How Ranieri set up at Leicester & how that may translate here.

[Spirit of 2000]

Let's start from basics – I liked Slav a lot and wanted him given the Soton game, however I understand why the board made the decision for him to go after Huddersfield, that's football. I like Ranieri as an individual and a manager and on many level was pleased with is appointment – BUT ..... Ranieri favours a style of football as different to that of Slav as you can possibly wish. He's gone on record numerous times and stated how he prefers playing without the majority of possession and all his sides like to play on the counter with a hard press on the ball when not in possession. His teams demand the following for this to work. Disciplined defence, hard working midfielders who need to press, tackle and recycle the ball quickly – i.e. the total opposite of a Seri and to an extent Cairney. Then pace up top and wide going forward to play the counter attack effectively – Mitro may be a great forward but he isn't a quick one. So given what we have I'm at odds to think how he's going to set us up initially but I suspect he'll have a number of recruitment requests come January and some of the current squad will be moved on.

[Statto]

He has also come out and said in his first interview that he can't believe our league position because we have talented players.

Seri's head may have dropped lately but he's still our most talented player (tied with Mitro IMO) and one of the best players we've been lucky enough to have at the Cottage.

I'll have a £5 bet with anyone that Ranieri puts Seri straight back in the starting XI for the next match, and stake my house that he's in the majority of starting XIs over the rest of the season.

[Moltobueno]

Well let's just hope those players who were not performing/contributing enough, will step up as everyone need to prove themselves to the new manager.

[Spirit of 2000]

Still don't see how Seri or a number of others fit the profile of how Ranieri sets his teams up.

[RaySmith]

Mitro can benefit from other players attacking with pace and crossing or passing to him, and he can also win a long  ball and lay it off for them.

Recently the problem has been that he's ben starved of  the ball, and trying to make the most of scraps.

[grandad]

He has also stated that his teams defend with 11 & attack with 11. I hope the squad get their fitness levels up. Boy, they will need to be fit.

[filham]

Ranieri will have to compromise and make the best use of the talent at his disposal, at least until the January window.

The players available can change tactically and there is plenty of scope to move away from Jocanovic's slow possession football to a more conventional 4-4-2 set up based on a solid defence and more direct forward moves.

[toshes mate]

He has also stated that his teams defend with 11 & attack with 11. I hope the squad get their fitness levels up. Boy, they will need to be fit.

Exact same as Jokanovic's philosophy and borrowed from Cruyff.

[Spirit of 2000]

The most commonly picked Leicester first X1 (Premier winners) was as below
GK, Schmeichel
Simpson, Huth, Morgan, Fuchs – a solid back 4, 2 dominant centre backs, full backs with some licence to get forward but by no means wingbacks.
Drinkwater & Kante in the middle – not getting too far forward, sitting, winning the ball & looking for a quick outlet, dropping in to cover the fullbacks when needed.
Albrighton & Mahrez taking the wide roles with the latter at times drifting in, both expected to track back as well as provide attacking outlets.
No.10 position was Okazaki – incredibly hard working player who linked things up.
Vardy as the burst of pace centrally to finish the counter attacks.

Ok we haven't the personnel to replicate this and he will have to improvise to cater for what's available at least until January. Looking at his other clubs, he's used 4-2-3-1 as well as 4-4-2 but one aspect of his teams is there's no room for luxury players or passengers, anyone not putting a shift in won't last long. The wide players will be expected to track back and get back upfield when the ball is turned over.

So he likes a dominant centre back – Mawson I should imagine will be one of the first names on the team sheet. Midfielders will have to press, work, tackle and recycle the ball quickly. I worry about how Seri and Cairney will fit in here, Anguissa on the other hand could develop and flourish & Stefan Johanssen is very much a Ranieri type midfielder, high energy, likes a tackle, gets box to box. KMac may not have the legs to slot in unless he's just told to sit, tackle and pass it out quickly. Bryan is a proper fullback, the only one at the club and I think will feature if fit. Christie is too much a wingback though & personally I can see Odoi being used at fullback with Chambers or Ream slotting in next to Mawson. Sess is made for the wide left role under Ranieri, Christie in fact may be deployed in a right sided midfield role as he will track back. Not sure how I see Schurrle or Vietto fitting in unless they play up with or off of Mitro & then only 1 of them would get to feature with the other off the bench, Vietto has played the majority of his matches centrally. Mitrovic is a tricky one – Ranieri will have to use him as he's our only proper striker of any quality or experience, so will have tweak the system to include him. He did use Leonardo Ulloa at Leicester though off the bench a lot so obviously can incorporate the big man if needed. Kamara will I think be a fairly regularly used impact sub as whatever shortcomings he has, he possesses genuine pace & power.

