NO HEART NO DESIRE
Ranieri slams his dismal Leicester players as Millwall show passion to claim another Premier League scalp
CLAUDIO Ranieri sat in a small room at The Den that was lined with pictures of great Millwall landmarks and did his best to draw some comfort from another dark day in a campaign that is rapidly turning into a season from hell for the embattled, bedraggled champions of England.
The Leicester boss had just seen his team knocked out of the FA Cup by League One Millwall — who played most of the second half with 10 men. He watched the home team, so well marshalled by Neil Harris, get stronger and stronger while his charges wilted.
‘When the game was 10 versus 11, they played better than us,’ said Ranieri, simply. ‘They had more character, more desire, more heart than us. They deserved their win.
‘Last season, we won because we played with more heart than the opposition and I think that this defeat could be good for us. We have to learn from what they showed us. Now, we have to fight every match. I need soldiers. I need gladiators.’
If Leicester were giant-killers for an entire campaign last season, now they are being slain by underdogs week after week after week.
It has reached the point when defeats like this are not really much of a surprise any more. Yesterday, in Millwall, Leicester saw an image of what they used to be. Only the Champions League now remains to deflect attention from the grim battle against relegation that will dominate the next few months for Ranieri and his team.
In front of the Cold Blow Lane stand, it was the Millwall right-back Shaun Cummings who sent a fresh chill through Leicester and their fans when he surged into the box in the last minute of normal time and poked the ball past Leicester’s reserve keeper Ron-Robert Zieler for the winner.
When the final whistle confirmed that Millwall were in the quarterfinals of the competition, hundreds of home fans invaded the pitch. It seemed good-natured at first but then the fans massed in front of the away end and missiles were hurled at the Leicester fans before the playing surface was eventually cleared by mounted police.
The tie had seemed ripe for an upset. Leicester were still reeling from their defeat to Swansea last weekend which had left them perched precariously one point above the Premier League relegation zone. Millwall’s veteran forward Steve Morison guessed the visitors would be vulnerable. ‘I reckon they’re trying too hard,’ he said before the game. ‘It doesn’t work. Football is a natural game. You play it without thinking. Once you overthink it, it starts to become hard work. Whatever team turns up, they’re going to be looking for confidence. We need to prey on that.’
There was no problem with Millwall’s confidence. They had come into the game on a run of 12 without defeat that has taken them into the play-off places in League One. They had already beaten Bournemouth and Watford in this competition. Leicester, who have not won a league game since the last day of 2016, made 10 changes from the side that lost at the Liberty Stadium. It was a predictable sign that Ranieri’s mind was focused more on the Champions League trip to Sevilla on Wednesday.
Even if the Leicester team was packed with unfamiliar names, they dominated the first half. Some of their play was still desperately mediocre but the visitors created chances. Demarai Gray curled a shot just wide after 10 minutes and, after Jordan Archer had saved well from Shinji Okazaki and Ahmed Musa at close range, the Millwall keeper made a brilliant one-handed stop to claw a near-post header from Okazaki out to safety.
Millwall broke out of their own half and forced a couple of corners as the interval approached. Calum Butcher rose to direct a powerful header straight at Zieler.
Millwall’s task grew harder eight minutes after half-time when Jake Cooper was sent off for a second bookable offence for a late and needless lunge on Musa on the halfway line.
Millwall fans demanded reciprocal punishment when Zieler carried the ball out of his box but he was shown only a yellow card.
Cooper’s sending-off galvanised the Millwall players and their fans. This is a club that thrives on reacting to adversity and now they tore into Leicester.
Harris pinpointed a brief passage of play when Butcher won three tackles in quick succession as the moment that rocked the champions.
Leicester should have won the game 10 minutes from time, though, when a ricochet in the Millwall box left the ball at Okazaki’s feet, four yards out with only Archer to beat. Okazaki tried to dink the ball over the keeper but he was equal to it.
Nampalys Mendy attempted to curl the loose ball into the top corner but, predictably, given the inaccuracy of his passing, it went wide. Several Leicester players held their heads in their hands. They knew they had missed a golden opportunity.
The scene was set for Cummings. Fred Onyedinma crossed the ball and it was chested into the rightback’s path by substitute Lee Gregory. Somehow, he wriggled round a challenge and steered the ball past Zieler to spark andemonium.