It’s crazy to write us off says old fox
THERE IS little doubt the credit banked during a title-winning season that Claudio Ranieri claimed yesterday “had made the world crazy” should be enough to insulate Leicester’s players from criticism for a while yet.
But it was with a nod to increased expectation at the club and across the country that the Italian felt moved yesterday to defend not only his priorities but his players over a widening gulf between Leicester’s European and domestic form.
Four defeats on the road in the Premier League in just eight games – as many as they suffered all last season – contrast starkly with the vibrant form they have shown in two Champions League outings, hammering Bruges 3-0 away and edging past Porto on an exhilarating first European night at the King Power Stadium.
Their home form in the league is just as puzzling – eight points from eight games – prompting many to ask whether they have lost their way.
“My players made the world crazy last year,” said Ranieri. “All the world was behind us and the players showed fantastic spirit and character. It was a fairy tale.
“Now I want them to show their strength and love for the team, for Leicester and for football as well.”
Ranieri’s side warmed up for a pivotal match tonight against a Copenhagen side unbeaten in 23 matches with a 3-0 defeat by Chelsea on Saturday. The manager rested record signing Islam Slimani and playmaker Riyad Mahrez, introducing them once the game had flown.
It was a defeat that provoked a reaction from within, with midfielders Marc Albrighton and Danny Drinkwater suggesting the team were lacking the “fight” from last year’s campaign – words that led to a frank exchange between players on Saturday night at Stamford Bridge and again back at the training ground on Sunday.
Ranieri suggested the introduction of European competition was always likely to shift the equilibrium of a settled squad, admitting it was “normal” that a team entering Europe would “lose something”.
But he backed his players to come through it. “For the first time the league is a little up and down. They are not machines, they are human,” he said.
Keeper Kasper Schmeichel did a good job backing up his manager’s theory, spending much of the press conference shaking his head at questions from the floor that dared to point out a dip in form.
“The defeats have hurt and it was not nice to lose in the way we did at Chelsea,” he said, almost snarling.
“But we’ve looked ourselves in the mirror and got back on it. You look at how we started over the past few seasons, we haven’t been the quickest, but we always come good towards the middle and really good towards the end.”
Ranieri said that while Leicester have shipped 14 goals this season in their eight league fixtures, at the same stage last season they had conceded 15.
“We are improving, no?” he quipped. “At this moment the Champions League is priority. In the league we must be safe by the end of the year but the Champions League is now. We are in or out in Europe this month. For this reason I saved some players for the game.”
But Nampalys Mendy, his £13million signing from Nice, is out for the next “four or five weeks” after undergoing keyhole surgery yesterday to remove a bone fragment in his ankle. Otherwise Leicester’s big guns
LEICESTER
(4-4-2)
COPENHAGEN
(4-4-2) will return with Mahrez and Slimani back in, the latter paired with Jamie Vardy up front.
Vardy seems to be mirroring the fortunes of the team, last season’s 24-goal awardhoovering striker enduring something of a slump with an eight-match goalless run – his worst since 2014-15. Nobody was drawing parallels yet, but that year Leicester ended in a relegation scrap.