Ranieri rues ‘gifts’ to old pal Jurgen
JURGEN KLOPP doffed his cap to Claudio Ranieri and their pre-match embrace said ‘welcome back’ — but this five-goal demolition left the 69-year-old Italian exposed to easy punchlines.
Dilly ding, dilly dong, you say? Alarm bells already for Ranieri? Sacked in the morning? Time for another change, perhaps, at the club where the manager’s revolving door spins like no other.
‘Defeat is always difficult,’ said the Italian as he lamented a ‘very nervous’ start and the inability of his Watford team to go ‘face to face’ with Liverpool from outset.
‘Some of the goals were presents,’ he added ruefully.
With his 50 years of footballing experience, Ranieri will back himself to crack the puzzle. He will settle into a system, injured players will return, but he is two months from a transfer window with a daunting schedule.
Watford’s next seven games are against Everton, Southampton, Arsenal, Manchester United, Leicester, Chelsea and Manchester City — and the board at Vicarage Road are not famed for their patience.
Ranieri stood sentry on the sodden strip of artificial turf in front of his dug-out, taking it all in, tinkering and making substitutions.
His team suffered one of those maddening offside decisions for the third goal but were never in this. In truth, they offered none of the courage often associated with Ranieri’s teams.
He knows the score. When asked ahead of the match if he might be tempted to revive the policy used at Leicester and treat his players to pizza when they won, Ranieri said they deserved much more than a pizza were they to beat Liverpool. In the end, Watford looked like a dog’s dinner.
With only one session with his squad, he stuck with the back three often deployed under Xisco Munoz.
The plan was scrapped after 45 minutes at 2-0 down. Midway through the first half and Liverpool were touching 90 per cent ball possession.
Ranieri reverted to a back four, on went Tom Cleverley and the reshuffle relieved Danny Rose of the trouble he seemed to have coping as one of three central defenders.
The head coach changed coats during the interval, discarding the club-issue black padded overcoat he pulled on to beat the pre-match downpour in favour of a more sartorial navy blue woollen jacket.
It added an air of distinction but his team remained an eyesore, no better protected in the second half than in the first.
Liverpool soon doubled their lead to prompt another flurry of changes from Ranieri.
More important were the changes by Klopp as the visitors eased down the gears and Watford belatedly got the ball.
Juraj Kucka mustered a shot at goal. It was easily saved and drew a sarcastic cheer from the home fans.
‘We will improve,’ Ranieri said. ‘The first match against one of the best teams in the world is not easy but I know now much better my players. The truth is on the pitch when you play the big teams.’