The Gunners were genuine title contenders for much of last season, but eventually finished second, 10 points behind surprise winners Leicester City.
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“They played better, we tried to do our best, ” the Italian told Sky Sports.
The Tigers’ supporters protested before and during the match against owners Assem and Ehad Allem, who they accuse of failing to invest properly in the club.
When Robert Snodgrass struck to give Hull City the lead after Riyad Mahrez had restored parity following Adama Diomande’s opener, Leicester got ever closer to becoming the first team to lay claim to such an honour. They were smarter than us. “Obviously character’s a big issue when a lot of things are not going your way in preseason… a lot of the time it was fingers crossed to make sure that we had enough players to get out onto this field today”.
After their victory, Hull’s interim coach Mike Phelan revealed how his side had opted to defend deeply and to force Leicester to play to the home side’s strengths, while captain Curtis Davies revealed how the newly promoted team sought to put the “onus” on Leicester. “Our effort was awesome but it was individual, not as a team”, he said. “Our strength is when everyone is connected to each other”.
The Algerian did convert a penalty to level the game at 1-1, but in general the wide man failed to reprise the performances he showed the world during last season’s incredible triumph.
They then lost 2-1 to Manchester United in the Community Shield at Wembley last Sunday.
While his tackling and interception statistics can’t match those of Kante, he is energetic, works hard and is pacy, and his game intelligence means that he should be able to improve these numbers if given a spoiler-recycler brief by Ranieri.
“Today, there was a big effort, but not together”.
A second-half strike from Robert Snodgrass proved the difference, the Scotland worldwide driving home from inside the area after Kasper Schmeichel had carelessly giving away possession.
Ranieri will hope for better next weekend when his side welcome Arsenal to the King Power Stadium in their first home game.
Leicester headed to the north coastal city of Hull for their opening match against a team that now has no manager, barely enough players to make up a team, and an army of angry and frustrated fans.
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“This club has been getting taken over for about eight to 12 months – on and off, on and off – but apparently there’s new buyers out there”.
