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Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri threatens changes after Swansea defeat

By Dafydd PritchardBBC Wales Sport at the Liberty Stadium

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments143

I have support of everyone at Leicester - Ranieri

Claudio Ranieri says he may have been too loyal to his Leicester players as their Premier League title defence has descended into a relegation battle.

They are one point above the drop zone after Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Swansea.

Foxes boss Ranieri, who was given a vote of confidence by the club's board last week, is now considering changes.

"It is difficult when you achieve something so good you want to give them one chance, two chances, three chances. Maybe now, it is too much," he said.

"It is something I can change because in this way it is not possible to continue.

"I always question myself but I always say: 'Come on, we can do something good.'"

Having confounded the odds to win a remarkable Premier League title last season, Leicester have been in startling decline this year.

Premier League
Swansea's win lifted them above Leicester into 15th place

The Foxes are the only side in the top four English divisions without a league goal in 2017 and, with defeat at Swansea, they became the first reigning champions to lose five consecutive top flight matches since Chelsea in 1956.

Leicester's decline is embodied by striker Jamie Vardy and midfielder Riyad Mahrez, both of whom are shadows of the players who were so pivotal to the club's title success.

Last season Vardy scored 24 goals, but has just five so far this campaign, while Mahrez scored 17 goals and made 10 assists, compared to three goals and three assists this year.

Despite their current failings, Ranieri has stuck with the vast majority of the players who starred for Leicester last season - and believes they are capable of transforming their fortunes.

"Every time I speak to the players and the players speak to me we are always confident we can change the situation," the 65-year-old Italian added.

"But now there are a few matches in front of us so we have to find a solution very, very soon. There are two matches in front of us, one in the FA Cup and one in the Champions League but our mind is on the Premier League.

"I think the strength of the man is to have the right balance. Not to be so high when you win; not to be so down when you lose. You can remember what we did last season but you need to stay with your feet on the ground and say we have to react together."

Leicester have a two-week break from their Premier League struggles as they turn attentions to the FA Cup and Champions League.

Ranieri takes his team to League One side Millwall in next weekend's fifth-round tie, before a trip to Spanish title hopefuls Sevilla in the Champions League last 16 on 22 February.

The Foxes could be bottom of the league by the time they host Liverpool on Monday, 27 February.

Swansea totally deserved win - Clement

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143 comments

  • Comment posted by User0136233578, at 07:32 13 Feb 2017

    Leicester are in absolute free fall at the minute, the players are not standing up to be counted. It's a shame because I can see ranieri getting sacked, he's one of the nice guys in football.

  • Comment posted by Beavo, at 07:46 13 Feb 2017

    The only injustice here would be in Ranieri's direction. Much like Payet, his players appear to have decided they are far superior than to play for Leicester, and are running around wondering why they aren't playing up top with Ronaldo and Bale at the Bernabeu.

    They deserve this. Ranieri does not. But in the current age of impatient, clueless owners, who is the one that will suffer?

  • Comment posted by We all laugh at the London stadium, at 07:52 13 Feb 2017

    Walk Claudio, the players have let you down. Let them play in the EFL. Ashamed to say that Vardy and his mates are all billy big time.

  • Comment posted by User0700237763, at 06:17 13 Feb 2017

    He has to start punishing people's unacceptable standards in their workplace and dropping piss poor performances and laying down the law and getting a bit nasty, play the kids if need be but tolerating game after game. He had the guts to apologise for a tactical mistake he made against us (Southampton) why can't the players have the same balls and admit they've been rubbish (Mahrez)

  • Comment posted by Hedley Lamarr , at 10:17 13 Feb 2017

    31. Posted by 1954 shenanigans
    "Who cares? The only team worth talking about is United"
    Torquay?

  • Comment posted by Abdul201588, at 12:44 13 Feb 2017

    The players did the impossible. Won the League last year. Now they have nothing to work for, other than the UCL which is unlikely they will get through. They got big contracts as well.

    I feel sad for Ranieri. He has done well for Leicester.

  • Comment posted by JackieC, at 09:51 13 Feb 2017

    I watched their match against Swansea and they're not really playing for each other. There were at least two occasions when the ball could have been passed to another player in a better position to score but the player with the ball wanted to be a hero and score themselves. They need to play as a team.

