Although there is no suggestion that Claudio Ranieri’s job with Leicester City is under immediate threat, he has become increasingly distant from members of his backroom staff and is in danger of losing the dressing room.
Some tactical changes and selection decisions have confused players.
Ranieri has made alterations in a desperate attempt to try to engender a reaction from a team who are clearly struggling and short of confidence, yet players have been left bewildered at times.
Team spirit has also suffered and that is not just a product of poor results.
Asked whether he felt he should not be under pressure given his extraordinary title success, Ranieri replied: “Look, it’s not my philosophy to think about this. If my thoughts go there, I remember what was said by the vice-chairman [Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha] the first time I met him: ‘If we go down, you stay with us?’ And I said: ‘Yes.’ Now why [should] I have to think about this? I’m thinking to fight and to survive, that’s it.”