Claudio Ranieri admits that he was “expecting a response” from Leicester City in their European tie against Club Brugge, but is unsure what to expect this weekend.
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Last season’s Premier League champions were beaten 4-1 by Liverpool on Saturday – their heaviest defeat in more than 12 months – and have lost twice in the league already this season but did not seem to allow that weigh them down at the Jan Breydel stadium.
And he is willing to employ his unorthodox methods on Saturday if he suspects the Foxes are still thinking about the club’s dream debut in the Champions League, which saw them beat Bruges 3-0 in Belgium on Wednesday night, and not Sean Dyche’s visiting Clarets. “I want to see how my players respond”.
Last year’s PFA Player of the Year signed a new contract with Leicester in the days before fellow Algerian Slimani arrived from Sporting CP but had previously rejected a new deal due to interest from a number of high-profile clubs.
“I’m so pleased with our performance”, Ranieri said.
Marc Albrighton opened the scoring after just five minutes as Leicester enjoyed the spoils of their historic Premier League triumph.
“That is the new challenge – forget and think about the next match”, said the Italian.
He said: “It is history because the first match we won away”.
Meanwhile, Burnley, who earned a 2-0 home win at home to Liverpool in August, come into the match on the back of a 1-1 draw at home to Hull after Robert Snodgrass grabbed an equaliser for the Tigers with a last-gasp free-kick. “It’s always created to get the best out of the players and so far our record is pretty good at getting the best out of the players”. “I think I’ve a very good feeling with them”.
“He just said “this is what we do”, he’s said his team is going to play with energy”. When they go away from home, teams will have a go at them and that’s ideal, it’s when they play at home and have to break teams down that’s the problem. “But if not, we want to get in the Europa League – that’s the target”.
“The players are ready and they have recovered well”. I don’t remember him coming out with a brand.
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Ranieri joked that he will have to give Mahrez some headphones and let him listen to the Champions League music to ensure he hits his best form.
