Craig Shakespeare wants to recreate survival spirit at Leicester
Saturday 25 February 2017 14:20, UK
Caretaker boss Craig Shakespeare wants Leicester to harness the spirit of their great escape from relegation two years ago as they battle to beat the drop this season.
The stumbling Premier League champions sacked Claudio Ranieri on Thursday following five successive top flight defeats which has left them just a point above the drop zone and they host Liverpool on Monday Night Football having not scored a league goal in 2017.
Two years ago, under Nigel Pearson, the Foxes won seven of their last nine games to survive, having been bottom and seven points from safety before going on to win the title under Ranieri and Shakespeare wants to recreate that survival success.
"It would be nice to get that again. It was a great time then in terms of we were written off," he said. "We are not written off now. There are enough games for this squad to win football matches and that is what we aim to do.
"In terms of getting teams prepared, I'd like to think my man-management style can do that. There are enough games there and this squad are good enough to get themselves out of this - that will be the message.
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"Momentum is a big word in football. We had that last year. What I would say is they've trained well over the last few weeks especially. We've refocused ourselves."
Shakespeare admitted Ranieri's departure was a shock after Leicester's 2-1 Champions League last-16 first leg defeat at Sevilla on Wednesday. The Italian was dismissed 24 hours later with Shakespeare placed in charge, and he has hinted that he would be keen on taking the job.
The 53-year-old stayed at the King Power Stadium after Ranieri replaced Pearson and he believes he can lead the Foxes to safety.
"Most definitely. They are frustrated and from speaking to them on a regular basis they are very frustrated with how things have gone this season," he said. "There is enough talent in that dressing room for us to go on a winning run.
"There's frustrations with everybody, coaching staff, players, and I think there's lots of reasons why. It's been spoken about at great length, it's missing a player of the calibre of N'Golo Kante. That was a massive miss.
"History tells us that it's always harder the second year, it's always hard to put a finger on it."
