Claudio Ranieri made his Premier League return as Fulham boss in Saturday’s 3-2 win over Southampton.
Here, Press Association Sport looks at the 67-year-old former Chelsea and Leicester manager’s afternoon in detail.
Reception
Tinkering cleverly
Defensive toil
Massive performance. Massive win.
Welcome to the Claudio Ranieri era! #FULSOU #COYW pic.twitter.com/9QTpJ64uJf
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) November 24, 2018
Pizza was the cleansheet incentive at Leicester, here it is burgers. The Cottagers and League Two Macclesfield were the only sides to have failed to keep cleansheets in English league football prior to kick-off. Now it is just the Cottagers. And on this evidence the Italian has plenty of work to do on the training ground, despite a first win in three months.
Entertainment value
FULL-TIME Fulham 3-2 Southampton
What a start to Claudio Ranieri’s reign at Fulham! His side fight back from 1-0 down to win 3-2 thanks to goals from Mitrovic (2) and Schurrle, helped by 2 assists from youngster Ryan Sessegnon…#PL #FULSOU pic.twitter.com/Az5c9GlR5B
— Premier League (@premierleague) November 24, 2018
Slavisa Jokanovic’s Fulham received plaudits for their attacking style, but it did not yield results in the top flight. Gordon Davies, Fulham’s record goalscorer with 179 goals in 450 matches, was the half-time guest and commented on the best performance since the only prior league win, against Burnley on August 26. Ranieri said he would rather win ugly than lose in style. And he would likely have settled for a more straightforward day.
