Claudio Ranieri has called for referees to protect Jamie Vardy as Leicester City prepare to begin the defence of their title.
The striker scored 24 goals during the Foxes’ march to the championship last season and was named the Premier League player of the year. However, he also developed a reputation for going easily to ground and was sent off after receiving a yellow card for diving against West Ham United in April.
Ranieri, though, believes his player will receive rough treatment this season and has called for vigilance from officials. “I hope that the referees are very, very attentive,” he said. “If there is something wrong, if it’s a free-kick or a penalty kick they must stay calm because now everyone wants to stop Jamie Vardy.”
The Italian went on to compliment the former non-league forward, who signed a four-year contract extension this summer, and said his hard-working attitude has not changed, despite his rise to prominence.
“It’s difficult to stop Jamie when he is in good shape,” said Ranieri. “Last season there were around two months when he didn’t score but he made a lot passes, a lot of assists for goals. Jamie was the same person then and he’s the same person now. With a goalscorer you always expect something. Defenders can score five to eight goals, midfielders the same. Sometimes they can score more or less. It’s not important if Jamie scores or Schmeichel scores. What is important is that the team have the right balance to score”
The arrival of Ahmed Musa for £16m from CSKA Moscow this summer has given Ranieri more attacking options, but the manager insists the Nigerian is not here to challenge Vardy’s position in the team. “No it’s not a challenge,” Ranieri said. “It’s important to have another player who can play in a similar way to Jamie. Musa can play in a similar way but also together with Jamie. During training sessions we change a lot with Okazaki and Musa, Okazaki and Ulloa, Ulloa and Vardy. We change and change and change.
“We do that so all of our players can understand the moment. For this reason we are working well and I am very pleased with it.”
With an expanded squad Ranieri faces the challenge of keeping everyone happy but the former Chelsea manager claimed the addition of Champions League football will make that task easier. “Everybody at the end plays a lot of matches” he said. “Of course for this reason we try to build two players for each position. It depends on fitness and also how they stay focused.
“Each Saturday 11 can play, seven sit with me and the rest are in the stand. I am sure they are not happy, it’s normal, it’s human! But it’s important that at the next training session they give me more, and then more, because you never know when I might call you to play. And then, when that moment comes, you can know that, yes he believes in me.”
Ranieri continues to insist that his side have forgotten last year’s fairytale triumph and are focused only on what’s next. This applies also to Vardy and his less pleasurable experiences with England at Euro 2016, as well as Danny Drinkwater, who narrowly missed the cut for the squad. “The big difference between Latin and English players,” he said, “is that the Latin players have a setback and get down, they don’t react immediately. The English players after one hour go: ‘OK, let’s react,’ and they react. Fortunately my players forget immediately what happens and it’s important. But they also have to forget the good bits.”
