Leicester

LiamoSail

ScienceNerd wrote: »

I genuinely cannot fathom how any neutral could not be cheering for Leicester.

They'd probably have supported the Germans in Escape to Victory too if there's been a few bigger names in the German starting XI

AgileMyth

fuzzydunlop85 wrote: »

What would compare to it? I'm struggling to think of anything.

In sport or in football? Kaiserslautern 1997/98 or Montpellier as mentioned above.

Sport in general there are hundreds of examples, Emil Zatopek winning Olympic gold in his first ever marathon is one that jumps immediately to mind.

Blazer

When you read what the players cost it makes my bloody boil at Newcastle.
Lazy bunch of fcuks who don't deserve to be a PL team and certainly wouldn't stand a chance of getting into the Leicester team.


http://www.espnfc.com/club/leicester-city/375/blog/post/2803407/schmeichel-kante-mahrez-vardy-leicester-where-they-were

wally79

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Remember Greece would have had to qualify for that tournament as well over a 2 year period, so it consisted of 2 years of high performance level.They finished ahead of Spain in the Qualifying stages for Euro 2004.

So finishing top after say 15 games over 2 years would show a higher performance level than finishing top after 38 games in one year?

Zaph

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

I'm sure loads of people would prefer if Colin Montgomerie,Lee Westwood Luke Donald etc had won major championships ahead of the likes of Todd Hamilton,Shaun Micheel,Rich Beem etc players who had freak weeks of excellence but didn't really do anything of note throughout their careers rather than consistent top class performers who just fell short at majors.

Well maybe not Colin Montgomerie. :pac:

I was reading earlier about a Leicester fan who put a fiver on them at the start of the season to win the league at 5,000-1. The bookies are rarely wrong when it comes to these things and those odds were a reflection of the fact that this is a club who were bottom of the league a year ago. If they were to win, whatever about it being the greatest sporting upset of all time, they would certainly rank among the most improbable league champions in any of the major European leagues. You'd want to be a pretty cold-hearted fecker to not want a fairy tale like that to come true.

castletownman

All this talk about it being the biggest sporting upset of all-time are clearly forgetting the furore over Japan beating South Africa in the opening group game of the rugby world cup :P (even though SA ended up topping the group and Japan failed to qualify. What a shock!) 2004 was the year of the shocks though, what with Greece winning the Euros, Porto winning the CL, Todd Hamilton winning the British Open, an unheard of Maria Sharapova winning Wimbledon as a 17 year old and Fermanagh getting to the All Ireland semi finals for the first time in their history (Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918, Tampa Bay Lightening won their first ever Stanley Cup, the Detroit Pistons defeated hot favourties LA Lakers in the NBA finals and Carolina Panthers reached their first ever Super Bowl).

But in all seriousness, should Leicester go all the way, then it will be the most seminal sporting moment of my lifetime. It's actually gone to the stage where I am rooting for them every week despite being a Man United fan, and just when I think Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez are confirming my suspicions that they are actually average enough players operating at an unbelievably high level, they prove me wrong yet again. It's hard not to be enamored by Ranieri's personality either.

Canadel

castletownman wrote: »

But in all seriousness, should Leicester go all the way, then it will be the most seminal sporting moment of my lifetime. It's actually gone to the stage where I am rooting for them every week despite being a Man United fan, and just when I think Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez are confirming my suspicions that they are actually average enough players operating at an unbelievably high level, they prove me wrong yet again. It's hard not to be enamored by Ranieri's personality either.

I've been a supporter of Utd for years and have had a soft spot for Vardy since he ran them ragged in that 5-3 comeback last season. Rarely have I seen such an inspiring performance from a single player, not simply in terms of skill or scoring, but in terms of tenacity and determination and desire to succeed at all costs. Many Utd fans criticised Vardy after that defeat for an incident with right back Rafael, but the truth was that they saw something in Vardy that was lacking in Utd players and wished they had it. Kind of similar to the situation with Klopp at Liverpool now; most Utd fans would have loved him at Utd (many still would) but they're rationale has been blinded by their rivalry with Liverpool.

Dirty Dingus McGee

wally79 wrote: »

So finishing top after say 15 games over 2 years would show a higher performance level than finishing top after 38 games in one year?

I didn't say it did.

I said that Greece was an example of an underdog who people didn't want to win.

I said it took a degree of consistency for them to win the Euro's in 2004 just like winning the league takes a degree of consistency.

Optimalprimerib

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

A lot of people wanted Portugal to win because they wanted Luis Figo and Rui Costa to win a major international tournament after so many years of not doing it.

It takes a degree of consistency to qualify for any tournament particularity as qualify is spread over close to 2 years.

