Leicester City played with same swagger as last season, says Claudio Ranieri
Saturday 22 October 2016 19:32, UK
Claudio Ranieri said his team played like the Leicester City of last season in their win over Crystal Palace.
Jamie Vardy was dropped to the bench and his replacement Ahmed Musa opened the scoring. Shinji Okazaki doubled the advantage for City, who had won more points in the Champions League than the Premier League before this game.
Christian Fuchs celebrated signing a new three-year deal with the club by netting his first goal from the club with a fabulous 25-yard strike.
Ranieri admitted Leicester played with the same intensity and energy as they employed during their title winning season.
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"This was the shape and model of last season," he said.
"It's when everyone is concentrated and doing their job. We know our weakness but we also know our strengths.
"Crystal Palace are a very good team. They were better than us for the first 20 minutes and moved the ball very quickly. It was difficult for us but after that we put in a very good performance.
"We had to fight today because Crystal Palace maintained the ball and posed a threat. It was very difficult. But we came back and moved the ball quickly, put them under pressure and created some good chances."
The champions left out Vardy, who was without a goal in nine games, with Musa slotting in on the left wing and Islam Slimani through the middle.
The Nigerian paceman who had struggled to make an impact since his £16.6m move from CSKA Moscow in the summer, netted his first City goal with a neat a finish from 20 yards.
"I'm very happy with him," Ranieri said.
"He's starting to understand the Premier League tempo much better. He is now ready to give us a good hand."