  • Comment posted by SaintJack, at 07:19 13 Feb 2017

    Part of me thought it would be 'funny' for Leicester to go straight down after winning the league; as a bizarre twisted sequel to last year. But I like Ranieri. It would seem nasty to want this to happen. Unfortunately it looking increasingly likely.They should of bought Schniderlin in Jan. Raineri has been consistently too trusting. Still to have that season! It's like a pact was made...

  • Comment posted by MightyCherries, at 08:05 13 Feb 2017

    As a neutral I think that Leicester had that little bit of luck last year;a tighter defence, &teams struggled with the pace & passion that they had; this year as can be seen is different,this isn't Ranieris fault, players don't suddenly become bad overnight,this is all about passion, guts &determination,unfortunately players get paid way too much, & that has had an impact.

  • Comment posted by Mordor Tourism Board, at 12:41 13 Feb 2017

    I still don't think Leicester will go down but that's more because other teams look in worse shape. I think what is now the bottom three will be the bottom three in May.

    Sunderland and Hull let influential players go and Palace haven't been trying for a long time.

    At least Leicester has a settled squad. It all comes down to commitment and grit.

  • Comment posted by SaintJack, at 07:45 13 Feb 2017

    @11

    Hull look doomed? Silva has transformed them! And you have Sunderland escaping? It's bye bye Sunderland this season.

  • Comment posted by User0674342312, at 11:31 13 Feb 2017

    Only ONE homegrown player scored this weekend in nine premier league. A truly shocking statistic and a slamming indictment of pl clubs player policy

  • Comment posted by User0250957459, at 14:10 13 Feb 2017

    @ 107 Mrhomes

    "I do not buy so much into Leicester players not playing for the team or thinking they are bigger than the club...look at Chelsea over 2 seasons."

    Completely contradicted yourself. The marked difference between Chelsea of last season and this is that Chelsea players downed tools last season. Everyone knew it. Exactly what Vardy, Mahrez, Morgan etc have done this season.

  • Comment posted by Foxes, at 10:14 13 Feb 2017

    55. wolf359

    We had no choice to sell him, he had a release clause in his contract. We knew how important he was and I'm sure we wouldn't be so bad if he was still here, a truly world class player.

    Even so there is more to the rubbish we are seeing week in week out than just the loss of one player however good he may be.

  • Comment posted by Old Yorkshire Cheese, at 06:27 13 Feb 2017

    I'm not sure why people are so surprised by Leicester's awfulness. If this year followed 2014-15, then it would just be another relegation scrap; indeed, without last year they might have been favourites to go down. Is the 16-17 team that different from 14-15? Shows what a remarkable achievement/aberration last year was. Now they need to show their fans it was not a total fluke.

  • Comment posted by plotinus, at 10:12 13 Feb 2017

    Ranieri has been too loyal.
    But that was an easy mistake to make.
    He was trusting players who had won the league the previous season.
    It seems success has now gone to their heads.
    Ranieri now needs to do what is necessary to secure the clubs survival in the top tier.

  • Comment posted by Hawkisaurus, at 10:36 13 Feb 2017

    I love the man to bits and it is almost heartbreaking to see what's happening. If there really is a nasty and ruthless side to Ranieri then I want to see it now. No more Mr Nice Guy, no more blind loyalty, no more not giving a decent chance to the likes of Kaputska, Amartey and Benalouane. Other teams have sussed Leicester out, so how about a Plan B, and actually showing some fight?

  • Comment posted by User0239985643, at 09:16 13 Feb 2017

    The Leicester City story covering the last decade beggars belief. If you tried to write it, it would look like pure fantasy.

  • Comment posted by Funky Chunky Monkey, at 10:50 13 Feb 2017

    Pundits blaming the departure of Kante, but the ability is still there, look at the home dismantling of Manchester City in Dec and the great displays in the ECL!
    Lack of application and desire from Ranieri's players is the downfall.

    It is always said that defending a championship is much harder than winning it.

  • Comment posted by Foxes, at 12:10 13 Feb 2017

    79. Jack

    I would say our players are better than where we currently are. We kept the team together and actually did add players breaking our transfer record several times. Just nothing has clicked this season for us, we were never going to win it again for sure but I certainly felt we had a mid-table finish in us at least. We love Ranieri for doing the impossible, but something isn't right.

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