Swansea City 2, Leicester City 0: Claudio Ranieri demands more determination after resurgent Swansea beat free-falling Foxes
Swansea City 2, Leicester City 0
Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri accused his players of lacking determination after a fifth Premier League defeat in a row deepened the free-falling champions’ relegation worries on Sunday.
Swansea centre-back Alfie Mawson’s sweet volley put the hosts ahead and left-back Martin Olsson blasted a second to clinch their fourth win in six league games under new manager Paul Clement.
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Defeat brought Ranieri back down to earth after an otherwise encouraging week in which the Foxes neat Derby in the FA Cup and he received the public support of the club’s owners.
“We have two problems: we concede goals and don’t score. We have to speak together to find a solution, because it’s not possible to continue in this way,” said the Italian.
“The machine is not broken but when you don’t play at the maximum level and the others [opponents] stay at the top, the battle is difficult. We lost the first ball, the second ball, they were more determined than us.
“We stay together because we work very well in the training session, but we need a little luck to move our confidence.”
Leicester, who could become the first English champions to be relegated since 1938, remain just one point above the bottom three. Resurgent Swansea, meanwhile, are three points ahead in 15th.
“There’s a massive amount to do,” said Clement. “We’ve been facing every game as it comes, preparing well, working on what we need to work on – and that’s what we need to do before the next game against Chelsea.”
Leicester started brighter yet failed to convert their possession into goals before conceding on 37 minutes when Federico Fernandez headed back across goal for Mawson to lash past Kasper Schmeichel.
Swansea took advantage of Leicester’s disarray to net a second deep in first-half stoppage time when Gylfi Sigurdsson fed Olsson and his powerful shot beat Schmeichel at his near post.
Substitute Islam Slimani had the visitors’ best chance in the 63rd minute but Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was out smartly to divert the Algeria striker’s shot with his legs.