Leicester fans wake up, this is not a dream. Yes – you are Premiership champions. Yes – you are in the Champions League. Yes – you will be relegated and Yes – you will be playing European football next season!
Perhaps the biggest “yes” is that Jose Mourinho was right. Claudio Ranieri is not a winner. He is a very good loser. Ranieri did the unthinkable last season but it was a fluke. We all said it would be impossible to replicate again but it has proven impossible for even Leicester to get close to that level again.
And this is where Jose Mourinho comes in, Ranieri may have proven him wrong once by winning the league (in a fluke) but is proving him right in every other sense. Ranieri has proven that he can drive a team of winners to losers. Ranieri will never come close to winning a title again. He has the steel to win some matches but he’s not in the same mould of managers like Jose Mourinho and Pep where losing actually hurts them.
Ranieri is happy to lose. When Mourinho said Ranieri would never win as he is not a winner, he was talking of something much deeper. He was talking about how a winner is always winning, a winner cannot accept defeat, a winner does not accept defeat. Many times this season we have seen Leicester accept defeat and then Renieri come out smiling. That simply cannot happen if you’re a born winner.
But all is not lost! Yes – Leicester will be relegated (I truly believe that). But I also believe they will make it to the Champions League Final. Which will guarantee them a spot in Europe for next season as they fight in the Championship. Why? Because they have the perfect route and distraction from the Premier League.
It’s all the players are living for right now. Playing in the Champions League. I can see the players coming out and performing like last season’s Leicester. They already have a good draw and can push on through the stages. A lot of them players will be thinking of putting a good run together and possibly nab the chance for a move in the summer. I’m sure Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy will no doubt be thinking of what could have been.
But, note it down – Leicester in the Champions League Final, I wonder the odds on that…
Now, Ranieri. This is where I have a bone to pick with Claudio Ranieri. The best managers are able to motivate for any occasion and do it time and time again. Claudio has shown no record in being able to achieve this. Additionally, there are no big egos he has to handle in that dressing room, no huge personas yet he hasn’t been able to muster any kind of reaction from the players.
So, where does he sit in the elite managers table? On the loser board. Nice guys don’t win anything. Nubaid Haroon – Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCtMg-fWm7awR41vM1GhVOkA Twitter: twitter.com/rambofyi
The post Ranieri a very good loser – Jose Mourinho got it bang on! appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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