Claudio Ranieri’s persistence fails to recognise Leicester system failure | Paul Wilson


Jamie Vardy’s running off the ball, Riyad Mahrez’s dribbling and perhaps even the manager’s decision-making have been nowhere near good enough this season

Another week another refereeing controversy, yet there was curiously little complaint from Leicester City over the legitimacy of the Sam Vokes goal that denied them a point at Turf Moor.

“There might have been a handball but the referee said no and the referee is always right,” said a philosophical Claudio Ranieri. That is fine if you want to be completely civilised about this sort of thing and it would not be a bad idea if some of the more strident managers and coaches took a leaf out of Ranieri’s book of mannered restraint, though we all know, and television is there to prove it, the referee is not always right. Take a game with something really important riding on it, such as a World Cup qualifying play-off between France and the Republic of Ireland, and the referee not spotting an injustice the entire world has seen several times over simply will not do.

Related: Sam Vokes pounces late as buoyant Burnley beat Leicester City

Related: Terrible title defences: from Manchester City in 1938 to Leeds in 1993 | Jonathan Wilson

Continue reading...