Not really an outrageous comparison.It proves my point that some people like seeing players who made more of an overall contribution over a long period of time to get their rewards than a one off performance.Winning a golf tournament is over 4 days and consists of taking 270-280 shots so it requires a degree of consistency.

There is one person who deserves a title in the Leicester team that fits that bill though. Who did come close in many occasions, without which Chelsea would not be where they are today, and deserves a title for what he brought to football: Claudio Ranieri.

allybhoy

It's hard to look past them at the moment, every test they have come up against they have overcome, the same cant be said for Arsenal and City. Even if Leicester do have a wobble I just cant see either of these teams putting together a string of consecutive wins to capitalize whilst trying to compete in Europe and the FA Cup. Spurs are their biggest challenge IMO, although they have a huge test against City this weekend. If they overcome that, then they arguably have the easier fixtures of the 3 challengers.

citytillidie

Ahh all so young Notts Forrest is where it is at to go from Division 2 to Double European Cup winners in 3 seasons is in my opinion unbeatable.

Leicester are very quick on the counter so playing teams who like to keep ball or also attack like Man City did at the weekend will be different to teams who will pack the defence and let Leicester have the ball.

Anyways it will be an interesting few months

WesternZulu

castletownman wrote: »

2004 was the year of the shocks though, what with Greece winning the Euros, Porto winning the CL, Todd Hamilton winning the British Open, an unheard of Maria Sharapova winning Wimbledon as a 17 year old and Fermanagh getting to the All Ireland semi finals for the first time in their history (Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918, Tampa Bay Lightening won their first ever Stanley Cup, the Detroit Pistons defeated hot favourties LA Lakers in the NBA finals and Carolina Panthers reached their first ever Super Bowl).

I remember 2004 and all the shocks that went with it and the fact that Mayo got to the All-Ireland Final and thinking that that was the year they would definitely do it!

There must have been a quota on sporting shocks that year because they got hammered!

Laois_Man

Interesting to note that Barcelona, who are supposedly a fantastic team sitting top of a supposedly much less competitive league, only have one point more than Leicester right now. Celtic have only 2 more in Scotland. So I don't buy this bollocks about needing to do less to achieve more this season. It's just coz Leicester and Spurs are at the top when they were supposed to be where Chelsea and Man Utd are. The cheek of them!

I'd love Leicester to win it, but if they're in a position to near the end, I expect them to look a bit like the snooker player who only needs one more frame to win a major championship and he misses pots that he'd normally sink very easily....especially if he hasn't been in that position before.

They have a difficult run in with their last 3 games against Man Utd, Everton and Chelsea. It will be enthralling to see how they handle those fixtures if they are going into them still on top

Nobody would have been tipping them at the start of the season. Very few would have been tipping Tottenham either yet no neutral seems to want them to win it. Personally, I think Man City will do it if it's true that Vincent Kompany is going to be back in a couple of weeks and if he stays fit. He's massive for them! I would argue, bigger than Aguero!

Fr Tod Umptious

Since the founding of the premiere league in 1992 the main narrative has been money and how football is loosing its soul.

The outsiders who have won since 1992, Blackburn, Chelsea and Man City have done so with massive cash investment.

Leicester are the opposite of all that.
That's what makes it so intriguing.

Skylinehead

Laois_Man wrote: »

Interesting to note that Barcelona, who are supposedly a fantastic team sitting top of a supposedly much less competitive league, only have one point more than Leicester right now.

Nice stat but you neglect to mention the 3 extra games Leicester have played

Beefy78

Lets not forget that Leicester City are not paupers. They've made some very shrewd signings but the TV deal gives them the resources to pay the wages needed to put a good team together and the financial capability to keep those players happy and reject transfer offers for those players.

A few years ago they might have lost a Jamie Vardy to Chelsea in January. Now they have the cash to sign him to a five year contract that month instead.

They're still competing against 19 other Clubs who also signed the same TV deal so if they win it then they deserve every single one of the plaudits that they will get but I just think that maybe we're seeing the future of the Premier League in the success enjoyed by them, Spurs, West Ham and others this year.

When every club every year gets more money than they can possibly spend then it makes the financial advantage enjoyed by the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea much less significant. They still have more money but they also have only 25 spots on their squad list.

What Leicester still being in the title race in the last couple of weeks of the season, even if they don't end up winning it, will do is make several chairmen and managers at other clubs sit very uncomfortably in their offices. Leicester are showing that the excuses trotted out every year and the acceptance of 4th place - hell even the acceptance of 17th place - as being a good finish is a sham.

bucketybuck

Beefy78 wrote: »

What Leicester still being in the title race in the last couple of weeks of the season, even if they don't end up winning it, will do is make several chairmen and managers at other clubs sit very uncomfortably in their offices. Leicester are showing that the excuses trotted out every year and the acceptance of 4th place - hell even the acceptance of 17th place - as being a good finish is a sham.

