Everybody wants to know Leicester City's secret.
How does a team go from being nailed on for relegation to being nailed on to win the Premier League title in the space of 12 months?
Nigel Pearson's son's racist abuse of a prostitute that was giving him fellatio eventually resulted in a falling out that saw the grating English manager leave the club is probably one of the main factors, as Claudio Ranieri was drafted in to replace him, and he has overseen one of the great fairytale stories in English football.
You get the feeling that Ranieri can't quite believe how successful his team has been this season, and after explaining his training methods to football-italia.net it's easy enough to see why. Upon arriving in England, Ranieri decided to not focus on tactics, and give his players an extra day off compared to their Premier League rivals, and now he is reaping the benefits:
When speaking to the players, I realised they were afraid of Italian tactical approaches. What football means to an Italian Coach is tactics, trying to control the game by following the ideas and systems of the manager. You talk about football a lot.
They didn’t seem convinced and neither was I. I have a lot of admiration for those who build new tactical systems, but I always thought the most important thing a good Coach must do is build the team around the characteristics of his players.
So I told the players that I trusted them and would speak very little of tactics. It was important to me that they all ran hard, just as I’d seen them running towards the end of last season.
The intensity of the English game is what made Ranieri want to give his players extra time to recover, and you would have to say that it is working judging by the amount of work you can see his players put in on the pitch.
In England the football is always of a high intensity and wipes people out. They have more need to recover. We play Saturday, then Sunday is a day off for everyone. On Monday we resume with light training, the way they do in Italy.
Tuesday is hard training, Wednesday absolute rest. On Thursday another hard session, Friday preparation for the match, Saturday another game.
I make sure the players have at least two days off from football each week. This is the pact I made the first day with the players, ‘I trust you. I’ll explain some football ideas to you every now and then, as long as you give me everything.’
And give him everything is exactly what they have done.
At the time of writing Leicester City are sitting five points clear at the top of the Premier League, and show no signs of slowing down. They toyed with Manchester City at times and their freshness made it look as though City's stars were stuck in the mud.
They may not be the only reasons for the Foxes remarkable run, but it appears as though more rest and less tactical instruction is paying serious dividends for Claudio Ranieri. His players look fresh in February and are playing with a freedom that the opposition is struggling with week in, week out.
And long may it continue, as Leicester City have been truly excellent to watch this season.
