Claudio Ranieri acknowledged Leicester City cannot continue haemorrhaging defeats after Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Swansea City left the English Premier League champions just one point above the relegation zone.
Swansea defenders Alfie Mawson and Martin Olsson struck in the first half at the Liberty Stadium to condemn Leicester to a fifth successive defeat and their 14th of the campaign.
Leicester manager Ranieri has seen his side go six league games without scoring and he knows something must change if their historic title success is not to be succeeded by a historic demotion.
Photo: Reuters
“I wanted the start of a ‘new season’ today, but it is the same. It is unbelievable,” said the Italian, whose side sit one place above the bottom three with 13 matches remaining. “We started well, but their first two shots on goal are goals. It is very difficult to come back from that. It is unbelievable, this season. We have two problems — conceding goals and not scoring. We have to speak together to find the solutions. It is not possible to continue in this way.”
While Ranieri conceded Swansea showed more appetite for battle, he believes fortune is working against his team.
“The machine is not broken, but when you don’t play at a maximum level it is a difficult battle. They were more determined than us, that’s the truth,” he said.
Ranieri now faces mounting speculation about his future, but Leicester midfielder Danny Drinkwater said the players remain firmly behind the 65-year-old Italian.
“It’s down to us on the pitch what happens. The manager has our support and we have his support,” Drinkwater told Sky Sports. “It’s about time we showed that belief and push ourselves a bit more.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but