Furious Ranieri tells Samp to harness anger: “Two massive games coming up”

Claudio Ranieri spoke from the heart, communicating a feeling of anger, after what was a painful defeat for his players against Bologna on Sunday night.

“A draw would have been a fair result tonight. I’m happy with how my team are fighting and committing themselves – I can only complain about the first half at San Siro,” the coach said, adding: “Our next two matches will define our season.”

“Tonight we conceded during our best spell. Even at 2-1, we had an opportunity to equalise, but the ball just didn’t want to go in,” Ranieri continued. “If we keep going with this determination and desire we’ll get out of this.”

He added: “The foul on La Gumina [in the first half] should have been a penalty and a red card. The referee said Colley was offside, but if La Gumina doesn’t get smashed in the face, as he clearly was, he would have got the ball. So there was no offside there.

“Meanwhile in the lead up to their first goal, Medel goes in straight-legged on Tonelli, bringing him down, and the referee says play on.

“We now have two massive games [against Lecce and SPAL] and I want the players to harness the anger and disappointment we’re feeling.”