Jamie Vardy’s Premier League season is over but Claudio Ranieri likely had the title sewn up before his star striker lost the rag with referee Jon Moss.
Vardy had been a stalwart for Leicester all season, scoring 22 goals and powering through groin surgery in January, but he was unavailable for the first time in the Premier League this season due to the first game of his suspension last weekend.
The Foxes managed just fine under the deputising Leonardo Ulloa against Swansea but Claudio Ranieri’s consistent team selection was disrupted by Vardy’s ban.
Ranieri was forced to tinker with his team, something many expected him to do throughout the campaign due to his reputation from his time in Italy that earned him the nickname ‘Tinkerman.’
But stats prove that it’s been years since a team as successful as Leicester in the Premier League has been as unchanged as Ranieri’s charges.
https://twitter.com/MessiSeconds/status/725677777526075393
14/15 #CFC‘s top 10 regulars played 81% of minutes, no other top 4 team managed >75% since 10/11.
Leicester’s top 10 played 90% this year.
— Joel (@MessiSeconds) April 28, 2016
Ranieri is an absolute master at fiddling with the minutiae of his teams but we can no longer accuse him of relying on that system as he has been as steady as can be over the last nine months.
And now the finish line is within touching distance.
