Ranieri: “We must keep playing with this same determination”

Claudio Ranieri was full of praise for his side after they made it six points in four days with a well-deserved victory over Crotone on Saturday.

“We knew it wouldn’t be easy because Crotone move the ball around really well but we were totally determined today, like in Verona. The lads did superbly and I’m very happy with all of them.

“We do need to manage the tempo of games better. At 2-0 up we were still running more than Crotone when we should have slowed the game down. We stuck together though and stayed alert.”

The boss then noted another area for improvement.

“We’ve conceded more penalties than any other team in 2020. Perhaps we need to keep our cool better when we’re defending in the box. We just have to be a bit more careful.

“I’m happy we’ve got back to winning at home, which we hadn’t done for a while. That’s something I stressed to them beforehand.”

Meanwhile there was a another goal from a substitute – this time club captain Fabio Quagliarella.

“I said to him: ‘We’ll tire them out then you’ll come on and do what you do best,’” the coach revealed. “That’s what happened. He’s always on hand to finish off the team’s good work.

“Now we have to get ready for a very important game against Sassuolo.”