YOU TAUGHT HIM WELL, CLAUDIO!
Ranieri’s pocket picked by his old Leicester champion Kante
In the visiting dugout, Claudio Ranieri spun on his heels and vented his frustration to the heavens. He had seen this script before and in the heady days of Leicester City’s title push, Ranieri was the director of the piece. This time the plot was agonising.
On the centre circle, n’ Golo Kante appeared in a flash, picking the pocket of Fulham’s summer signing Jean Michael Seri and he was now speeding towards the penalty area. The Frenchman teed up Pedro, who jinked by his marker and finished clinically. Inside four minutes, Fulham were behind and Ranieri was undone by a player he knows better than most.
‘We gave a good present,’ Ranieri said. ‘We’d spoken all week about this. The Sarri philosophy is to press, no? I said to try and play forward in midfield and if we lose the ball, we would have midfielders to cover. One thing to speak and another to do.’
After Maurizio Sarri criticised Kante’s tactical ill-discipline at Tottenham last week, this was a reminder of the midfielder at his most devastating but also proof that he can influence games even in Sarri’s system.
‘He was better,’ Sarri said. ‘He needs to improve a little more from the tactical point of view, but it’s natural. I remember only one mistake in the first half.’
As for Ranieri, this one moment encapsulated much of what has derailed Fulham’s return to the Premier League. Fulham started on the front foot and their play was mostly impressive. Yet Slavisa Jokanovic’s best-laid plans were often undermined by individual lapses and so it was here for Ranieri. Seri’s mistake — being caught out in the centre of midfield — was fatal and such moments explain why Fulham are the only one of the 92 League sides in England still to keep a clean sheet this season.
Bottom of the Premier League, Fulham have taken only one point on the road but this is not a fixture that Ranieri will have earmarked for a season-defining result. It is a derby but it felt more like an old school reunion as he returned to the club where he launched his Premier League managerial career and the ground where Leicester sealed the title — courtesy of Eden Hazard’s goal against Tottenham.
Friends were reunited in the dugout, as Ranieri recently spent a week observing Sarri’s methods, while Gianfranco Zola and Carlo Cudicini — part of Sarri’s backroom staff — were once part of Ranieri’s own Chelsea side.
Fulham’s last top-flight victory at Chelsea came in 1964. Even by Ranieri’s history- making standards, to obliterate a 54-year record within three weeks of taking charge would have been some achievement.
After Pedro’s opener, a demolition seemed likely but Fulham did not fold and Chelsea became flat. Hazard, now 10 games without a goal for club and country, flitted in and out and when he does not excel, there is little by way of inspiration.
In the second half, Fulham created several openings and Sarri sought to gee up his team. At one point he was so far down the touchline that the fourth official went scurrying after him.
‘We were a bit nervous,’ Sarri said. ‘It wasn’t easy after Tottenham for me and the players, but I think that we have thought too much about that match.’
Fulham pressed and forced mistakes in the Chelsea midfield. Yet even in Fulham’s more progressive moments, mishaps are always around the corner. Cyrus Christie misplaced a pass inside his own half and Chelsea seized the initiative as Hazard’s low cross was flicked towards goal by Olivier Giroud. Sergio Rico reacted sharply but Ranieri was apoplectic once more.
Fulham really should have drawn level soon after the break. Christie galloped beyond Marcos Alonso and his low cross required a fine intervention from Antonio Rudiger to divert the ball wide of the post as Aleksandar Mitrovic waited. From the corner, Kepa saved well to deny Calum Chambers. Tom Cairney then drove into the penalty area and laid the ball to Chambers but his side-footed strike was saved.
But Chelsea began to find more space as Fulham pursued an equaliser. Hazard’s rasping effort was superbly saved and Alvaro Morata inexplicably volleyed the rebound over. It was a short reprieve, though, as Hazard and Pedro bamboozled Fulham and Ruben Loftus- Cheek, off the bench in the second half, arrived to slot in the decisive second. CHELSEA (4-3-3): Kepa 7; Azpilicueta 6, Rudiger 6.5, Luiz 6, Alonso 5.5 (Zappacosta 78); Kante 7, Jorginho 6, Kovacic 6 (Loftus-Cheek 67, 7); PEDRO 7.5, Giroud 5.5 (Morata 70, 5), Hazard 6.5. Subs not used: Caballero, Fabregas, Willian, Christensen. Scorers: Pedro 4, Loftus-Cheek 82. Booked: Azpilicueta, Morata. Manager: Maurizio Sarri 7. FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Rico 6.5; Christie 5.5, Odoi 6, Mawson 6, Le Marchand 5.5; Chambers 6.5, Seri 4.5; Sessegnon 5 (Kamara 45, 6), Cairney 6 (Kebano 76), Johansen 6 (Ayite 45, 6); Mitrovic 6. Subs not used: Bettinelli, Ream, Bryan, Cisse. Booked: Odoi. Manager: Claudio Ranieri 6. Referee: Craig Pawson 6. Attendance: 40,551.