Ranieri storms heights of English football with Leicester

LONDON: Claudio Ranieri’s appointment as head of unfashionable Leicester City in July after a dismal and short-lived spell in charge of Greece raised some eyebrows, not least because the Italian had not managed a Premier League side since 2004. Few, if any, could have forseen him storming the pinnacle of English football.

After being sacked by Chelsea to usher in the Jose Mourinho era, Ranieri managed in Spain, Italy, France and subsequently Greece, where he lasted just four games.

An embarrassing home defeat for Greece by the Faroe Islands in November 2014 appeared to put Ranieri’s stock at an all-time low, but Leicester’s ambitious Thai owners were ready to hand the 64-year-old another crack at management in the most popular league in the world.

That move now looks all the more astute with Leicester top of the league more than halfway through the season and continuing to defy those who thought their unexpected title challenge would naturally start to tail off.

Leicester, three points clear of Manchester City after 23 games, could scarcely now be more fashionable, the shooting star in a league so long dominated by names such as Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Almost forgotten is their great escape last season when, having been bottom at Christmas, they won seven of their last nine games to beat the drop.

Under Ranieri, Leicester deploy a relentless counter-attacking game spearheaded by the dual attacking threats of playmaker Riyad Mahrez and striker Jamie Vardy.

“The thing with Leicester is they can mix their game up. They grind teams down and they adapt to situations accordingly,” former Leicester captain Matt Elliott told Reuters.

“Primarily they sit back and hit on the counter with the pace of Mahrez, (Marc) Albrighton and Vardy. I think it’s fair to say Ranieri has brought some game management and a little bit of nous to their play. You can see it from afar, everyone knows their jobs and they are well drilled,” he added.

Nicknamed “Loose”, as in loose cannon, by his team mates, England international

Having earned the nickname ‘Tinkerman’ at Chelsea for constantly rotating his squad, many thought Ranieri would make wholesale squad changes when he arrived, but this has not happened.

Ranieri also retained his predecessor Nigel Pearson’s backroom team, including head of recruitment Steve Walsh, the man credited with bringing Vardy and Mahrez to central England.