Ranieri reacts to Atalanta reverse

Here's what the boss had to say...

The two teams cancelled each other out for 70 minutes, then Atalanta came into the ascendancy through a bit of fortune. Do you think that ascendancy was down to general fitness levels?

“As long as we had the strength, we fought back blow for blow. We should also remember that we played on Thursday night and got back at 5 am – not that I want to use that as an excuse. We recovered and we recovered well. But [Gian Piero] Gasperini was able to make the subs he wanted and I didn't have a box-to-box midfielder like [Niccolo] Pisilli, because he was suspended, so we had to make do.

“I was pleased with the lads because at the start of the second half we had a good chance to take the lead. It's a shame [Artem] Dovbyk wasn't able to get on the end of it because they managed to break through Atalanta's lines with that one-two with [Paulo] Dybala. It's little things like that which, if you keep trying, if you're determined enough, you can turn in your favour. 

“Atalanta have everything they need to challenge for the title. I don't want to build them up too much but they're ready to take it to the wire. If that happens, it will be a great season because there are some tough teams up there.”

The fixture list looks a little easier now. What more do you expect? An improvement in the final third?

“I spoke about that in the dressing room. I said 'Well done' to the team for the way they battled till the very end and I told them we now have this long run of games in December when we're playing twice every week. There are no easy games. In fact, the next one is going to be harder than this game tonight.”

It seems the most important thing right now is not technical or tactical; it's taking the shackles off the team. You need to find a way to get those little details going your way if you want to get out of this mess.

“I agree with that. If the players keep listening to me, as they have done in these recent games, we'll find the solution. We have to keep fighting and not give up in the face of adversity. I don't like players who give in – that's something I've never accepted.

“We have to be able to react and scrap for every ball, as we did tonight, until we run ourselves into the ground. All my subs were due to fatigue or physical pain. So credit to Atalanta but I also want to give huge credit to my own team.”