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jonthefox

The "do they mean us?" thread

By jonthefox, in Leicester City Forum

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Stadt

Stadt

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Leicester City a steady ship in Premier League under Claudio Ranieri

 
Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri rues his side's slow start to their match against Stoke City.

Clubs habitually appoint the diametric opposite of the manager just departed, and when Leicester City made a change over the summer, it seemed that Claudio Ranieri and Nigel Pearson could have hardly been more different. While current manage Ranieri's persona appears to be that of the dotty, doting Italian uncle, his predecessor, Pearson, is the brooding, menacing presence who never suffers fools gladly.

The truth is that the pair are not so dissimilar. Pearson, popular with players and fellow managers and even some journalists, is rather different without a microphone under his nose, while Ranieri is a character of considerable steel. No football man can be in the 30th year of his managerial career without genuine inner strength.

"When we came in 2-0 down, he said it's all about us, the fight we've got inside us," said striker Jamie Vardy of Ranieri after Saturday's 2-2 draw at Stoke. "He wants to see warriors out on the pitch."

It was not difficult to imagine a Pearson team talk driving home similar sentiments. In leading the Premier League's only unbeaten team to third position, Ranieri has continued the form that took 22 points from the 27 available from Leicester's last nine matches of the 2014-15 season. The playing style may be different -- an open 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 against Pearson's more cautious three at the back -- but the Italian has harnessed the team spirit that spectacularly achieved safety last season.

"I love these players because of this character," Ranieri said after a 3-2 keynote comeback win at Aston Villa on September 14. "They never, ever give up."

Pearson's team performed a truly great escape; they had spent 140 days of the season from November to April rock bottom of the division, yet still finished 14th. Its mastermind's sudden departure came on June 30, in the fall-out of a postseason tour of Thailand that led to Pearson's son, James, and two other reserve players being sacked for serious breaches of club discipline.

"The working relationship between Nigel and the Board is no longer viable," said a terse club statement, as Leicester swiftly moved to near-favouritism with bookmakers to be relegated at the end of the 2015-16 season, a position not much altered by the arrival of Ranieri. Sam Allardyce, free from his West Ham contract, had been widely speculated as leading candidate, but a close friendship with Pearson precluded his interest.

Claudio Ranieri's Leicester City are the Premier League's lone unbeaten side.

The widespread derision aimed at Ranieri's appointment after two weeks of deliberation currently looks misguided. Its chorus included Foxes legend and BBC pundit Gary Lineker, who tweeted -- "Claudio Ranieri? Really?" -- before describing the Italian as an "uninspired" choice. Being sacked by Greece after the embarrassment of a Euro 2016 qualifying defeat to the Faroe Islands was a regularly quoted negative, as was the departure of Esteban Cambiasso, the midfield mainstay of Leicester's rescue job.

However, international management is rather different to running a club, and has caught out many a distinguished club manager, with Fabio Capello's problems in leading both England and Russia providing prime evidence, as the Italian's tenure at both jobs ended before his contract was to end. And while Ranieri may not have coached in England since 2004, when he was sacked at the close of Roman Abramovich's first season of Chelsea ownership, the Rome native is a manager considered good enough to be appointed by the club dignitaries of Napoli, Fiorentina, Valencia (twice), Parma, Juventus, Roma, Inter Milan and Monaco.

He is mocked as a manager without silverware, but Leicester did not turn to Ranieri to win trophies. That ambition is currently beyond the horizons of their magnate Thai owners. Instead, they chose someone with an enviable contacts book within European football, who has frequently delivered improvement at his many clubs. Ranieri is few people's idea of a long-term appointee, but has unrivalled experience in adding stability at unsettled clubs looking for a new direction.

Leicester's long-term objective is to become established in the Premier League, in the manner of Southampton or Swansea City, where careful squad development has been the foundation of stability. And in Riyad Mahrez, the Algerian winger signed from French Ligue 2 side Le Havre in January 2014, Leicester have already landed a scouting coup that those peer provincial clubs would envy.

 
For £400,000, and with five goals and five assists, Leicester have the player of the Premier League season so far, a performer of pace, balance and finishing power. Ranieri's formation has freed up a player described by captain Wes Morgan at the weekend as "unreal in training", while the new manager affectionately calls his star man "Roadrunner".
 