As a United fan I find it very revealing, the jobs done by Ranieri and Pochettino in a short time really puts into perspective any excuses trotted out by Van Gaal apologists about needing time for "transition".

Managers taking a group of players, getting them to perform and using them effectively, thats what management is all about.

Canadel

bucketybuck wrote: »

As a United fan I find it very revealing, the jobs done by Ranieri and Pochettino in a short time really puts into perspective any excuses trotted out by Van Gaal apologists about needing time for "transition".

Managers taking a group of players, getting them to perform and using them effectively, thats what management is all about.

Not to mention the fact that Van Gaal has actually assembled his own team to achieve his vision and philosophy, whereas Pochettino has inherited a team of perennial underachievers and Ranieri a team who just about managed to escape relegation in their first season in the league in over a decade.

UnitedIrishman

citytillidie wrote: »

Ahh all so young Notts Forrest is where it is at to go from Division 2 to Double European Cup winners in 3 seasons is in my opinion unbeatable.

Leicester are very quick on the counter so playing teams who like to keep ball or also attack like Man City did at the weekend will be different to teams who will pack the defence and let Leicester have the ball.

Anyways it will be an interesting few months

Very different times though. I'd be a massive fan of what Clough did and it'll never be achieved again - a small regional town club becoming European Champions - but there was far more scope for that happening in the 70's and 80's before the money came into play. The league was more open then and there was more fluctuation between finishing positions.

Leicester winning would be unrivalled in my opinion. It would be a massive thing for English football too - even as a United fan, talking about 3-4 clubs every year winning the league isn't good for any sport.

NIMAN

Leicester are bringing back fond memories from my childhood, of Tom Byers the pacemaker who won a race with some of the worlds best runners in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28_WpclPgTo

I, like many I would guess, are praying they can hold on to win the league. They deserve it.

Mars Bar

Ranieri did an interview for Corriere della Sera. It's fascinating! You can read it all http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/serie_a/232603/claudio-ranieri-reveals-secrets-of-leicester-city-success-in-fascinating-interview-we-keep-it-simple-and-speak-little-about-tactics.html but I'll pull a few quotes to give you an idea. He talks very little tactics. He's like the anti-Van Gaal!

I have a lot of admiration for those who build new tactical systems, but I always thought the most important thing a good Coach must do is build the team around the characteristics of his players.

So I told the players that I trusted them and would speak very little of tactics.

My idea is that players need to recover first, train later.

I make sure the players have at least two days off from football each week. This is the pact I made the first day with the players, ‘I trust you. I’ll explain some football ideas to you every now and then, as long as you give me everything.’

They are free men, aware that they have a job and responsibility.

I think in Italy it has become a struggle for the players to enjoy football, but they also train with less intensity, less belief. It’s more of a duty than anything else.

I always tell my players to find the fire within themselves. A chance like this will never come round again. Seek that fire, don’t be ashamed of it. And they are not ashamed, if anything they demand to dream.

Leicester City is what I’ve always sought – half style of football and half awareness of an objective.

In an era when money counts for everything, I think we give hope to everybody.

LuckyLloyd

Oh my, I'm all in on Leicester at this stage.

Shanotheslayer

''
In an era when money counts for everything, I think we give hope to everybody.''


Right in the feelz.

Paully D

Despite the defeat to Arsenal today, Leicester are still 2 points ahead at the top and have a superb run in until the last 3 games:

Norwich (H)
West Brom (H)
Watford (A)
Newcastle (H)
Palace (A)
Southampton (H)
Sunderland (A)
West Ham (H)
Swansea (H)

United (A)
Everton (H)
Chelsea (A)


Realistically, you could hardly handpick better fixtures. Of course today's result could be damaging psychologically, but they certainly have the games in their favour to be league leaders heading into the last 3 games.

K-9

Those last 3 aren't as daunting as usual, could easily get 4 or 5 points in them. Everton would suit them down to the ground.

SantryRed

I actually think this run of games is going to be more difficult for them. They now have to play with the onus, teams will be coming in and setting up shop and looking for draws and to nick one on the break. Mahrez is going to be crucial to unlocking defences. I really, really hope they do it (except for the Watford away game).

Richard Hillman

Everton, United, Southampton and Swansea are all possession addicts. They are very Leicester friendly. Then they just have to pick off the out of form teams like Palace, Newcastle. Watford are a bit patchy and WBA are not up to much.

Norwich are pants and West Ham may be languishing with nothing to play for by then.

Chelsea are a wildcard. You would just know that John Terry would end up the Villain on his last game.

Rayne Wooney

Leicester can win the league but it'll go down to the players holding their nerve and Ranieri being a bit better tactically

Giving away that free at the end of the game today was brainless and its moments like that that will cost them the title, they are in the driving seat