Claudio Ranieri sacked: Tinkerman fails to tinker and the sale of N’Golo Kante… where it all went wrong for the Italian boss
Premier League winning boss ruthlessly shown the exit door after a miserable campaign
CLAUDIO RANIERI will always be branded a legend amongst the Leicester faithful after their incredible title-winning campaign.
But all good things must come to an end which is what happened on Tuesday evening when the Foxes' cut-throat owners decided to give the Italian boss the boot.
Less than 24 hours before, Leicester's 2-1 Champions League defeat against Sevilla was seen as some as the 'turning point' in their season.
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However that view wasn't shared by the Thai hierarchy who had seen enough of Leicester's dreadful performances this season under the 65-year-old.
So where did it all go wrong for the so-called Tinkerman?
Tinkerman fails to tinker
Ranieri built a growing reputation for keeping his opposing managers guessing his team selection and tactics.
Last season Ranieri found a winning formula which he rightly trusted into the new campaign.
However teams had worked out a way how to deal with their previously lethal counter-attacking football.
Their opponents would drop deeper, allowing Jamie Vardy little space in behind the back four.
They also nullified the threat of Riyad Mahrez and Danny Drinkwater leaving Ranieri scratching his head on how to get the better of his opponents.
And although Ranieri altered his team-sheet to try and find a winning side, he made a costly mistake as his tactics became too predictable.
Kan't replace N'Golo Kante
The departure of N'Golo Kante exposed the defensive weaknesses of centre-backs Wes Morgan and Robert Huth.
The defensive duo have been nothing short of a shambles this season but they had little protection in front of them.
Ranieri tried to replace Kante with summer signing Nampalys Mendy but the Frenchman is a shadow of the now Chelsea enforcer.
Injuries have hampered his season but even when fit, Ranieri lost faith with the 24-year-old limiting him to just four league starts.
Leicester were averaging 22.9 tackles per game last season compared to just 16.2 this time around.
Loss of appetite and desire
Ranieri effectively couldn't motivate his players anymore.
After lifting the title what more could have been achieved in domestic football for a club of Leicester's size?
The players had quickly realised that they were playing on past glory and all the energy that was required to be crowned champions was sucked out of them.
There was no motivation for the Foxes to achieve anything special because they had already pulled off a miracle.
Big Egos
Reports in February suggested that Ranieri had become increasinly distant from his group of stars.
His tactics and managerial decisions left the players scratching their heads at times.
The Italian publicly fell out with striker Leonardo Ulloa over his refusal to let him join Sunderland in January which should have provided a huge hint to the relationship with his other players.
His team lost faith in the manager and the boss was quickly losing faith with his players.
Jamie Vardy's goalscoring heroics last season encouraged the England striker to create a movie about himself but his head was stuck on the film set rather than the football pitch.
Great expectations
People often forget that Leicester looked all-but doomed before their title winning season.
Only an extraordinary run of results kept them in the Premier League before that run continued into the following season.
Nobody was expecting Leicester to challenge yet again but there was no reason why the Foxes couldn't mount for a top six spot in the league.
Expectations grew from the board and supporters and players became complacent in their performances.