Ranieri says he will ‘tinker clever’ at Fulham

New Fulham manager Claudio Ranieri intends to “tinker clever” in the quest to find a winning formula at Craven Cottage.

The 67-year-old replaced Slavisa Jokanovic earlier this month with the Whites struggling at the foot of the Premier League table and having lost their last seven games in all competitions.

It is Ranieri’s first job in England since his title-winning spell in charge of Leicester ended with the sack in February 2017.

During his four years as Chelsea manager, the Italian earned the moniker ‘Tinkerman’ due to the number of changes he made to his team on a regular basis.

Fulham have yet to name the same defensive unit for any of their 12 games back in the top flight, but Ranieri insists he will be looking to make astute adjustments as he aims to steer the club clear of relegation.

Asked how important it is to have a consistent back-line, he replied: “It’s important, I am Tinkerman but I tinker clever.

“It’s important to maintain the same line-up for some matches but you never know, I want everybody available and then I can choose.”

Ranieri inherits a squad which saw no fewer than 12 new faces, either permanently or on loan, signed in the summer.

But he is planning to wipe the slate clean and has been analysing videos of Fulham’s earlier matches following their poor start to the campaign.

“Clean everything and restart,” he said when the current losing streak was mentioned ahead of Saturday’s visit of fellow strugglers Southampton.

“Today I said this, restart every time, we can win, lose, clean and restart tomorrow. Forget the past.

“I show to them some videos from the previous game and I said what is right and what is wrong.

“One thing is to watch, but after we have been on the pitch to repeat the movement and slowly, slowly they get better.

“It’s not possible for everything we do on the pitch to repeat, there will be some mistakes and I hope these mistakes there isn’t a goal.”