Ranieri Reflects On Pre-Season Opener

- Claudio Ranieri takes charge of Leicester City for the first time

- Leicester City beat Lincoln City 3-1 at Sincil Bank

- Manager impressed with performance levels on first pre-season outing

- A total of 22 players play 45 minutes with no injury worries

The Foxes beat Lincoln City 3-1 at Sincil Bank with goals from Riyad Mahrez, Andrej Kramaric and Jamie Vardy, but fitness was the main goal as the players look to regain their sharpness ahead of the new Barclays Premier League campaign. 

Nevertheless Ranieri was still pleased with what he saw from his side as they overcame a tricky opponent to register three excellent goals in a match that saw 22 players play 45 minutes – including new signings Robert Huth, Christian Fuchs and Shinji Okazaki. 

Speaking exclusively to Foxes Player HD, Ranieri said: “The performance was good, first of all because nobody is injured and that’s important for me and secondly because we won the match. 

“The first 20 minutes were very, very hard because Lincoln have already played three matches in pre-season but for us it was a first 45 minutes. 

“But after 20 or 25 minutes I saw the players move better, play on the floor and we scored a great goal. The second half was much better, faster and the strikers moved very well.” 

And while he was impressed, the manager still saw room for improvement, as his players gradually get up to speed after their summer break. 

He added: “I think we created a lot of opportunities but it’s important when you create these opportunities to stay calm in the last 20 metres because we lost the last pass sometimes when there was another team-mate in a good position to score a goal.”