Ranieri ready to shuffle his star-studded pack
Claudio Ranieri is revelling in the ‘tinker man’ tag pinned on him by his critics.
The Chelsea boss should have the chance to shuffle his pack of stars again when the Blues tackle Leicester at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Adrian Mutu’s international clearance came through too late for him to figure in the 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield.
But the Romanian striker should be available to face the Foxes.
And that gives Ranieri, who needs no second invitation to tinker, the perfect excuse to change a winning side.
He already had Eidur Gudjohnsen, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Carlton Cole and Mikael Forssell to choose from up front and can now call on the services of Mutu.
Ranieri started with Gudjohnsen as his central striker against Liverpool, with Jesper Gronkjaer on the left and Damien Duff on the right – a reverse of their normal positions.
Asked to explain that decision, he said: “I wanted to cut into their (Liverpool’s) midfield.
“I spoke with the two players before and said ‘be careful because I am the tinkerman and I can change everything!”’
Chelsea went ahead through Juan Sebastian Veron after Ranieri had switched Duff to the left and Gronkjaer to the right.
Clearly Ranieri clearly enjoys trying to outmanoeuvre rival managers with his tactical changes and with so many top players at his disposal, the temptation for frequent changes must be overwhelming.
The only worry for Chelsea fans might be how his players cope with the lack of continuity.
Ranieri himself admitted after the Liverpool win that the group of players assembled by Roman Abramovich’s millions is “not a team yet” despite their “fantastic start”.
Chelsea have brought in Veron, Duff, Wayne Bridge, Geremi, Glen Johnson, Joe Cole and now Mutu this summer, and Ranieri acknowledges that it will take time for them to gel – “that is normal. When you change a lot of players and they arrive all at once it is not easy,” he reflected.
Ranieri tried to avoid singling out particular players for praise, although he did accept that defender John Terry was man of the match.
But he also gave former Manchester United misfit Veron a pat on the back after his goalscoring display.
Ranieri said: “I would rather look at the end of the season to assess people like Veron, he played well and for me he is a great champion and he showed what he can do.”
