Claudio Ranieri feels Leicester deserved more after late Community Shield defeat
Sunday 7 August 2016 20:24, UK
Claudio Ranieri praised Leicester's desire in their Community Shield defeat to Manchester United, although he was left feeling disappointed by the nature of the loss at Wembley.
The Premier League champions were within seven minutes of a penalty shoot-out for the 94th Shield after a stirring second-half comeback saw Jamie Vardy cancel out Jesse Lingard's opener.
But Zlatan Ibrahimovic's header seven minutes from time shattered the Foxes' hopes of adding to last season's top-flight crown as United won the trophy for the 21st time in their history.
However, Ranieri highlighted the positives from an encouraging display from the champions.
"I am pleased with our performance," the Italian said. "We are still in pre-season and we played against a big team.
"I think we at least deserved to play a penalty shoot-out, but this is football.
"I'm very pleased with our performance. I have congratulated my players. We aren't ready yet to play as we did last season but we played well, especially in the second half.
"Maybe in the first half we were a little shy because it was so hot and difficult to run. In the second half we pushed a lot and we tried to score. We did and I think at the minimum we deserved to arrive at the penalty shootout.
"I'm very proud and I'm very happy because we worked so hard. I told the players that we aren't ready yet, but give me 120 per cent. Help each other and run for your team-mates. They did this and I'm very pleased.
"For our fans, when they watch the players fight until the end, they are happy. They understand that not always we can win, but they'll always watch the squad fight until the end."
Thoughts now turn to Leicester title defence, which gets underway against newly-promoted Hull City on August 13.
Asked what his ambitions were for the Premier League champions this season, Claudio Ranieri told his post-match press conference: "40 points, 40 points. Don't laugh.
"I will start (the season) with the same philosophy and humility. What Leicester have achieved has been fantastic but now 40 points is the target.
"Forty points is the target, then we will see how many months less to the end of the season."
