Claudio Ranieri ready to become Leicester’s ‘mind doctor’ to heal doubts they can conquer again
Tinkerman will transform himself into the ”Shrinkerman” if his side struggle to come to terms with status as Prem champs
CLAUDIO RANIERI is ready to be Leicester’s ‘mind doctor’ to heal any doubts that they can conquer again.
The Tinkerman will transform himself into the “Shrinkerman” if his Foxes struggle to come to terms with their status as Premier League champions.
Today’s Wembley Community Shield shootout against Manchester United gives Ranieri’s side an early opportunity to show last term’s glory was not a fluke.
And as he prepared to lock horns with Jose Mourinho, the Italian said: “I am the psychologist. When you are young, maybe you need somebody who can help you. But now you are a man and in life you need to be strong.
“Psychologists? No. It is difficult to find a sports psychologist.
“In Monaco, I had a psychologist who told me that when we play at home, there was a big elephant in the dressing room.
“I said, ‘I never saw this big elephant’. He said, ‘We have a problem — not away’.
“I said, ‘But you can understand tactically that when we are at home the other team stays all together behind the lines and we have to find a way through?’
“Then, when we won the title, I said, ‘Where is the elephant?’.”
The title, of course, is packed away in Ranieri’s trunk now but today represents a new beginning — even though he still cannot fully appreciate Leicester’s achievement last term.
The much-travelled former Chelsea boss, though, maintains he does not want to stop just because he has won his first title.
Ranieri, 64, added: “From my family, from myself. As a player I wasn’t a champion.
“I was a normal player, I played in Serie A and B and also in C because I wanted to understand the mentality of all the categories. Maybe it’s my DNA: always you can beat me but you can’t kill me.”
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He admits the night rivals Spurs failed to beat Chelsea to hand the title to Leicester is a surreal memory.
Tottenham were winning 2-0 but ended up drawing the game, which crushed their own title hopes.
Ranieri added: “You imagine when we won I was watching TV and I said, ‘Oh, Leicester won the title’!
“I will maybe enjoy it when I am an old man. I work with the same intensity. It’s the same, no less, no more. I was so happy to come back to England.
“That is my job with the players. I feel something good. But I am a very pragmatic man. I watch them during the training but I want to see them on the pitch.”
Ranieri says he has to bring in numbers this season — such as Ahmed Musa — to stay fresh.
He added: “I asked my owner to have a minimum of 22 players with the same level because I have to change something during the season. But it’s not so difficult for the fitness to manage 16 or 17 more matches — it’s mentally.
“When you play for the first time a team who play in the Champions League, you lose a lot of mental energy. That is the real problem.
“The big teams are used to playing in it — for us it is new.”
“Everything is step by step. It is not possible to build everything in just one year — or Rome in a day.”
Leicester confirmed keeper Kasper Schmeichel, 29, has signed a bumper new five-year deal.
The Dane, who played every minute of last season’s title triumph has doubled his money to £100,000 a week.
He said: “I’m buzzing and it was a very easy decision after winning the Premier League and making sure that the hunger was the same within myself and the squad.”