Fulham Fan In Peace - Ranieri and How

[yorkie1999]

1 hour ago, mad biker said:

And we would NOT have won the Premier leaghe !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prove it

[Mendi]

Sad to see him leaving Fulham. Its just not worked out for him.

 

[FoyleFox]

We had a good squad with a terrific team spirit, we had momentum and were on a high from the best escape. And then we signed Kanté. As stated, Ranieri tweaked but didn't tinker and handled the media and pressure brilliantly. Sadly, the tinkering occurred in the second season and it all went south. 

 

I'd dearly hoped for a good season for Fulham as the other half is a Fulham fan. I've had great times at the cottage and the play off final was thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, I didn't feel Ranieri was going to be a good fit and watching each week, it had proved so. Unless Scotty Parker really pulls a miracle out of the bag it's the championship again. At least the ticket prices might be reasonable again!

[Gamble92]

We try really hard in modern day football to explain how things happen. Carragher and Neville will spend 2 hours lecturing us on exactly how this team won this match or how this player become so great, but in reality it doesnt work like anyone makes out.

 

You cannot tell me after we scraped that 2-2 with stoke away, anyone thought this man is some tactical genius who was going to make us champions. It all made for a great story and it always will do. But anyone who lived through the years that Pearson built the Leicester City we are now knows there was so much to it, and sadly, very little was down to Ranieri.

 

He will go down as the most iconic manager in our history without a doubt, but to me, as someone who was at Mk Dons at home when it all started, i will always regard Nigel Pearson as the man who gave me the opportunity to see my team become champions of England and play in the Champions League. 

[deanolegend1989]

The reality is, much as I love Ranieri, it was our squad that won the title mainly.

 

We had, perhaps very fortunately, found a winning formula at the end of 14/15. We picked up 22 points in 9 games which was incredible.

so going into the new season we had Mahrez, Vardy, Drinky, huth, albrighton all continuing how we were going(which was CL form). Add to that, probably the best signing in premier league history Ngolo Kante, we had a very under repped team of quality that no one would’ve realised, but looking back now you can see the quality in that team, it wernt a fluke.

 

Ranieri did well to make the press laugh and take pressure off players, Dili ding Dili Dong, the pizza stuff etc . Keeping good team harmony and we did very well negotiating every game after the Arsenal defeat to grind wins and he has to take some credit , but I believe our squad and especially Kante were the huge reasons for our success. Ngolo is just possibly the best player in premier league history...Literally.   

[simFox]

The ghost of Richard the third.

 

You need to find a long dead king and bury him.

[Fox85]

Facts.

 

Ranieri won the league on the foundations of what nigel Pearson built and his back room staff. Our form actually clicked from the great escape the season before. Ranieri left all the training with Craig Shakespeare and didnt change anything.

 

After we won the league Ranieri sacked 65% of the backroom staff and then bought his own in and conducted his own training this ended in failure.

 

 

 

 

[LinekersApples]

7 hours ago, Langston said:

Can't we just concede that Pearson and Ranieri both contributed enormously to our title win? Why does it have to be a contest?

 

It's one of the most tiring arguments on here.

And can we swap the family stand with the kop?

[Mike Oxlong]

I’m sorry that it didn’t work out for him st Fulham. It’s a decent club with a fantastic old ground and Claudio is a lovely man who put the biggest of smiles on our faces for many reasons. 

 

His main attributes in our title winning season were i) not tinkering (although when he did his substitutions were generally spot on), ii) handling the media and iii) steering an already very well made ship calmly through unknown waters. 

 

The odd tactics and team selections with Fulham this season chime with his management of us in 15/16. I feel that your experience of him this year vindicates our own sacking of him then when it was apparent that he was taking us in the wrong direction. The media trashed us for that decision but to anyone who really knew what was going on here at that time it was absolutely necesssry. 

 

I hope that Fulham make a good appointment and have better times ahead. 

 

It’s probably the only top tier London club that I like.

[bfox]

3 hours ago, deanolegend1989 said:

Ngolo is just possibly the best player in premier league history...Literally.   

Great player and one of the best in his position in PL history but outright best ever? getting a bit carried away there!

[Chester Dontlie]

I'm even more convinced now than I was in 16/17 season than Ranners had to go. If he hadn't, there would be no Great Escape... And the road back to Premier League isn't the easiest one, even if you have a great squad. I feel sorry for Claudio, but he will always have that 15/16 season, and so will we.

 

As for Fulham they seem to be beyond saving. Unless... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark_w]

15 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

2) Built the whole team around Vardy playing as far up on the oppositions defence as possible, with a high press and a direct and fast counter attacking style. Vardy had previously been chopped and changed in how he played under Pearson and had never really been prolific. 

3) Switched from attacking full backs in Schlupp and de Laet to Fuchs and Simpson which immediately made us better defensively and further freed up Mahrez to have licence to roam. He was another player who under Pearson hadn't been in a system which gave him the space to wreak havoc like he got in the title winning season. 

