(Not hypothetical anymore) Leicester win the league!

Thecon21

I can't think of anything else other than that Dirty Dingus is winding everyone up here..

madma

everyone saying their champs but what if united win and spurs then beat a dodgy Chelsea

cracking result, really has been a pleasure watching Leicester all season. On a different time difference but its been worth it getting up at all hours to watch them live. Either that or staying up on the session for the matches:)
Great manager and a well balanced, hard working team fighting for each other and the rise of vardy, mahrez and kante.
Watching the first half of the season scoring for fun but entertaining with high scoring games with the last third of the season grinding out results.
Magic season..amazing Leicester City

highgiant1985

madma wrote: »

everyone saying their champs but what if united win and spurs then beat a dodgy Chelsea

cracking result, really has been a pleasure watching Leicester all season. On a different time difference but its been worth it getting up at all hours to watch them live. Either that or staying up on the session for the matches:)
Great manager and a well balanced, hard working team fighting for each other and the rise of vardy, mahrez and kante.
Watching the first half of the season scoring for fun but entertaining with high scoring games with the last third of the season grinding out results.
Magic season..amazing Leicester City

Leicester vs Everton should seal it if that happens!

galwaylad14

madma wrote: »

everyone saying their champs but what if united win and spurs then beat a dodgy Chelsea

cracking result, really has been a pleasure watching Leicester all season. On a different time difference but its been worth it getting up at all hours to watch them live. Either that or staying up on the session for the matches:)
Great manager and a well balanced, hard working team fighting for each other and the rise of vardy, mahrez and kante.
Watching the first half of the season scoring for fun but entertaining with high scoring games with the last third of the season grinding out results.
Magic season..amazing Leicester City

Exactly. It's never over until it's over. What you mentioned could easily happen and then suddenly the pressure is back on.

I think they are pretty much there alright and I'm delighted for them and they truly deserve to win it but they still need to pick up more points to guarantee it and there's always a (very remote in fairness) chance they lose the last three.

It's only two years since Liverpool went as short as 1/7 with the bookies to win the title, then they somehow manage to lose to Chelsea's reserves at Anfield and it all falls apart. So although it is incredibly unlikely now that Leicester won't win it, you just never know.

LiamoSail

There's a funny sort of karma to Ranieri winning the title, particularly given how Chelsea are the holders.

He did a respectable job at Chelsea, before he was punted in favour of Mourinho as the cash flowed into the club. As if putting the final nail into Mourinho's coffin at Chelsea and subsequently taking the title wasn't enough, he did so in a manner entirely contrary to the Chelsea way.

Fair play to Ranieri. He comes across as a real gentleman, and the perfect antidote to Mourinho.

cowboyBuilder

Im still a little concerned Leicester could draw 2 and lose one ... its possible.

Seve OB

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

But I said Every Other Major Sport.

So your post was completely pointless as I already recognised what you have said within the post.

ok. I have to bite.
every other major sport you say.

well what about golf? do you see them going out week after week playing 72 holes, and then the top for going into a kind of knockout playoff?

you mentioned cricket earlier and the limited overs competitions. as in the 20:20 world cup? as in the odi world cup? well these are no different really to the football world cup... which by the way, is a knockout like you love so much.

rugby.... the 2 biggest annual rugby competitions in the world are out and out league formats with no playoffs

every other sport you say? yes you are right, a lot of other sports do it, but look at how they are structured from the bottom up and I think you will see there are reasons a lot deeper than it just being a clever thing to do.

remember football is for the masses, you are talking about minority sports

oh.... and you are talking sh1te

AndyBoBandy

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Im still a little concerned Leicester could draw 2 and lose one ... its possible.

Spurs will slip up again, the fight is lost on their part.

Leicester probably already have enough points to win it now.

and though we've been waiting for Leicester to slip up (probably all season), they'll just go and win the title in Old Trafford. (although the romantic in me wishes they could hold out til Everton at home the following week, as it's always great to see teams winning something in front of their own fans, especially this team winning this competition!)

GavRedKing

~Rebel~ wrote: »

I'm sure it would still be a satisfying end to a disappointing season for Chelsea fans to be responsible for that final blow though.

I dont think Spurs have won at the Bridge since about 90 or 91, theyve a terrible record travelling across London so I almost expect we'll take something from the game but given theyve drawn with WBA, its a near certainity at this stage that Leicester will be crowned champions.

It does show what a cluster f**k this season has been for Chelsea if you can count potentially taking points off Spurs as one of your highlights. :pac:

loyatemu

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Im still a little concerned Leicester could draw 2 and lose one ... its possible.

