Vardy: Ranieri was like a caged animal

Jamie Vardy likened Leicester City coach Claudio Ranieri to a “caged animal” in the closing stages of their Premier League meeting with Crystal Palace.

The Italian whipped the crowd into a frenzy as Leicester closed in on the three points at the King Power Stadium, though Alan Pardew accused him of “goading” his Palace players.

And Vardy – on target for the seventh consecutive Premier League game in the 1-0 win – was impressed and amused by his coach’s antics.

“I had to have a little chuckle to be fair at the end,” he told LCFC.com.

“I didn’t know why the crowd were getting so hectic and then I looked at the boss and he looked like a caged animal!

“He was going absolutely crackers. But he’s got the fans absolutely booming after that and you could hear from their roar that they wanted us to see it through and they’ve helped us get the three points.”

The England international also had an animalistic comparison for Leicester’s defence, likening them to lions for keeping their first clean sheet in 12 matches in all competitions this season.

“You’ve seen how we’ve defended at the end,” Vardy added.

“We’ve conceded a few lately but we were defending like absolute lions and the three points were fully deserved for the second-half performance I think.

“They have put their bodies on the line with every ball getting clipped into the box at the end – it was non-stop.

“They defended brilliantly and it just shows the character in the squad because every man was defending.”