Now before anyone says "you have no idea what he's going to do so shut up and going on as if you do" – I agree, this is just an exercise using comparisons to the best comparable example we can access – Ranieri's premiership Leicester, but the manner, style of how he sets up is evident throughout his other managerial exploits – counter attack, no reliance on  dominating possession, proper defenders who defend, hardworking midfield, pace going forward. That's his template & all I've done above is throw some possibilities on how it may be implemented with this squad – after all this is a message board and meant for discussion like this!

[Mickeyboro]

Thought provoking stuff... So the attack could be more problematic than the defence? Sess should be an out and out attacker.


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[SuffolkWhite]

Yep interesting thoughts, I wonder f he is going to go for more pace p front if some of the youngsters don't get a chance?

[sunburywhite]

Will it also mean an end to the chances for the youngsters to come through the ranks?

[Huxley]

Cairney will struggle in a traditional CR 442 and wasted on the wing.

[Spirit of 2000]

Cairney will struggle in a traditional CR 442 and wasted on the wing.

My thoughts precisely - him & Seri will struggle and neither is a winger.

[Moltobueno]

So it could be:

                                           Rico/Fabri/Bettinelli (Schmeichel)

Odoi/Christie (Simpson)     Odoi/Chambers (Huth)   Mawson/MLM (Morgan)    Bryan (Fuchs)

                         Anguissa/McDonald (Kante)    Johansen/Seri (Drinkwater)

Christie/Schurrle (Albrighton)                                                         Sessegnon/Kebano (Mahrez)
                                                      Cairney/Seri (Okazaki)

                                                      Mitrovic  (Vardy)

[GJB]

I could/would like to see him playing a back 4 of Odoi at RB, Mawson at RCB, MLM at LCB and Bryan at LB

[Matt10]

I don't think it will be as much as Leicester City, but more so FC Nantes. If you look at FC Nantes' 2017 season, Ranieri opted for a 4-2-3-1 and had mid pressuring, not high pressuring like he did at Leicester. What is consistent is that no matter what formation in attack, the defensive formation always reverts to a 4-4-2. It's funny because Nantes had issues early on with their best formation as Ranieri was a bit all over the place with a 4-3-3, 3-5-2, 3-4-3, 4-4-2 and eventually most consistent with a 4-2-3-1.

I hope he employs the 4-2-3-1, and the 4-4-2 is a high pressure like we did against Liverpool for 15 minutes. We have not performed well by using a low/passive pressure set up. It will be interesting to see the players he chooses. Remember, he's seen Seri and LeMarchand when Nantes faced them last year. I am sure he has ideas what to do with Seri at least. Counting down the days here.

[Milo]

I've merged the two topics as I feel they are very similar and could lead on from each other.

Definitely an interesting topic.

[FFC NY]

So it could be:

                                           Rico/Fabri/Bettinelli (Schmeichel)

Odoi/Christie (Simpson)     Odoi/Chambers (Huth)   Mawson/MLM (Morgan)    Bryan (Fuchs)

                         Anguissa/McDonald (Kante)    Johansen/Seri (Drinkwater)

Christie/Schurrle (Albrighton)                                                         Sessegnon/Kebano (Mahrez)
                                                      Cairney/Seri (Okazaki)

                                                      Mitrovic  (Vardy)

I like the look of this team...I think you could add Vietto and Schurrle as options in the Okazaki role too. Vietto works extremely hard and we know he can create goals. Mitrovic doesn't need to be the quickest to succeed in that role, playing on the counter attack should make it easier for him to find some space. A right winger and a right back could well be on the shopping list for January

[Tyske]

Very concerned that there will be a disruptive transition to a Ranieri style of play. Under Jokanovic we could only play one way, and that philosophy has been imprinted on the club for the past two years.
Many Slav Out posters on here hated Jokanovic's constant changes, ironically the team are about to get the mother of all changes.