Quicker yet are Vardy, who recorded the fastest speed of any Premier League player when reaching 35.44 km/h against West Ham and Mahrez's fellow winger Jeffery Schlupp, timed at 35.26 km/h against Bournemouth. It adds up to a counterattacking danger that any club would covet, with Vardy's equaliser at Stoke on Saturday coming straight from a goal kick. With Stoke's players still arguing over a wrestling match between Morgan and Jon Walters, Vardy was bursting through to seal the latest comeback for a team that has escaped defeat despite being behind in each of their last four games.

A slump could come soon enough, but the experience of last season should prove useful. Tuesday was the anniversary of the famous 5-3 victory against Manchester United that was followed by a three-month, 14-game winless run, and Vardy, scorer of Leicester's glorious fifth, did not notch again until March 21, just as the revival under a publicly snarling Pearson began.

Arsenal, their confidence jolted by last week's defeat at Chelsea, travel on Saturday to the King Power Stadium, which has gained a reputation for housing the Premier League's most fervent atmosphere, with the crowd whipped into a frenzy by energetic PA announcer and former player Alan "Birch" Birchenall, and booming intro music from local rockers Kasabian.

The Gunners will visit a club riding high, currently enjoying the thrill of Ranieri keeping Pearson's team's flame burning, with speed married to determination in a so-far unbeatable style.

John Brewin is a staff writer for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter@JohnBrewinESPN.

 

http://www.espnfc.co.uk/barclays-premier-league/23/blog/post/2627731/leicester-city-strong-and-steady-under-claudio-ranieri?

 

I feel like I've read this exact article 28 times

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Footballwipe

Footballwipe

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Agreed, I'm sick of reading Mahrez "only cost £350,000 what a bargain" now. They all only just realised and now everyone feels the need to point it out in every single article like it matters.

 

You know if we go on a bad run the same journalists will be out asking how we can "stop the crisis" and pointing out the fee of any player who cost a lot and isn't performing. You talk about Arsenal fans in another thread watching their team on MOTD only, but these journalists are pretty much the same.

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Dan LCFC

Dan LCFC

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Anyone from either side counting their chickens on this one is a moron.

 

Both teams should be very happy with the draw. We've drawn one of three non PL sides left and from their point of view they've got a home draw and avoided one of the real big guns. It would be greedy of both of us to expect a better draw.

 

It's as tough a last 16 for years though and it looks like if we're going to win it we're going to have to beat at least two of the traditional big 5 clubs. We don't look any closer to winning it than we did before the Bury game considering the quality of opposition left and how seriously they look to be taking this competition.

 

I haven't got a clue why Hull would be happy with it. A game they've played loads of times where they're likely to be up against it.

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Corky

Corky

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"Ranieri, a pretty decent manager, has proved to be a pretty decent manager so far and our view of him based on a match against the Faroe Islands and not being in the best league in the world for 11 years (clearly been in outer space all that time) hasn't quite come true yet".

 

Would save 15 repetitive articles a week if they condensed it into one small paragraph.

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Deucalion

Deucalion

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I've only been to Hull once.

 

It was on a Friday night at Boothferry Park, Ricky Hill missed a sitter, we lost 5-2 and on the way back we had a drunk and abusive Leicester fan insisting we let him into our car as his mates had already left him.

 

Not been back !!

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davieG

davieG

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WENGER - LEICESTER HAVE SCOUTED SO WELL

Arsène Wenger says Leicester City are having a strong start to the season because of the players they have brought in.

The Foxes are the only Premier League team not to have lost in all competitions this season, having won five of their opening eight games. They currently sit fourth in the table, two points ahead of Arsenal.

New manager Claudio Ranieri took nine players with him to King Power Stadium this summer, including Switzerland captain Gokhan Inler, and Wenger has been impressed with Leicester’s signings.

They scouted very well and the emergence of players like Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy makes them always dangerous

Arsène Wenger

“They had a very strong finish last year,” he said. “They finished with seven wins in the final part of the season. They scouted very well and the emergence of players like Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy makes them always dangerous.

