Leicester vs Manchester City: Liverpool result to forget but Claudio Ranieri is boosted by great team spirit

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Leicester vs Manchester City: Liverpool result to forget but Claudio Ranieri is boosted by great team spirit

Claudio Ranieri arrived at Leicester City’s training base in Aylestone early yesterday morning appreciating that he now faces a slightly different challenge to the one posed in the previous 10 weeks when his team had gone undefeated.

Ranieri has done his best to focus efforts on Leicester reaching the supposed Premier League safety mark of 40 points. After losing 1-0 at Liverpool on Saturday, they remain two away from that target, albeit top of the table with their next game a home one to third-placed Manchester City on Tuesday night.

“It is in our mind, we have to recover,” he said. “It is a question of forgetting this result, of accepting it and moving on. We knew we had to lose eventually, so we must forget. It is how we react mentally now.”


It was suggested to Ranieri that, for the first time under his guidance, Leicester looked tired at Anfield. Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez – star performers this season – were substituted, and without their presence the raw belief, which has taken Leicester to improbable heights, appeared to bleed from the side.

Ranieri responded with an old managerial trick – talking up the players when they are down, having dampened expectation throughout the period they were up.

Asked whether Leicester possess the strength in depth to sustain, at the very least, a top-four challenge, he responded: “Yes. I believe we have. I don’t think we are tired. We were nervous at the beginning and only played when we went a goal down.

“I have been asked many times will I make signings, ‘in the window, what’s happening?’ Nothing! We have a very good team and an incredible spirit. They are friendly together; they are close to each other. That is fantastic, and if we take one, two, three players and wreck the dressing room? No! The team is fantastic. We work hard for each other and we are not tired. We didn’t play against Liverpool until it is too late, but we can’t be criticised for our effort. We worked very hard.”