They say that practice makes perfect but, in an intriguingly counterintuitive move, Claudio Ranieri has taken to banning Jamie Vardy from shooting drills at Leicester City’s training ground.
“I don’t really get the chance to practise that much on my finishing because we have our shooting drills early in the week when the gaffer’s wanting me to rest my legs,” Vardy said after scoring twice in the 2-0 win at Sunderland on Sunday. “So normally, when there’s a bit of shooting, the gaffer tells me to go inside! I’ll keep doing that if it means I’m saving my legs – and goals – for games.”
The England striker’s 20th and 21st goals of the season not only saw off Sam Allardyce’s team but have left Leicester with a seven-point lead at the top of the table. A top-four place is assured and with only five games to go the title is almost within their grasp.
Considering the side, then under Nigel Pearson, spent most of last season at the bottom of the table before a near‑miraculous escape from relegation, their position seems almost surreal.
Even more remarkably, Vardy maintains that laughter has proved a prime force in propelling them up the Premier League ladder. “We’re always laughing,” he said. “In training we’re always having a laugh and a joke. That’s just how we are, everyone’s relaxed – and the gaffer wants it to be like that. The good thing about this squad is we’re tight-knit. That’s how we’ve been from day one.”
Certain managers, British managers in particular, used to be very big on camaraderie but it is has gone out of fashion a little. The new breed of Euro technocrat coaches prefer to believe in tactical acumen and statistical analysis while suspecting “camaraderie” may be a euphemism for alcohol-fuelled boys’ nights out. Ranieri, though, refuses to underestimate the importance of the sheer chemistry it can provoke.
“There isn’t a secret to us,” Danny Drinkwater said. “It’s just that we’re a bunch of lads that get along. We’re all willing to work hard for each other on the pitch. It shows by how well we graft out results. If stuff’s not going well, we still manage to win games.”
Leicester’s players seem remarkably diligent – not to mention effective – when it comes to self policing. “Wes Morgan’s a great skipper,” Drinkwater said. “If a big header or a big tackle’s needed, he’s going to make it but we all tend to talk and fire each other up. It’s not just down to Wes; we’ve got a few players who like doing that.”
Drinkwater’s powerful bond with Vardy has resulted in a formidable, apparently telepathic, understanding on the pitch. “Drinky knows exactly where I’m going to be,” said Vardy, whose first goal on Sunday came after his collection of the midfielder’s long ball over the top of Sunderland’s defence. “He doesn’t have to look most of the time. As long as I know the rough area where it’s going to go, I’ll be on my bike and chasing the ball down.”
Drinkwater did not disagree. “The majority of time you don’t need to look for Jamie,” he said. “You just know he’s going to be on the move and that, with his pace, if the pass is right, it’s going to cause defenders problem. It works, it scores us goals, so why stop?”
This ostensibly simple, undeniably direct, formula has seen several opponents turn a little sniffy. Even a manager as pragmatic as Allardyce talked about Leicester being “unique in that they don’t have to be pretty” before he suggested that fans of bigger clubs would complain about them playing “not the right type of football”.
Privately Sunderland’s manager must have been impressed by the way Ranieri’s streetwise players have mastered the gamesmanship-suffused ploys that proved such a feature of Allardyce’s old Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers teams. Leicester, for instance, excel at the dark art of the tactical foul, namely conceding free‑kicks in areas where they can reset their shape before opponents attack again, and timewasting. Going forward, Ranieiri’s team are very good at drawing opponents into challenges in areas where it might suit Riyad Mahrez and friends to take a set-piece.
As befits a vastly experienced Italian coach, the charming, softly spoken, avuncular Ranieri has clearly passed on some valuable tips between all the laughter and pizza consumption.
“It’s exciting to learn new things from the manager,” Drinkwater said. “It’s brilliant. It’s showing in our performances, where we are in the league. But Claudio Ranieri’s a big name in football.”
Not that Drinkwater and company have forgotten or are prepared to overlook Pearson’s contribution to Leicester’s ascent. “The momentum obviously carried on from last season,” he said. “Credit to the old gaffer for starting that off. Both managers, I think, deserve credit.”
