Football
PA sport 9y

Leicester's Riyad Mahrez must still develop into complete player - Ranieri

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri is working on making Riyad Mahrez a more complete player.

Mahrez maintained his sparkling start to the season with another goal on Saturday -- his fourth of the campaign -- as the Foxes came from behind to draw 1-1 with Tottenham and preserve their unbeaten record.

The Algeria international curled a lovely left-footed shot past Hugo Lloris from the right-hand side of the penalty area less than a minute after Dele Alli had headed Spurs in front.

In a largely forgettable game in which both teams lacked a cutting edge in the final third, Mahrez was relatively quiet for much of the afternoon, although most of the good things that Leicester did went through the 24-year-old.

His attacking qualities are there for all to see but it is going the other way where Ranieri believes Mahrez must work to improve his all-round game.

"Mahrez is important but all the team is very important. In this moment he is in great condition and he is very good for the team," said Ranieri.

"His passing is good, his shooting is good and his ideas are good -- that is important for all the team.

"But I am an Italian manager and I am interested also in how he defends, and he is getting better. He will improve and at the end he could be a very, very complete player."

After beginning the season with back-to-back victories against Sunderland and West Ham, the visit of Tottenham was the most difficult assignment yet for Ranieri's men.

And the Italian was interested to see how his team compared to those challenging at the upper echelons of the Premier League.

He said: "I wanted to see the gap between us and to reach the Champions League, because Tottenham have been challenging for that. The level of the Tottenham players is very high.

"I see a lot of spirit in the team when we come back 25 seconds after conceding the goal.

"We played very well tactically and I am very satisfied. I think the draw was right.

"The whole team has started well and is doing a very good job and is taking confidence.''

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