Ranieri's Rants: Fulham (a)

Feature by Rich Godden
Updated Monday, 22nd December 2003

Claudio Ranieri was pleased with the side's performance on Saturday as opposed to the result... even though we won! And he also reveals why Damien Duff's injury is giving him an added headache- from his mother!

Claudio said "I told my players I wanted to see a reaction after two bad defeats against Bolton and Villa. I told them the result wouldn't be important. Their attitude was excellent and I'm very pleased because we got a good result.

"But I recognise it's a bad period for us as we had a lot of chances but didn't score"

Claudio also revealed the extent of Duffman's injury: "He's gone to hospital and it's a big blow. I hope he'll only be out for two or three weeks.

Then came this candidate for quote of the year: "Damien is Damien. When I don't put him in the squad my mother, who's 84, asks 'why isn't Damien playing?' She kills me about it and that's true."

Claudio also had an analysis of our match winner Hernan Crespo: "Crespo can do better and is improving. He's at 60 or 70% of his quality.

"He's not the true Crespo yet. It takes a period of time to understand English football. He's a goalscorer and will score when he's in good condition."