It was a winter of discontent that cost Claudio Ranieri his job.
Nine months on from delivering sport’s greatest triumph, Ranieri’s Leicester City team — without a league win in 2017 before the Italian’s sacking — looked likely to become the first English title winners to go down the following season since Manchester City 79 years ago.
Into the breach stepped long-standing assistant manager Craig Shakespeare and successive 3-1 victories over Liverpool and Hull City followed as Leicester scored twice as many Premier League goals in two matches as Ranieri mustered in his last 16 league games in charge.
The mood is “very positive,” says defender Christian Fuchs, having found the net in his side’s last match — Leicester’s first league comeback of the season.
Contrary to claims in the media that the caretaker boss was “out of order” for wanting to take the top job following Ranieri’s departure, Fuchs says Shakespeare hasn’t changed at all.
“He was always the person to go to for the players and the players are trusting him,” the Austrian tells CNN.
“Working with him for such a long time already at that level, you cannot really change from one day to the other.
“It feels good working with him — obviously he’s a nice guy, he has a lot of knowledge — and the results are speaking for themselves.”
Appointed manager until the end of the season, Shakespeare will continue to be supported by the club’s existing team of backroom staff including goalkeeping coach Mike Stowell.
For Fuchs, there’s no one reason for the radical upturn in performances but rather “many factors.”
“There’s always a little myth in football,” the 30-year-old Fuchs explains. “When Claudio was here, everybody was asking what’s up with Leicester. If we had the answer to these questions, then we would not have been in that position.
“Football is very versatile and you can never know what will happen next week.”
Uncharted territory
Fuchs knows a thing or two about the unpredictability of sport, having finished his first season in English football with a Premier League winner’s medal against all odds.
Inspired by the “pure football” showcased in Barcelona’s “impossible” last 16 Champions League victory against PSG last week, the Foxes now need to produce a comeback of their own on the European stage against Sevilla.
Overturning the 2-1 deficit against Jorge Sampaoli’s charges Tuesday’s Champions League second leg won’t be easy, but Fuchs believes the team has finally rediscovered its verve.
“I think Leicester is, and always will be, the underdog in this competition,” he says.
“But listen, I think we have good chances now against Sevilla — obviously the away goal helps a lot. Getting into this momentum — getting into the right spirit at the right time — is essential for us.”