Agree with the bulk of your post and absolutely Ranieri deserves credit for the above too. But Vardy had been prolific in a pretty similar 4-4-1-1 system in the Championship and Mahrez had been given that freedom with his role in the Great Escape tactic, Pearson struggled to adapt to the Premier League at first but it's not like he had never put together systems that did exactly what you're saying.

Nigel Pearson, Craig Shakespeare, Steve Walsh and the rest of the backroom team they helped assemble deserve a huge amount of the credit for what we did. And personally, I have no doubt that we'd be in a much stronger position now had we kept Pearson that summer. There's a lot of talk about recruitment which Walsh deserves a huge amount of credit for, but equally important was Nigel Pearson's ability to identify people who weren't right for the squad and mentality we were trying to build and his ruthlessness in cutting those people in spite of the doom and gloom from some of our fans. I absolutely love him. But this thread is going a little bit too far in terms of writing Claudio out of it. I never thought there was any long term planning in the appointment of Ranieri and he did at least start to over see the disassembling of what had been built in the proceeding years. But it is extremely difficult to see a situation where we could change just about anything and still win the league. He did revert to the 4-4-1-1 when another manager might have tried to stick with the style that had worked at the end of the previous season, he did bring Danny Simpson back in when he looked all but gone, he made us stronger defensively, his management of the media was impeccable and I'm sure he played a big role in keeping the mood positive at the club in spite of what had transpired in the summer.

I think Ranieri was hugely lucky to inherit what he did, and as someone who dislikes Fulham for one reason or another I was delighted when he got that job, but he absolutely deserves to be mentioned alongside everyone else who made our title possible. It was not just Kante, and it was not just Ranieri 'leaving it alone' because he didn't just do that.

[tickler28]

Leicester played a confusing diamond formation at Southampton almost 2 years to the day which cost Ranieri his job....history repeated!!!

[weller54]

21 minutes ago, Chester Dontlie said:

I'm even more convinced now than I was in 16/17 season than Ranners had to go. If he hadn't, there would be no Great Escape... And the road back to Premier League isn't the easiest one, even if you have a great squad. I feel sorry for Claudio, but he will always have that 15/16 season, and so will we.

 

As for Fulham they seem to be beyond saving. Unless... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#announceclaude 

[Guest ttfn]

I cannot believe how little credit people are willing to given Ranieri for the title win.

 

Pearson did a fantastic job but if anybody seriously thinks that we’d have broken the top 4 under him, let alone won the title, let alone won the title by 10 points then they need their heads examining.

 

Its almost as if people have bought so far into this jovial happy-go-lucky master media manager character Ranieri played that he’s seen as some clown who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

 

Putting to one side the fact that he handled the press brilliantly (something that I think is hugely overstated as a factor in our title success) he made a few absolutely critical tactical adjustments to Pearson’s sides.

 

1) 4-4-1-1. We all know about this, but he managed to find a formation in which we could get the most out of Mahrez’ genius and Vardy’s pace. Both had spent big chunks of the previous season on the bench - we look back on it now as if it were guaranteed that they were destined for greatness and whilst we could tell they were good players, they weren’t showing it. Nobody had any clue Albrighton could be as effective on the left either, now it’s seen by many as his best position.

2) Compact defence. Simplicity at its finest. Defend narrow, allow crosses into the box, let Wes and Huth head them

away. We barely conceded a goal between Christmas and mid-April. 

3) In game/season tactical switches - from the first 10 mins of the season (when he moved Mahrez from the left to the right to take advantage of the space PvA left behind him) through to bringing in Jeff for the Swansea home game via the full back switch and the half time subs at Watford, Ranieri’s tactics were spot on.

 

Was he lucky to inherit the squad? Of course he was and Pearson deserves enormous credit for assembling it and doing so much behind the scenes. 

 

I was pleased when we sacked Ranieri because he had totally lost the plot by then and I’m not surprised he’s failed at Fulham. But there’s a lot of people mis-remembering his absolutely critical part in the most unlikely sporting achievement of all time. Go back and read David Bevan’s book, for example, for a contemporaneous view of what was happening. We worshipped Ranieri because we knew what he was giving to the club. That his career has gone tits up since shouldn’t be used to re-write the past.

[surrifox]

24 minutes ago, tickler28 said:

Leicester played a confusing diamond formation at Southampton almost 2 years to the day which cost Ranieri his job....history repeated!!!

There’s been some terrible high profile city  performances in the past but for league winners to lose so abjectly to a terrible (Puel -led) awful s’Hampton side is the one I rate the worst 

[Farrington fox]

2 hours ago, Fox85 said:

Facts.

 

Ranieri won the league on the foundations of what nigel Pearson built and his back room staff. Our form actually clicked from the great escape the season before. Ranieri left all the training with Craig Shakespeare and didnt change anything.

 

After we won the league Ranieri sacked 65% of the backroom staff and then bought his own in and conducted his own training this ended in failure.

 

 

 

 

Agree with this entirely. Sorry it hasn’t worked out for him though. It’s clear he’s done. 

[ozleicester]

17 hours ago, AjcW said:

 

 

END THREAD....

