Claudio Ranieri draws positives from Fulham's defeat at Chelsea

The Italian’s new team put in a solid display at his old club, but were ultimately undone by an early goal from Pedro and a late strike by Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Claudio Ranieri issues instructions from the sideline at Stamford Bridge (Getty Images)

Claudio Ranieri felt Fulham played better in Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea than they did against Southampton, despite winning that first match as manager of the club.

The Italian’s new team put in a solid display at his old club, but were ultimately undone by an early goal from Pedro and a late strike by Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Ranieri was generally pleased with the display, though.

“It’s strange to tell, but I think we played much better today than in the Southampton match,” he said. “We have to continue in this way. My players must understand better my philosophy. I play very, very fast. Today we made good decisions in a very short time. Under pressure from Chelsea, it was difficult to play. We were prepared, but now we think about the next match.

“It was a good match. At the beginning we give a good present when we lost the ball and they scored on the counter-attack, but aftwards we reacted very well. I wanted to see how we played, our philosophy, how we reacted, and if we kept going. I think we did enough in the first half, but were much better in the second half with the two wingers.

“We created some problems for them, good chances in the match. In the end, when you change with some quality players, they can score a second. But I’m satisfied with how we reacted, how we played, but now we want to improve.”

Ranieri meanwhile admitted he has been “surprised” at how well Calum Chambers has adapted to a new defensive midfield role.

“He played very well. He’s a good midfielder. He understands what I want and, also, when he has the ball, he moves it very quickly and in the right way. I’m very, very surprised.”

As regards his former Leicester City players, Ranieri was predictably asked about N’Golo Kante – who responded supremely to recent criticism from current manager Maurizio Sarri – and Danny Drinkwater.

Kante was back to his best against Fulham (Getty)

Ranieri admitted Sarri is right to keep pressure on Kante, but wouldn’t reveal whether he is interested in Drinkwater, who has yet to feature for Chelsea this season.

“But if I am interested I won’t tell you,” he said. “I’m sorry. In this moment, my mind is only on my team and how I can help my players improve and play together to be a strong squad. I have time to understand what we need.

“N’Golo is a fantastic player. Maurizio is right to pick on him sometimes. Not on only him but all the players, to improve. N’Golo played a very good match today.”