Fulham seek another passion play from new manager Claudio Ranieri

Claudio Ranieri led Leicester City to one of the more remarkable success stories in the history of English football. Fulham will not expect him to achieve similar success at Craven Cottage, but they need him to quickly make his mark like he did at the King Power Stadium.

It is easy for forget that Leicester fans were sceptical about Ranieri when he was appointed. Nine months later, the Italian led the 5,000-1 outsiders to the Premier League title — and that turnaround is what convinced Fulham owner Shahid Khan to go for the Italian.

Khan had publicly backed Slavisa Jokanovic earlier this month, but he decided the Serb’s time at the club had come to an end, with Fulham three points from safety.

The 1-0 defeat to Huddersfield — and the abject performance — seriously alarmed the Fulham hierarchy and forced a swift rethink. After the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, they have now acted in a bid to avoid relegation.

It has been a chaotic six months since Jokanovic led Fulham to promotion in the Championship Play-off Final at Wembley in May.

Ranieri’s job will be to bring some order to the club, but primarily some organisation and discipline to a team that lost their way under Jokanovic.

Ranieri was known as ‘the Tinkerman’ during his time at Chelsea, but Fulham need him to bring the sort of tactical consistency that led Leicester to the title in 2016. He essentially stuck with a 4-4-2 formation that season with a plan to counter-attack and hardly changed the team or system throughout the whole campaign.

Jokanovic has frequently changed tactics this season and the Fulham players have looked lost. Ranieri inherits a squad that need some structure, as he looks to arrest a run of six straight defeats that has Fulham bottom of the table.

Ranieri has been out of the Premier League since he was sacked by Leicester in February last year. He has been out of work since he left Nantes in France at the end of last season. He will not be familiar with the Fulham players, but he must quickly work out how to get the best out of them.

Fulham spent more than £100million on 12 new players in the summer, but some muddling thinking in the transfer market has ruined the side that got promoted last season.

It is hard not to feel sympathy for Jokanovic, given he did not have the final say on which players were signed. Players were identified by the club’s recruitment department, which is overseen by director of football operations Tony Khan, and it remains to be seen if Ranieri will have any say on which players are signed in January.

Ranieri clicked with Leicester owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and Khan will hope he can put a smile on faces at Craven Cottage.

The 67-year-old is still passionate and knowledgeable about the game but he will be under no illusions about the tough job he has on his hands.

Ranieri must tighten up a defence that have conceded 31 goals in 12 League matches. He will need to find a way to get the best out of summer signings Jean Michael Seri and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, who were signed for a combined fee of more than £50m and have struggled, and quickly find his best team.

Fulham face a crucial game against Southampton at Craven Cottage next Saturday. Southampton manager Mark Hughes is under pressure and Fulham will hope the appointment of Ranieri can give them the lift they need to turn things around. Ranieri has fond memories of west London from his time in charge of Chelsea and still owns a property in the capital.

He has not lost any of his enthusiasm for management from his time at Stamford Bridge.

There has been an growing sense that a relegation scrap is inevitable this season. Fulham were heading only one way under Jokanovic but Khan believes Ranieri can change that direction.