Week two of the English Premier League continued to deliver the high intensity and drama that we have come to expect on a weekly basis. As Outside90’s David Bennett writes, it is a certain Italian mastermind that is beginning to dominate headlines for all the right reasons.
Hero of the week – Claudio Ranieri
The appointment of Claudio Ranieri in the off-season brought about a series of murmurings and a general tone of dissatisfaction amongst Leicester City fans. The Foxes’ faithful believed former-boss Nigel Pearson was doing a fantastic job at the helm with limited resources available to him. Friendlies against low profile teams such as Rotherham United FC and Burton Albion drew unflattering results and the fans were justifiably concerned.
Fast-forward a couple of weeks and there is an unprecedented air of optimism around the King Power Stadium after Ranieri’s magnificent start to the season. Currently sitting in second position, his team are playing an organised style of football which has proved immensely effective on the counter. The ‘Tinkerman” is getting the best out of key players such as Danny Drinkwater, Marc Albrighton and most notably Riyad Mahrez who leads the goal-scoring charts with three in two games. Ranieri has built a team willing to play for him and adopt his style. The Italian has brought in the relevant Premier League experience in players such as Robert Huth who has formed a strong partnership with Wes Morgan, making the Foxes a difficult team to break down.
Ranieri has clearly come to England with a plan. A team with desire and organisation, perhaps their best asset is the former-Juventus manger’s experience – something which will be extremely valuable as the season grows on.
Jose Mourinho, take note.
REACTION: Claudio Ranieri says @KasabianHQ‘s ‘Fire’ turned #lcfc into warriors against #safc – http://t.co/YVxRgoLogtpic.twitter.com/ckCx3ATEK4
— Leicester City (@LCFC) August 8, 2015
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook.
I have no issue that CR has not achieved much cup glory at top Eurpoean Clubs, Premiership title in not on the agenda so we don’t need a title winning manager. What we do need is a manager that can build on NP and take us further up into the top 10 and eventualy into the top 6…and CR definitely has the proven ability at that level. Greece ? irrelevant…he had very little control over the quality of the players on the pitch. We have a very good squad now who are full of confidence guided by one of the most experienced managers in the world, welcome to Leicester Mr. Ranieri …Estaban who? 😉
Wow. Pretty much nothing is accurate in this “report”. There wasn’t a “general tone of dissatisfaction” among Leicester fans and if you think Nigel Pearson was working with “limited resources” then you’re simply not paying attention. You do know who the owners of LCFC are, don’t you?
As for “unflattering results” from friendlies against low profile clubs? What? While nobody really cares about the results of pointless pre-season games, I’d point out that winning five games out of six – and drawing the other – therefore going unbeaten is hardly “unflattering”.
Seriously, who are you and what are you doing writing about football? Stick to things you know something about.