Ranieri: Everyone Believes In This Group

- The Foxes boss watched his side come back from 2-0 down to rescue a point 

- He had praise for the attitudes of the players when they don’t start matches 

- Substitutes Nathan Dyer and Riyad Mahrez came off the bench to set up goals for Jamie Vardy in Saturday’s game at St. Mary’s Stadium 

After watching his side come from behind to pick up another Barclays Premier League point at Southampton, Claudio Ranieri hailed the collective belief within the Leicester City squad. 

A brace of goals from man-in-form Jamie Vardy hauled the Foxes back to level terms after going 2-0 down but it was the impact of substitutes Nathan Dyer and Riyad Mahrez that helped to turn the game on its head. 

Both players could have made strong cases to start the match, as with other players throughout the squad and it’s the attitude they’ve shown that has greatly impressed the boss. 

“I’m very happy but I’m very happy when I can choose good players,” Ranieri told . “I have a good bench, I have good players also that haven’t travelled with us. 

“It’s important to have the right attitude. Everybody believes in this group and our strength is our group. If somebody doesn’t believe then it is a problem. But everybody when I put them on the pitch plays well.” 

One man who is playing well is Vardy. The England striker is the Premier League’s top scorer and has an astonishing nine goals in nine league games this term. 

Ranieri added: “He’s very important for us because when a team has a striker like him everybody believes that something can happen because Jamie is there.” 

That belief is clearly evident in the stands too, with the supporters continuing to roar on their team regardless of the score line – something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Ranieri. 

He said: “I have no more words for our fans. They are fantastic, they believe and they suffer with us. It’s fantastic.”