Claudio Ranieri: Watford must ‘fight like a boxer’ against Liverpool

Claudio Ranieri says nobody can “kill his spirit” and has urged his Watford players to “fight like a boxer” as they begin their tough run of games with a clash against Liverpool tomorrow.

Watford are hosting Jurgen Klopp’s side at Vicarage Road in what will be Ranieri’s first game in charge since he was hired last week to replace the sacked Xisco Munoz. After that, the Hornets have a punishing run of matches that has them facing Everton, Southampton, Arsenal, Manchester United, Leicester, Chelsea and champions Manchester City.

It leaves Ranieri facing the prospect of a slow start to life at Watford, but he is unmoved by that and has urged his players to fight.

“I maintain my spirit,” said the Italian. “Nobody can kill me, nobody. I maintain my spirit, my love, my life, because sport is fantastic.

“I have to start immediately. I have start to understand my players very quickly and we have to move very quickly, because I know there will be a bad moment. In that moment, with our fans together, we have to stay very close and continue to fight. It’s like a boxer: there are some moments you can punch and some moments you have to stay [tight].”

Ranieri is full of admiration for his opposite number tomorrow, Klopp, and even spent time watching him train when he was in charge of Borussia Dortmund.

“He is a very good manager, he has won everything and I am happy to meet him,” he said. “I watched his training sessions a long time ago when he was at Borussia Dortmund for one week. It will be a very good match. Of course, there are a lot of things we have to improve, but we can only see that after the match.”

Ranieri will have to contend with a lack of centre-backs, as Christian Kabasele and Francisco Sierralta are both out with hamstring injuries. Watford have bolstered their ranks by signing Nicolas Nkoulou, but he will not be fit to play for another three weeks.

It leaves Ranieri with just Craig Cathcart and William Troost-Ekong as his only fit centre-backs, and both have been on international duty.

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