“They brought in N’Golo Kante and I think they have done a very good job. They made 10 changes on Tuesday night against West Ham who made only three, and they had just beaten Manchester City away from home. They beat West Ham and that shows that they have a massive squad.”

Saturday’s fixture will be the first time Wenger and Ranieri have met in the Premier League since 2004, and the Arsenal manager revealed he is an admirer of the Italian.

“Against Claudio it was difficult because when he left Chelsea, he built the team that was so successful at the start,” he said. “I remember them finishing second in the league with Ranieri and the team was upcoming with young players like John Terry and Frank Lampard who were the players that contributed to the success of Chelsea.

"I’ve followed his career because I have a big respect for Claudio Ranieri. He’s a great manager and a great man as well. Ranieri is Italian, they love clean sheets in Italy and they love to defend well. We would love to defend well against Leicester but also to attack well.”

Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150925/wenger-leicester-have-scouted-so-well?#Tu4scMDZ0fsGJ1Fv.99

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filbertstreet

filbertstreet

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WENGER - LEICESTER HAVE SCOUTED SO WELL

Arsène Wenger says Leicester City are having a strong start to the season because of the players they have brought in.

The Foxes are the only Premier League team not to have lost in all competitions this season, having won five of their opening eight games. They currently sit fourth in the table, two points ahead of Arsenal.

New manager Claudio Ranieri took nine players with him to King Power Stadium this summer, including Switzerland captain Gokhan Inler, and Wenger has been impressed with Leicester’s signings.

 

They scouted very well and the emergence of players like Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy makes them always dangerous

Arsène Wenger

“They had a very strong finish last year,” he said. “They finished with seven wins in the final part of the season. They scouted very well and the emergence of players like Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy makes them always dangerous.

“They brought in N’Golo Kante and I think they have done a very good job. They made 10 changes on Tuesday night against West Ham who made only three, and they had just beaten Manchester City away from home. They beat West Ham and that shows that they have a massive squad.”

Saturday’s fixture will be the first time Wenger and Ranieri have met in the Premier League since 2004, and the Arsenal manager revealed he is an admirer of the Italian.

“Against Claudio it was difficult because when he left Chelsea, he built the team that was so successful at the start,” he said. “I remember them finishing second in the league with Ranieri and the team was upcoming with young players like John Terry and Frank Lampard who were the players that contributed to the success of Chelsea.

"I’ve followed his career because I have a big respect for Claudio Ranieri. He’s a great manager and a great man as well. Ranieri is Italian, they love clean sheets in Italy and they love to defend well. We would love to defend well against Leicester but also to attack well.”

Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150925/wenger-leicester-have-scouted-so-well?#Tu4scMDZ0fsGJ1Fv.99

 

lol u jealous mr wanger

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Spudulike

Spudulike

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I've only been to Hull once.

 

It was on a Friday night at Boothferry Park, Ricky Hill missed a sitter, we lost 5-2 and on the way back we had a drunk and abusive Leicester fan insisting we let him into our car as his mates had already left him.

 

Not been back !!

 

Sorry about that :blush:

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DB11

DB11

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Saturday’s fixture will be the first time Wenger and Ranieri have met in the Premier League since 2004, and the Arsenal manager revealed he is an admirer of the Italian.

“Against Claudio it was difficult because when he left Chelsea, he built the team that was so successful at the start,” he said. “I remember them finishing second in the league with Ranieri and the team was upcoming with young players like John Terry and Frank Lampard who were the players that contributed to the success of Chelsea.

 

 

Always got to get a little dig in at Mourinho :Dlol

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Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo

Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo

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It's weird, I think our squad is a case of "better than the sum of its parts" - everyone knows everyone's game inside-out, and they all work really hard. When Scouse said that, I initially thought he was on the windup but then I thought about the knock-on effects of if one player is missing, then that disrupts a specific partnership and so on, then our style of play will be compromised. Eg Ozil (on his day, very capable, not so much since joining Arsenal) doesn't often put a shift in and wouldn't fit our style at all

Having said that we changed the whole team for the cup and still played West Ham off the park. The same West Ham who have already beaten Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City away... This is such a bizarre season I bloody love it

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