Ranieri: The Team Is The Leader

- Claudio Ranieri delighted with team ethic after Leicester City’s 3-0 win at Swansea
- Riyad Mahrez scored a perfect hat-trick to hand Leicester victory in south Wales
- City two points clear at the top of the Premier League after 15 games
Claudio Ranieri hailed a ‘fantastic’ team performance from his Leicester City side, after their 3-0 win at Swansea City took them back to the Barclays Premier League summit.
Riyad Mahrez hit a perfect hat-trick to sink the Swans, but it was every player’s determination to put the team first that pleased Ranieri, whose side sit two points clear of second-placed Manchester United after 15 games.
“It was a fantastic performance,” Ranieri told Foxes Player HD. “We played like a team and when we play in this way, it’s very good for us.
“I asked the players to be compact because Swansea move the ball very quickly, one and two touches and it would be a difficult match. They’d only won one of their last 10 matches so today would have been a day they wanted to come back, they wanted to stay strong with us.
“We have to play like we’re desperate on the pitch and play for each other because the team is the leader. When we play in this way, we can make a very good performance.”
Mahrez’s first-half double had the Foxes firmly in charge at the Liberty Stadium and their concentration wasn’t broken after the interval.
The Algerian wizard capped off a fine display when he completed his treble with 20 minutes to go – steering home a pass from the unselfish Jamie Vardy, who passed up the opportunity to score for a record 12th straight game by laying on a goal for his teammate.
“I said we had to continue as if it was 0-0 in the second half, because the first 15 minutes would be very strong, very hard,” Claudio revealed.
“We had to concentrate on this. We are getting better (defensively), but we still have a lot of work to do.
“It’s good because everyone was looking at Jamie Vardy, but Mahrez was fantastic. Riyad worked hard for the team, but also scored the goals. I appreciated it very much when Vardy had the ball, but passed it to Riyad (to score the third).”
Ranieri also saved praise for the travelling Blue Army, who were rewarded for their long trip to south Wales, incredibly, with outright leadership of the Premier League.
“The fans were fantastic. They travelled a great number of miles to be here in the Wales. They are dreaming and this is good.”