The psychology of Leicester City's revival after Ranieri's sacking

Leicester City's 5000-1 title triumph last season was undoubtedly one of the biggest shocks in Premier League history.

But this season the Foxes failed to replicate their Championship winning performances, leading to a relegation scrap.

It also prompted the club to sack their popular manager Claudio Ranieri.

There has been speculation of a players revolt and dressing room unrest, but does that really tell the whole story?

Ken Way was Leicester City's performance psychologist when they won the titles in League One, the Championship and the Premier League.

He believes the team's stunning resurgence in their first match since Ranieri was sacked isn't evidence of bad feeling towards their former manager.

"I think they were lulled into a comfort zone, and when things started going wrong they started doubting each other and perhaps even their own abilities," says Ken.

"That led to a question mark in terms of momentum. Momentum is a great thing when it's working for you, it's not a great thing when it's working against you."

Having achieved their own "Everest" last season, Ken reckons Leicester needed another big target to aim for this time.

"When you've achieved a real fantastic goal in any walk of life, you do need something else to strive for," he says.

"There's a phrase I like to use which is, 'think through - rather than to - the goal'.

"I think this season's goal was probably a bit more loose - we've achieved the pinnacle let's see what we can do next season - and so needed a bit more direction."

There is a well known term in football - second season syndrome - when a newly promoted club enjoys success in their first season but struggles the next with the increased expectation.

Ken believes that is similar to what happened to Leicester:

"It's well known in mountaineering circles the danger part of climbing a mountain is not getting to the top, it's the climb on the way back down.

"You're not so careful about the risk factors. You are in your comfort zone."

"And this whole concept of goal focus and momentum has been really important for Leicester in the last two seasons."

So how can a team like Leicester keep some positive momentum going.

"Within a match it can take a fearsome tackle or a poor refereeing decision, something to wake people up and give them a kick up the backside," says Ken.

On a bigger scale, another effective method is to sack the manager.

It seems letting go of Ranieri it might have worked for Leicester.

"After the defeat of Liverpool ,Jamie Vardy said they just needed to prove people wrong. They had a goal all of a sudden," says Ken.

He believes reports that the players colluded to have Ranieri sacked are unlikely to be true.

"Knowing the players, knowing their personalities I find it really hard to believe. I don't think that's in their make-up at all.

"I would expect them to continue in this vein now. The win over Liverpool will have taken a lot of pressure off them.

"They just needed to get back to having fun on the football pitch. If they can continue to do that they will continue to win games and I hope they do."

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