Ranieri's Delight At Leicester City's Warriors

- The Italian told his players to become ‘warriors’ when they heard the Kasabian song ‘Fire’. 

- Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez (2) and Marc Albrighton all found the net for City. 

- The victory put the Foxes temporarily at the top of the Barclays Premier League. 

Claudio Ranieri has hailed Leicester City’s warrior spirit after they lit up King Power Stadium with a 4-2 Barclays Premier League victory over Sunderland on Saturday. 

The Italian manager’s first game at the City helm could hardly have gone any better. Jamie Vardy opened the scored before a double from Riyad Mahrez made it 3-0 at the break. 

Marc Albrighton then added a fourth in between goals from Sunderland strikers Jermain Defoe and Steven Fletcher, but the brilliant Foxes did more than enough to secure a sensational opening day victory that left them, at least temporarily, top of the league. 

And speaking afterwards, Ranieri reflected on the fighting spirit he had called for earlier in the week. He told Foxes Player HD: “I think I know the Leicester fans very well. They are [passionate] supporters and I told my players ‘when you go on the pitch and you hear the song from Kasabian, that means they want warriors.’ I want to see them as warriors for the fans. 

“Kasabian are a fantastic rock band from Leicester and I think the guitar man, Serge, is Italian. It’s good and I think they (the fans) love fighters. We are fighters. 

“I’m very pleased with the performance of the players. I wanted fighters and warriors and this is important for me because there will be matches where you draw or lose because this is football. You have to fight, and they did fight." 

After playing much of pre-season with a 3-5-2 formation, Ranieri opted for a 4-4-2 against the Black Cats from the start and was satisfied with the results. 

He added: “Maybe we surprised them at the beginning. We pressed a lot from the front and the two strikers and the wingers were very, very fast to play between them. It was very good. 

“Leicester are used to playing a four or three at the back. Throughout last season they did this and today I continued. At the beginning (in pre-season) we were three and then suddenly four. 

“The players know what to do, but I’m sure in some matches we will play three at the back. The whole team played very, very well.”