[RonnieTodger]

I really miss Ranieri, but I don't miss him saying "we continue to fight" after yet another defeat.

[weller54]

18 minutes ago, RonnieTodger said:

I really miss Ranieri, but I don't miss him saying "we continue to fight" after yet another defeat.

Only said that 3 times in 15/16 then? 

[Vulpecula]

Can't we just accept we won the title and both Pearson and Ranieri played their part? These pointless over analyses, rinse and repeat, become a bit tiresome to me tbh. History can't be changed.

[Ric Flair]

11 hours ago, smr said:

I think if Pearson was still managing in 15/16 he would have won us the league... maybe.

 

Then again, a season is a long time. 10 months. Away and home. Cold, rainy, frosty days turned into warm spring sunshine. Its a heck of a ride but you feel it when youve got something riding on it.

 

What Ranieri brought was humility and he was a mastercraftsman at dealing with the media, shunning any pressure whatsover away from the players. He would play and at times toy with the media, laughing and joking and making he himself the centre of attention, not the players. 

 

This was his mastery I thought and how I always remember him during that season.

 

But that isnt to say that he cannot coach. We had brilliant players who were all in the form of their lives. But someone had to call the shots on substitutions, tactics and game strategy. And did he do it well......

 

I think Ranieri has a style more suited to a team with stability, whereas teams of Fulham's ilk, this season for example, you'd be better off with a character like Sam Allardyce.

 

I was surprised at Claudio taking the job on, but not surprised at all it ended like this for him.

Pearson has never managed the media well, even with all the well wishing we got from being up there from Christmas onwards I still think there'd have been some friction between him and the press. That could have then got to the players eventually, it completely defied science what we did as an underdog in team sport for that length of time. Usually pressure eventually gets to the plucky challengers but under Ranieri it seemed to spur us on. It was the greatest piece of management I've ever seen, he has to take full credit for that, it was genius. We musn't forget as well this was from a a nearly man who had missed out on so many titles before, yet he kept everyone ice cool. Phenomenal.

[Ted Maul]

Troy Deeney played a major part. Turned that talented squad into absolute monsters.

[foxy boxing]

Claudio was never really going to last long at Fulham, who are in a relegation dogfight. I just don't think he is suited anymore to the Premier League!. he will always be a legend here for what he achieved with us but you have to look at his managerial record since without the rose tinted spectacles. for whatever reason he was able for on season to do the impossible with us but I just think he is finished at a big/ average club management.

[Ric Flair]

2 hours ago, Mark_w said:

Agree with the bulk of your post and absolutely Ranieri deserves credit for the above too. But Vardy had been prolific in a pretty similar 4-4-1-1 system in the Championship and Mahrez had been given that freedom with his role in the Great Escape tactic, Pearson struggled to adapt to the Premier League at first but it's not like he had never put together systems that did exactly what you're saying.

Nigel Pearson, Craig Shakespeare, Steve Walsh and the rest of the backroom team they helped assemble deserve a huge amount of the credit for what we did. And personally, I have no doubt that we'd be in a much stronger position now had we kept Pearson that summer. There's a lot of talk about recruitment which Walsh deserves a huge amount of credit for, but equally important was Nigel Pearson's ability to identify people who weren't right for the squad and mentality we were trying to build and his ruthlessness in cutting those people in spite of the doom and gloom from some of our fans. I absolutely love him. But this thread is going a little bit too far in terms of writing Claudio out of it. I never thought there was any long term planning in the appointment of Ranieri and he did at least start to over see the disassembling of what had been built in the proceeding years. But it is extremely difficult to see a situation where we could change just about anything and still win the league. He did revert to the 4-4-1-1 when another manager might have tried to stick with the style that had worked at the end of the previous season, he did bring Danny Simpson back in when he looked all but gone, he made us stronger defensively, his management of the media was impeccable and I'm sure he played a big role in keeping the mood positive at the club in spite of what had transpired in the summer.

I think Ranieri was hugely lucky to inherit what he did, and as someone who dislikes Fulham for one reason or another I was delighted when he got that job, but he absolutely deserves to be mentioned alongside everyone else who made our title possible. It was not just Kante, and it was not just Ranieri 'leaving it alone' because he didn't just do that.

Vardy got 16 goals in 41 games that season which was a good return but I wouldn't call it prolific. He formed a great partnership with Nugent and they seemed to take it in turns in leading the line but the player we saw under Ranieri in 2015/16 was a monster. I'm not sure what Pearson was doing with Vardy in 2014/15, I know we had Ulloa being the target man but Vardy was not utilized properly at all and whether that was a result of him struggling to impose himself on the PL and niggling injuries or he never could impose himself because Pearson wasn't using him right. Either way, Ranieri quickly realised what his unique strengths were.

 

Mahrez during the great escape wasn't as pivotal as you'd think, he was superb behind the front two in the home win vs Southampton when he got both goals but other than that he didn't really contribute much. The whole season resulted in only 4 goals and 3 assists. Again, Ranieri quickly saw the devastating ability he had if he could create a system that got him the ball in space.