking, we've done nothing absolutely nothing all season. I backed Pearson previously in a worse position as I had total faith (despite his obvious flaws) in the way he tried to go about running this football club, and I always thought we very close to being a very good team. It is Pearson (with the help of the owners cash) that sorted this club out from top to bottom as there was always a plan, a set way of working and you knew what you got from us. That good work now seems to be slowing falling to pieces before our very eyes.

 

We drastically need someone to come in with a long term strategy to get this club back on track, otherwise we'll be spending another 10 years in the wilderness.

[filthyfox]

10 hours ago, lcfceaves said:

 

 

But you are right, the players are a f****** disgrace.

CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND.... A ****ING DISGRACE!

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

1 hour ago, ttfn said:

As others have said the most gutting thing about this is that the squad appears to have gone from a "band of brothers" to the absolute worst excesses of everything that is wrong with modern footballers.

 

Total and utter disconnection from the fans, with people travelling on occasion thousands of miles to get no recognition back from the players for their support. This starts with Morgan who time and again is the first man back in the dressing room after another crushing defeat.

 

Utterly disinterested collective performances and a basic lack of preparation and professionalism seeing us fall behind early on several occasions this season, particularly (but sadly not exclusively) away from home and often from set pieces.

 

Heads dropping the moment we concede. A hallmark of the last 2 seasons in particular (it wasn't really needed the season before) was an extraordinary ability to bounce back after going behind. Today you still hear the crowd roar on the team when we concede but god knows why because we never get a response. In fact, often conceding seems to make things worse and we just completely collapse.

 

Furthermore one of our players has actually gone on strike. This seems like a minor issue given the rest of what is going on at the club, but a highly paid professional contractor is refusing to go to work because "promises weren't kept". Another player basically didn't try for 6 months to force through a move.

 

To make matters worse there are now strong rumours that the only player who seems to have maintained the standards from last season is briefing against the manager because he "doesn't rate" the man who delivered the most extraordinary title win in sporting history.

 

The club will be forever grateful to the players and manager for last season but is that gratitude reciprocated? These guys were nobodies and has-beensbefore they came to play for us and they're now treating with utter contempt Ranieri and the club which has given them the opportunity to achieve the unthinkable.

 

The club is obviously partly to blame for rewarding (some of) them in the manner it has, but the basic lack of professional application is unbelievable.

 

Agree entirely with this - nail on head.

 

Owners completely carried away in the summer with their shambolic victory tour and the players have got carried away - Vardy in particular. They should all be ashamed of themselves.

 

Claudio should have enough experience to deal with this though, and quite frankly he's been a disaster this season.

 

[Babylon]

2 hours ago, Crazy Kop Corner said:

The players have let him down it's as simple as that.

 

Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Vardy, Albrighton have all been crap.

 

No manager would have expected the majority of his side to capitulate in such a dramatic fashion. Usually the nucleus of a good side remains the next season. Even in Peter Taylors first year the team were still good for the 1st part of the season until his incompetence started to shine through.

 

It is not solely done to Kante going as we were flying in the early stages of last season and he wasn't in the side.

 

These players need to have a long hard look at themselves in the mirror this morning and decide what they want to do and who they want to be,

Funny as I was thinking how much this is mirroring the Taylor years. Pearson's team still in place, has a great season and things start to get worse when the managers tactics and new players and shoddy team building start to take hold.

[Guest Col city fan]

1 minute ago, Babylon said:

Funny as I was thinking how much this is mirroring the Taylor years. Pearson's team still in place, has a great season and things start to get worse when the managers tactics and new players and shoddy team building start to take hold.

Spot on IMO. There are clear parallels.