{"id":11590,"date":"2016-10-17T17:43:14","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T16:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.colossusbets.com\/?p=11590"},"modified":"2019-04-15T16:26:47","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T15:26:47","slug":"ranieiris-leicester-turn-focus-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ranieiris-leicester-turn-focus-champions-league\/","title":{"rendered":"RANIEIRI’S LEICESTER TURN FOCUS TO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leicester City\u2019s poor form in the Premier League has led to suggestions that 2015\/16\u2019s title winners have chosen to place most of their eggs in the basket marked \u2018Uefa Champions League\u2019 this term. A particularly insipid display in Saturday\u2019s 3-0 defeat by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge \u2013 a match scheduled just three days before Copenhagen\u2019s visit to the King Power Stadium \u2013 seemed to confirm as much, as did Ranieri\u2019s comments in his post-match press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, of course [I would make] the same decision again because now we have a very tough match on Tuesday evening against a very well-organised team,\u201d the Italian insisted when asked whether or not he had made a mistake in leaving Riyad Mahrez<\/a> and Islam Slimani on the bench with a view to keeping the Algerian duo fresh for a clash in which another three points would make qualification for the round of 16 more likely than not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Premier League<\/a> is one year long. The Champions League<\/a> is two months \u2013 [you’re] in or out. We want to go into the knockout stage either in the Champions League or Europa<\/a> League\u2026 to achieve this you need all your players fit and I prefer to preserve some players for Tuesday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Ranieri was clearly frustrated with his side\u2019s performance against Chelsea at the weekend, with the usually serene sexagenarian growing increasingly animated and agitated on the touchline as Leicester<\/a> fell behind in the seventh minute and showed few signs of getting back into the game in the 83 that followed.<\/p>\n

Ranieri\u2019s men have now lost twice as many matches this term as they did in the whole of last season, with Hull City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea having all defeated Leicester<\/a> so far. They have emerged victorious<\/a> from only two of their eight encounters, moreover, with just eight goals scored and 14 conceded since the campaign got under way in August.<\/p>\n

It has not yet been the sort of robust defence that Premier League<\/a> champions are usually expected to deliver, then, but it is important to remember that the usual rules should not really apply to the most unlikely title winners in the history of English football. Leicester were always going to struggle to match their achievements of last year and it is therefore perfectly understandable that they have chosen to prioritise the Champions League<\/a>, a tournament which they may not take part in again for a very long time.<\/p>\n

Consecutive triumphs against Club Brugge and Porto have left them in an excellent position in Group G ahead of their third European<\/a> outing this week. Danish champions Copenhagen have also started well, collecting four points from a possible six to sit second in the standings, but Leicester will fancy their chances of maintaining their 100 per cent winning record in front of their own supporters.<\/p>\n

The defensive issues that have plagued them domestically have not yet reappeared in the Champions League<\/a>, where they are one of only four teams yet to concede a goal, while their counter-attacking game plan has also borne more fruit on the continental stage. It is likely, though, that the key reason for the contrast between Leicester\u2019s form at home and in Europe<\/a> is a matter of motivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s normal when a team for the first time in its life plays in the Champions League<\/a> for concentration to be very, very high,\u201d Ranieri said on Saturday. \u201cWhen you play in the Premier League<\/a>, it\u2019s not the same. I can understand this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victory against Copenhagen would mean another step<\/a> towards the knockout rounds of Europe\u2019s foremost club competition, while fully vindicating Leicester\u2019s order of priorities in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leicester City\u2019s poor form in the Premier League has led to suggestions that 2015\/16\u2019s title winners have chosen to place most of their eggs in the basket marked \u2018Uefa Champions League\u2019 this term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[260,234,174,235,177],"class_list":["post-11590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-champions-league","tag-leicester","tag-news","tag-ranieri","tag-ticker"],"yoast_head":"\nRANIEIRI'S LEICESTER TURN FOCUS TO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - Colossus Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Leicester City\u2019s poor form in the Premier League has led to suggestions that 15\/16\u2019s title winners have chosen to place most of their eggs in the basket ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ranieiris-leicester-turn-focus-champions-league\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RANIEIRI'S LEICESTER TURN FOCUS TO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Leicester City\u2019s poor form in the Premier League has led to suggestions that 15\/16\u2019s title winners have chosen to place most of their eggs in the basket ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ranieiris-leicester-turn-focus-champions-league\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colossus Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-17T16:43:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-15T15:26:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Leicester.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"615\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Lea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/GregLeaFootball\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ColossusBets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Lea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ranieiris-leicester-turn-focus-champions-league\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ranieiris-leicester-turn-focus-champions-league\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Greg Lea\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98db0ddfe1dae17dfc1cb604d8069452\"},\"headline\":\"RANIEIRI’S LEICESTER TURN FOCUS TO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-17T16:43:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-15T15:26:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ranieiris-leicester-turn-focus-champions-league\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":620,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Champions League\",\"Leicester\",\"News\",\"Ranieri\",\"Ticker\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2016\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ranieiris-leicester-turn-focus-champions-league\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ranieiris-leicester-turn-focus-champions-league\\\/\",\"name\":\"RANIEIRI'S LEICESTER TURN FOCUS TO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - 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