They'll beat Everton at home - Everton's season is over and they may well have a temporary manager in charge by then.

Against United, it's hard to know which United team will show up, they've been decent the last couple of matches but abject at other times of the season. Also United's patient possession-based game + ropey defence is tailor made for Leicester to hit them on the break (though they won't have Vardy for that match) - so who knows really.

It's all irrelevant though if Spurs don't beat Chelsea.

Benimar

I hope Leicester win it at Old Trafford, I think it would top it off if they win it on the pitch.

Not that it would devalue it in any way if they won it sitting on their couches if Spurs slip up again next monday night, but I'd like them to experience winning it on the pitch in front of some of their fans. It just seems more 'right' in some way.

cowboyBuilder

Benimar wrote: »

I hope Leicester win it at Old Trafford, I think it would top it off if they win it on the pitch.

Not that it would devalue it in any way if they won it sitting on their couches if Spurs slip up again next monday night, but I'd like them to experience winning it on the pitch in front of some of their fans. It just seems more 'right' in some way.

For sure, allthough im sure all Leicester fans would take a spurs slip up and draw at OT right now

Kiith

I'd like to see them win it against Everton, just so they lift it in front of their home fans. It always seems a shame to see the trophy lifted at an away stadium.

Benimar

Kiith wrote: »

I'd like to see them win it against Everton, just so they lift it in front of their home fans. It always seems a shame to see the trophy lifted at an away stadium.

The trophy won't be presented on Sunday. Its usually done on the last day, but given that Leicester are away, it might be done at the Everton game.

bullpost

Also hoping Leicester win it, but I do feel some sympathy for Spurs.

Any other season all neutrals would be happy to see them win it but the first time they get a chance to win it, this happens.

fyfe79

madma wrote: »

Watching the first half of the season scoring for fun but entertaining with high scoring games with the last third of the season grinding out results.
Magic season..amazing Leicester City

Exactly this. They were free-scoring when teams weren't expecting it and were opened up for Leicester to hit them on the break. Then in the 2nd half of the season, other teams had wisened up and started to sit back at lot more to counteract. To Ranieri's credit he altered their game to counter this again by being a lot more solid at the back. They've played two different types of approaches this season in order to win. The hallmark of champions.

As a LFC fan it's unfortunate that Brendan Rodgers had no idea how to do similar two seasons ago. Ranieri deserves HUGE kudos.

jacool

bullpost wrote: »

Also hoping Leicester win it, but I do feel some sympathy for Spurs.

Any other season all neutrals would be happy to see them win it but the first time they get a chance to win it, this happens.

Add your reply here.
[font=Century Gothic","sans-serif]Although you could be right to feel sympathy for Spurs, this will be the close season that defines them as a club. Daniel Levy was squirming in his seat last night as the title slipped away. All he has to do is not sell anyone and go out and buy another striker. This is Leicester s year and they should party all summer as I can see big money offers coming in for Kante, Mahrez and Vardy. I don t know what their owners ambitions involve, but I m sure they ve been exceeded already.[/font]

[font=Century Gothic","sans-serif]Spurs should be among the favourites to win next year, if they hold onto their manager and the current squad. So if they lick their wounds and feel the hurt, they should be challenging again next year. They may well go one step further.[/font]

[font=Century Gothic","sans-serif] [/font]

[font=Century Gothic","sans-serif]Congratulations Leicester, even though I have no great desire to see Gary Lineker in his jocks on TV![/font]

Cookie_Dough

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

Im still a little concerned Leicester could draw 2 and lose one ... its possible.

Captain Buzzkill!!

It won't matter, Chelsea will beat Spurs next week and that will be the end of it

GavRedKing

Cookie_Dough wrote: »

Captain Buzzkill!!

It won't matter, Chelsea will beat Spurs next week and that will be the end of it

If Leicester beat Utd, they wont have to rely on any other results.

Thats my lock of the week.

Cookie_Dough

GavRedKing wrote: »

If Leicester beat Utd, they wont have to rely on any other results.

Thats my lock of the week.

Ah I know but as Man Utd fan I refuse to listen to your logical reasoning
*sticks fingers in ears*

thebaz

the FA are being real twats giving Vardy a further match ban - Football is an emotional game , especially winning , he admitted he did wrong - given the whole incident was also very dubious.

GavRedKing

thebaz wrote: »

the FA are being real twats giving Vardy a further match ban - Football is an emotional game , especially winning , he admitted he did wrong - given the whole incident was also very dubious.

The FA have no consistency whatsoever with their handling of bans and suspensions, theres nothing new there.

However, Vardy reacted and deserved his extra game ban, IMO.

