Leicester City: Leicester will return stronger insists Ranieri
By Jake Cursley
Leicester City will be confident going into their first ever Champions League campaign this season along with defending their Premier League title despite being humbled during their tough pre-season tournament.
Following their 4 – 0 defeat to PSG in LA and their 4 – 2 defeat to Barcelona last night in Stockholm, Leicester City boss Claudio Ranieri stated that Leicester will return stronger and learn from their errors during the games in which they were punished with 8 goals.
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Following their defeat last night Ranieri had to say “”Last season we had matches close to Leicester City, with little teams who work very, very hard”
He went on to say “Now we are the team working so hard, to run behind the ball against PSG and Barcelona and that for us was a good pre-season because we have learned”
Ranieri will be looking to have his team as fit as possible ahead of the new campaign, with a possible 60 games to play, fitness and injuries will play a huge factor as the season goes on.
Should Leicester City go on a long cup run, if injuries occur, they will need a plan B which was exercised during the first half of last night’s game against Barcelona. With Riyad Mahrez in a roaming role behind Vardy.
While it may need polishing, there were signs of hope for the foxes with the opening 20 minutes of the game being very positive but falling just short of the mark when called upon to finish chances.
When speaking of Riyad’s roaming role, Ranieri had to say “I wanted to see Riyad in this position also. Sometimes we have to have a plan A and a plan B and sometimes we can play with him behind the striker.”
Ahmed Musa was the key talking point of last night’s clash after picking up the man of the match award for a very positive display, scoring 2 braces in the second half.
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Should his form continue after proving he can score against top opposition (even if it is just a pre-season friendly) Leicester City will have plenty of options up front and will not just have to rely on Vardy and Mahrez for the bulk of the goals as they did last season, taking a lot of pressure off of the shoulders of the two superstars.