Ranieri replaces Jokanovic as manager at strugglers Fulham UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE
Fulham have appointed Claudio Ranieri as manager after parting ways with Slavisa Jokanovic.
Jokanovic was given his marching orders on Wednesday with the club bottom of the Premier League having won only one of their 12 league matches in which they have shipped 31 goals.
The Serb, 50, had been in charge at Craven Cottage since 2015 and last season guided them to the top-tier via the Championship play-offs after beating Aston Villa 1-0 in the final at Wembley.
Fulham’s return to the top flight has proved a chastening experience thus far though, with Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Liverpool their sixth league defeat in a row.
Ranieri, 67, guided unheralded Leicester City to the Premier League title in 2016, has been out of work since leaving French club Nantes in the summer. “It is an honour to accept [chairman] Mr [Shahid] Khan’s invitation and opportunity to lead Fulham, a fantastic club with tradition and history,” Ranieri told the club’s website.
“The objective at Fulham should never be to merely survive in the Premier League. We must at all times be a difficult opponent and should expect to succeed.
“This Fulham squad has exceptional talent that is contrary to its position in the table. I know this team is very capable of better performances, which we will work on straight away as we prepare for Southampton at the Cottage.”
The club said the former Chelsea, Juventus and Inter Milan manager had been given a “multi-year” contract.
Khan thanked Jokanovic for his work at the club.
“I wasn’t anticipating having to make this announcement related to Slavisa and wish the circumstances were such that I didn’t have to, but our path this season has led me to make what I know is the correct decision, at the right time, for our players, the club and our supporters,” said the Fulham chairman.
“Slavisa will always have my appreciation and respect for everything he did to return Fulham to top-flight football. I am hoping everyone in the Fulham Family shares my heartfelt sentiments for Slavisa and joins me in wishing him success and good fortune, wherever his next stop may be.”
Ranieri’s first game in charge will be after the current international break on November 24 when Fulham host fellow strugglers Southampton at Craven Cottage.
He will then face former clubs Chelsea and Leicester City in successive games.
Ranieri attended Leicester’s 0-0 home game to Burnley last Saturday to pay tribute to late chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha who died in a helicopter crash earlier this month.
secure Spain’s place in next summer’s inaugural Uefa Nations League finals, and from there to assume the long-term responsibilities up front for La Roja that once seemed his natural entitlement.
It is four years to the day since he made his Spain debut, a 22 year old fresh from the hard decision to leave Real Madrid for Juventus and gain minutes on the field and maturity. Since then, he has won 24 more caps while moving back from Juve to Madrid and on to Chelsea.
That is quite a collection of employers to have accumulated before your 25th birthday, and quite a bunch of medals: two Primera Liga titles, a pair of Italian scudetti, and two Uefa Champions League golds.
Some big fees, too: Morata has variously been signed by the reigning champions of Italy, of England and of Europe for sums totalling more than €120 million (Dh497m).
All invested in an athlete who, at his best, can look the complete penalty box predator, commanding in the air, two-footed, and far cannier with his movement than those offside statistics suggest.
Success, as he put it, is about more than that.
“You have train your mind as well,” he said.
His has not always been primed and fully match fit. It is a year since Morata scored the last of his 13 international goals, bookending a phase of peak format.
This time 12 months ago, he had introduced himself to the Premier League with a bang – eight goals from his first 12 league games for Chelsea. Then came the fade.
His momentum was interrupted by a back injury, by Chelsea’s brittle defence of their title, by competition for the shirt from Olivier Giroud – a January arrival at Stamford Bridge – and by formations featuring no orthodox centre-forward at all.
“I hit rock bottom,” he said, and saw his masterplan fizzle. “I had left Real Madrid to go to Chelsea to help get to the World Cup.”
Spain’s then manager Julen Lopetegui omitted Morata for Russia. After Spain’s unhappy trip there, he was recalled immediately by new manager Luis Enrique.
Morata has yet to start in a Nations League fixture under the new stewardship, but when he came on in the second-half of last month’s surprise defeat to England, he helped galvanise the attack. With Morata on the pitch, Spain came back from 3-0 down to 3-2.
Four Chelsea goals in his last five outings press his case for tonight’s match.
Rodrigo Moreno, the alternative, is without a goal for his club Valencia since August, while Morata offers a physical presence that Iago Aspas, the pocket rocket from Celta Vigo, does not.
With Barcelona’s attacking left-back Jordi Alba recalled – apparently having patched up differences with Enrique – Spain will look for width and precise crosses to their spearhead striker.
Cesar Azpilicueta, Morata’s favourite ally and Chelsea teammate, can supply those from the right.
Morata, boosted by the confidence shown in him by Enrique and by Sarri, knows he must seize his moments, that there are few roles in the Spain team as debated as the No 9.
This is a national team that, in devouring the biggest prizes in the sport in the four years from 2008, often dispensed with a target man of any sort. They still have Diego Costa to return from injury.
Paco Alcacer is making headlines for prolific finishing at Borussia Dortmund, although a light injury keeps him out of the Croatia game .
Morata needs to gain his country’s trust, and to trust himself, through thick and thin.
Morata helped galvanise the attack against England last month as Spain came back from 3-0 down to 3-2