Claudio Ranieri struggling to reinvent Fulham as he urges forward momentum | Jacob Steinberg

The Italian coach arrived in November but has yet to make his ideas count, with his team now seven points from safety

Claudio Ranieri is a man in a hurry. Fulham’s manager will be unhappy if he sees his team playing like a bad Manchester City tribute act for the rest of the season. With Premier League survival on the line, the Italian is running out of patience. Questions about his philosophy elicit a measured but pointed response and Ranieri’s message was clear before Fulham host Manchester United on Saturday: the time for learning is over.

While Ranieri delivered a few nice lines about grit and determination, saying that Fulham need “soldiers who have to fight until the end” against United, it was when he turned his thoughts to tactical concerns that his frustrations became more apparent. His demand that his players get the ball forward quickly sounds reasonable enough, but the challenge is forcing a rapid shift in mentality in a group who spent three years learning a different style of football under Slavisa Jokanovic.

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