Ranieri reflects on 2-1 win over Athletic Club

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

Your game plan worked perfectly. You adopted a slightly more cautious approach at the start, then had four fresh players to shake up the attack at the end. Was that the idea?

“No. The idea was to have more options before the game began. You start with an idea, then you prepare for how to help the lads on the pitch depending on whether it's going well or not. It was a really tough game and it's going to be even tougher at their place. We know how good they are, but we also know that we're in it because we're tricky customers ourselves. We scrap for every ball. And that gives me reason for optimism. The first half is over. We have a 50% chance of going through and so do they.”

Your young players showed tonight that they are becoming mature professionals.

“Seeing them in training makes me sad when I have to leave them out because they're always ready. [Tommaso] Baldanzi is in superb form at the moment. I watched the game they played against Athletic in September and he caused quite a few problems for them, so I thought I'd try to repeat the same situations, with him playing between midfield and attack. He had a fantastic game.”

What have you done to Zeki Celik? He was struggling a little before you arrived.

“I think giving players belief is the most important thing you can do as coach. We all make mistakes, coaches and players alike. If you keep reminding them, the lads lose confidence in themselves and that's no good. I try to improve players where I see that they need to improve, but they need to be free to play the way they know, to push up and help the team. I give them guidelines and pointers. We analyse the opposition and work on what to do to cause problems for opponents.

“I have a fantastic group of lads, I really do. They listen to everything I ask of them and it's immensely satisfying as a coach when you come across that type of player.”

How can you improve the team further, given that you're already doing really well?

“We have to keep doing what we're doing. We have to make not quite so many mistake with our passes and try to play more quickly – because only when you play quickly can you find the right openings.

“Today Athletic did a great job closing down the space on the wings and we needed to be careful because they had the two [Williams] brothers with motorbikes instead of legs. We needed to help our defenders and double up on them, triple up on them, because players like that can go outside or come inside.

“We need to improve in the small details, which is the hardest thing to do. We know how to do the big things now; we need to improve in the little things which make a really great team.”

Until a few weeks ago a small setback could ruin the game. Now, despite going behind when you were playing well and situation not going your way, it's like water off a duck's back: the team keep on attacking...

“That's my philosophy. I always tell my teams that you can win or lose but you have to fight until the very end. You have to believe in what you're doing. Make sure you play well and then we can accept the result. If our opponents are better or luckier... because, as we saw tonight, there are things that can go your way or against you.“If you give up when things aren't going your way, then you can't pick yourself again. But if you stick to your guns and keep believing in yourself, your luck will turn eventually. And when you have the whole team pushing, you're able to do things you weren't two or three months ago.”