Ranieri not afraid to tinker with team

CLAUDIO RANIERI is revelling in the “Tinker Man” tag pinned on him by his critics.

The Chelsea boss should have the chance to shuffle his pack of stars again when the Blues tackle Leicester at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Adrian Mutu’s international clearance came through too late for him to figure in the 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield. But the Romanian striker, a £15.8m signing from Parma, should be available to face the Foxes.

And that gives Ranieri, who needs no second invitation to tinker, the perfect excuse to change a winning side.

He already had Eidur Gudjohnsen, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Carlton Cole and Mikael Forssell to choose from up front and can now call on the services of Mutu.

Ranieri started with Gudjohnsen as his central striker against Liverpool, with Jesper Gronkjaer on the left and Damien Duff on the right, a reverse of their normal positions.

Asked to explain that decision, he said: “I wanted to cut into their (Liverpool’s) midfield.

“I spoke with the two players before and said ‘be careful, because I am the Tinker Man and I can change everything’.”

Chelsea went ahead through Juan Sebastian Veron after Ranieri had switched Duff to the left and Gronkjaer to the right.

Ranieri gave former Manchester United misfit Veron a pat on the back after his goalscoring display.

“I would rather look at the end of the season to assess people like Veron, he played well and for me he is a great champion.”