He was the phony who lost to the Faroes; the Greek tragedy. Claudio Ranieri returned to England to a soundtrack of negativity. He was yesterday’s man, a manager in terminal decline. He had taken over a Greece team who almost reached the World Cup quarter-finals and left them at the foot of perhaps the weakest group in Euro 2016 qualifying.
He looked the complete opposite of his predecessor at Leicester, Nigel Pearson. Ranieri seemed to be picked because, if he called a journalist an ostrich, at least it would be a term of endearment.
Manager and club came across as the strangest of fits, with Ranieri placed in charge of the predominantly British team assembled by an English manager whose success appeared to be a product of team spirit as much as quality. Leicester had chosen a has-been and were on the fast track to the Championship.
Or that was the theory, anyway. Four months into the season, Leicester are league leaders. Their advantage is two points, but Ranieri is a country mile ahead of his rivals for the manager of the year award. Mauricio Pochettino, Quique Sanchez Flores, Alan Pardew, Slaven Bilic and Mark Hughes have all enhanced their reputations, but the Italian is the real revelation.
This is his 16th managerial job. He has surely never done better in any of the previous 15. He has blasted through the glass ceiling, redefining what is possible for a club like Leicester. Every previous team to acquire 35 points in its first 16 Premier League games has finished in the top four. The Champions League - not the Championship - beckons for Ranieri.
he temptation is to say he has done stunningly well by not doing very much. The reality is that he has been clever enough not to rip up a winning formula. Leicester won seven of their last nine league games under Pearson. This was not a club in crisis, whatever the off-field problems that brought about their former manager's dismissal.
But the changes Ranieri has made have worked. Pearson ended his reign playing 3-4-1-2, but the new Foxes boss has returned to a back four. He has made the quietly impressive Danny Drinkwater an automatic choice in the middle of midfield. He reacted to the influential Esteban Cambiasso’s departure by bringing in the all-action N’Golo Kante, the ball-winner supreme.
He has taken the rough diamonds Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez and polished their natural talent. They are the two players of the season so far. Ranieri has shifted Mahrez around intelligently, using him on the right and as a No.10. He has played to Vardy’s strengths, unveiling a counter-attacking gameplan which utilises his blistering pace and unrelenting running.
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