Ben Guest
Claudio Ranieri has praised his fellow Italian Maurizio Sarri ahead of Fulham’s clash with Chelsea.
Sarri has had a fine start to life in England, and until last weekends disappointing defeat in the London derby against Spurs, he had guided Chelsea on an incredible unbeaten start to the season.
It has been an extraordinary rise to the top for 59-year-old Sarri, who started life as a banker while doing a bit of football coaching in the lower reaches of the Italian game. However, his impressive style of play saw him work his way up through the divisions where he would ultimately end up at Napoli, where he achieved a record 91 points last season, only to finish second behind the Juventus juggernaut.
His ‘Sarri-ball’ style of play was enough to earn him a move to the Premier League, and speaking about his fellow countryman, former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri has been singing the praises of the current man in the Stamford Bridge hot seat.
“Sarri has a very good group of players, and play with the right philosophy. He’s a very good coach and deserves to be where he is.” Ranieri told his pre-match press conference.
Ranieri is of course back in the Premier League after taking over from Slavisa Jokanovic, who had had a miserable start to life in the top flight following the Cottagers promotion last season.
The former Blues boss got off to a winning start to his managerial rein at Craven Cottage with an entertaining 3-2 win over Southampton last week, although they are still rooted to the bottom of the table on just eight points.