The man behind Leicester’s fairytale title triumph is back in the Premier League, but can Claudio Ranieri hit the same heights with Fulham?
Leicester City fans send their messages to Claudio Ranieri after their former manager was announced as the new Fulham boss.
Claudio Ranieri has said he will take inspiration from Liverpool as he attempts to keep Fulham in the Premier League.
Ranieri took over from Slavisa Jokanovic this week with Fulham at the bottom of the table, having won only once and conceded 31 goals in 12 games.
And the former Leicester manager said their problems could be solved by defending and attacking as a unit in the way that Liverpool do under Jurgen Klopp.
“Fulham concede a lot of goals — a lot of goals,” Ranieri said. “I’m an Italian manager, and for us Italians it’s important to us to keep clean sheets.
“We have to play in a defensive way, and when I say defensive I mean from the strikers. Everybody has to be involved, the same way as we have to score goals, right from the goalkeeper.
“Look at Liverpool’s first goal [in their 2-0 win over Fulham last week] – it started from a long pass [from the goalkeeper], and then a goal.”
At Leicester, Ranieri offered to buy his team pizzas if they kept a clean sheet, but he said: “I have to organise something more — the pizza is not enough now. Let me think … everybody to McDonalds.
“I have to forget about what I did at Leicester. We have to look forward, forward, forward. I’m an ambitious man.
“We have to work hard. Leicester was a bonus, a fairytale. Forget it. Don’t think about a miracle — it’s important to think about a battle, and it’s important to be ready. The players, the fans, the club have to be together.
“I have a lot of good players, but now I have to choose the players who will give me a fighting spirit.
“It’s important to make the players understand my philosophy, play well, but when they lose the ball I want to see them like pirates.”
Ranieri recently travelled to Leicester to pay his respects to his former chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who died in a helicopter crash outside the club’s King Power stadium.
“Vichai made a fantastic team,” Ranieri said. “What he did with the city, with the people, the fans, everybody. He had a big heart. When I think how many times I took the helicopter … it’s unbelievable.”
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