In the second part of his interview with Il Corriere dello Sport, Claudio Ranieri admits ‘hating’ building up from the back and reveals the turning points of his spells at Leicester City and Inter.

The Italian tactician completed one of the most incredible feats in football’s history in 2015-16 by winning the Premier League title with Leicester City who had been promoted from the Championship only two years earlier.

Ranieri was appointed in the summer of 2015 and led the Foxes to their first historic title.

“Many things contributed to it. I changed a few things, first of all, the full-backs and then I intervened on Simpson and Fuchs,” Ranieri told Il Corriere Dello Sport.

Ranieri: ‘Mourinho aware of obstacles at Roma’

“I tried to make space for a youngster, N’Golo Kante, first playing him as a left-winger and then in the middle of the park where he created a formidable partnership with Drinkwater. When Mahrez cut in the middle, Okazaki covered his side.

“They immediately understood that they should never give up and managed to win many games or get draws in situations where we were two goals down,” he continued.

“I used to buy pay pizzas for the team when they kept a clean sheet; this is a well-known story. I found a pizzeria that increased its revenues by ten times after the first few weeks. I think we only lost three games, two against Arsenal and one against Liverpool.”

Ranieri is one of Italy’s most experienced tacticians and has coached many top Serie A clubs, including Juventus, Inter, Roma and Napoli.

The Nerazzurri hired him in 2011 to replace Gian Piero Gasperini, but the coach and the club parted ways at the end of the season.

“We had a good start, but things changed when Motta joined PSG. We had agreed that he would have left at the end of the season,” revealed Ranieri.

“Without him, we lost balance in the middle of the park and we were all affected.”

Ranieri’s last appointment was at Watford in 2021-22 and the 70-year-old seems to have clear ideas about his team’s playing style in the next chapter of his career.

“I hate building up from the back. It is true that with three or four good passes, you can nullify the opponents’ press, but you need players with certain characteristics to be so accurate,” he admitted.

“I admire Klopp’s Liverpool because he plays vertically without too many horizontal or backward passes.”

One thought on “Ranieri admits playing Kante out of position and blames ex-Inter star for surprising exit”
  1. kante on the left wing we all know allegri stole that tactic from him = rabiott used on left wing = clueless

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