Is Ranieri trying to replicate the Leicester model at Nantes?
Ranieri spoke on his time at Leicester and how he seems to be replciating the model at Nantes with success.
"Leicester? An unrepeatable story that will remain in my heart. I still receive letters and postcards from the fans there, I feel some players, and all things we did there make me feel proud. It was a special adventure, and it remains unique. Something you cannot replicate easily."
So said Claudio Ranieri in August when he arrived in France at Nantes at the beginning of his new adventure: "I do not know if this is the right place, but I was intrigued to go back to France. I've always liked the challenge in Ligue 1. Nantes has tradition, in the past the club has won 8 championships, and is now trying to do that again. President Waldemar Kita conveyed his enthusiasm. He does not trust anybody and the club is his baby, wanting to do things the right way, no crazy spending, and in this market with the very high prices being paid, I understand."
The transfer market conducted by Nantes did not fully satisfy the EPL winning coach, He expected more strength from the property or maybe more international players, but Ranieri with his usual fervour went to work crafting a great identity to his team. We have developed strong presence at home and hope to use that. In today’s game it was Emiliano Sala who scored the three points to that lead to the vital win forNantes, in the last round Thomasson and Dubois had overturned the initial disadvantage in Strasbourg.
To Ranieri’s credit Nantes sit third in Ligue 1, scoring six goals in eight days. Nantes have become defensively astute and have utilises the counterattack perfectly to their advantage and is not to dissimilar to his Leicester team. Ranieri clearly implements elements of the old style of football played in Italy, using a 4-4-2 to great effect, and again was used with the Foxes. Althought nothing spectular the team are effective which is key in gaining points. Ranieri is currently enjoying his third win in a row beating Bielsa at Lille and Rudi Garcia at Marseille. Ranieri has gained a new nickname from the French media, becoming “the Italian genius”.
The fans are keen to see some entertaining football, and Ranieri to his credit does not shirk that claim and in fact embraces it stating the team can do better "It is true, we win with a very Italian style. All right, but I also told the guys: now a bit of champagne football would not hurt.” For the moment however, Ranieri is simply enjoying himself and his football again as he sees his team in a Champions League spot. He does not think he could repeat the success of Leicester but the “Italian genius” would like nothing more than to enjoy his time at Nantes and push the team as high as they can go.