By Claire Bloomfield
LONDON (Reuters) – Leicester City have lost all four of their Premier League away games this season but coach Claudio Ranieri has everything under control ahead of Saturday’s visit to Tottenham Hotspur, said defender Christian Fuchs.
“The manager is very relaxed and easy going,” Fuchs said in an interview with Reuters. “He has a lot of experience and it’s not always the case that when something is going wrong that you have to scream at everybody.
“Sometimes being calm… helps a lot as well. Ranieri definitely knows when to do what.”
Fuchs, who joined the Midlands club on a free transfer from Schalke 04 in July 2015, is confident Leicester can improve their form on the road at White Hart Lane against the team that posed their biggest threat in last season’s title race.
“Spurs are good at keeping the ball and have a lot of possession, they’re a solid side and they’re a big team in England,” said Fuchs.
“For us, like we always do, we’re analysing their games and finding their weaknesses and their strengths so that we know what’s coming up.
“But most of all we are focusing on our own game, even though that hasn’t been so good away from home this season. Still, it’s another chance against a big team and we want to make our away games count,” he added.
The 30-year-old former Austrian international acknowledges that Leicester are not such an unknown quantity this term and their Ballon d’Or nominated duo of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez are adjusting to life as marked men.
“Teams know how we play, obviously they’ve learnt from last year that we have a lot of pace up front and we’ve bought a lot of players that bring additional pace to that lineup,” he said.
“Riyad and Vards have the quality to win their one v one’s two v one’s. But in our last game against Crystal Palace there were three other goalscorers (in a 3-1 win).
“It’s not only down to our strikers to score. We’re a team that stick together,” added Fuchs as he pointed to his debut goal for the club, a rasping volley from 25 metres.
“I’m happy to do that (score goals),” Fuchs said laughing. “The goal came up when I opened all the social media channels. It was being posted all the time.
“It basically took a long time for me to score my first goal for Leicester but it was a nice one, which I am very happy about. I’ve watched it back once or twice, too.
“I think the fans and the whole of Leicester was just waiting for that moment so when it happened it was a great feeling.”
Last week the defender signed a new contract to keep him at the King Power Stadium until June 2019, but he plans to wave goodbye to the Premier League in three years’ time and move to the United States where his family live.
“I’m very committed to the club,” said Fuchs, who gave up the captain’s armband and retired from the Austria team after Euro 2016 to spend more time with his family.
“It’s a very personal situation. I spoke to my wife about it and she has been very supportive. Everybody knows that after Leicester I will go to the USA.”
“I want to see my two kids grow up, especially when they’re young, I don’t want to miss out.”
(Editing by Ken Ferris)