It'll be interesting to see though will the FA hand down a ban to Alli for appearing to strike out at Yacob last night, Yacob is the ultimate wind up merchant in that team but Alli lost it.

J. Marston

thebaz wrote: »

the FA are being real twats giving Vardy a further match ban - Football is an emotional game , especially winning , he admitted he did wrong - given the whole incident was also very dubious.

He called the ref "A fúcking cùnt", he got what he deserved.

I like Leicester but seriously dislike Vardy so I think it's hilarious that he might have to do a Terry should they win it at the weekend.

Skylinehead

thebaz wrote: »

the FA are being real twats giving Vardy a further match ban - Football is an emotional game , especially winning , he admitted he did wrong - given the whole incident was also very dubious.

Yes - he did wrong. Therefore, a ban is deserved. You don't avoid prison by pleading guilty, why should this be different? You've no right to abuse a referee, let alone hide behind excuses like "football is emotional".

Also, it wasn't a dubious decision. He dived. Then he abused the referee. This is as clear cut a decision as there is all season, as much as we all want Leicester to win.

Should Delli Alli get off for punching Yacob last night? Football is an emotional game after all.

A_Sober_Paddy

J. Marston wrote: »

He called the ref "A fúcking cùnt", he got what he deserved.

I like Leicester but seriously dislike Vardy so I think it's hilarious that he might have to do a Terry should they win it at the weekend.

Well the ref performed very poorly over the game, deserves the title of cnut

pavb2

SlickRic wrote: »

As much as some will say it's been a weak league this year (which I don't necessarily believe, due to the amount of money available to all teams now in order to compete) Leicester have closed this League out like champions.

Likewise I don't buy in to that weak league nonsense it's over analysis at best.

Ultimately there are 38 games to play and whoever gets the most points is the Champion.

Brendan Filone

LiamoSail wrote: »

There's a funny sort of karma to Ranieri winning the title, particularly given how Chelsea are the holders.

He did a respectable job at Chelsea, before he was punted in favour of Mourinho as the cash flowed into the club. As if putting the final nail into Mourinho's coffin at Chelsea and subsequently taking the title wasn't enough, he did so in a manner entirely contrary to the Chelsea way.

Fair play to Ranieri. He comes across as a real gentleman, and the perfect antidote to Mourinho.

thebaz

Skylinehead wrote: »

Yes - he did wrong. Therefore, a ban is deserved. You don't avoid prison by pleading guilty, why should this be different? You've no right to abuse a referee, let alone hide behind excuses like "football is emotional".

Also, it wasn't a dubious decision. He dived. Then he abused the referee. This is as clear cut a decision as there is all season, as much as we all want Leicester to win.

Should Delli Alli get off for punching Yacob last night? Football is an emotional game after all.

competitive Football is emotional , people say things they regret - he got a one match ban , admitted he did wrong - think the extra ban is unnecessary - we all make mistakes in life

loyatemu

Referees get dog's abuse, and get paid a fraction of the amount the players get. They deserve some respect, if anything they should ban players more often for abusing the ref - most of the time they get away with it. Chat sh!t, get banned!

josip

Vardy's first yellow card (and subsequent red) should have been rescinded and the 1 match ban for abusing the ref to stand.

Jayop

josip wrote: »

Vardy's first yellow card (and subsequent red) should have been rescinded and the 1 match ban for abusing the ref to stand.

There's no facility to rescind a yellow or a red coming from two yellows.

Skylinehead

thebaz wrote: »

competitive Football is emotional , people say things they regret - he got a one match ban , admitted he did wrong - think the extra ban is unnecessary - we all make mistakes in life

It's not an "extra" ban though. 1 game for the red card, 1 game for abuse. They're separate offenses.

Life is emotional too, it's not an excuse to get away with things.

josip wrote: »

Vardy's first yellow card (and subsequent red) should have been rescinded and the 1 match ban for abusing the ref to stand.

His first yellow card was for persistent fouling. Any reason why it should be rescinded?

K-9

GavRedKing wrote: »

It wont matter a bo**ocks about what team Chelsea put out on the last day of the season at this rate, Leicester will be champions by then and in full on party mode and wont care themselves either.

Chelsea have Spurs up first and the plan was to stop Spurs before ever having to consider "rolling over".

That doesnt have to happen now because Spurs are done and dusted and Leicester are champions elect and its been a brilliant journey.

Also the suggestion to break up the top 4/6 into playoff is comical. Whoevers top after the 38 games are deserving champions without having to face a team who finished some dozen points behind them and losing to them in a playoff.

Congrats Leicester and more so Ranieri, a true gent of the game.

I don't agree with the league play offs either, the top 3 should go up, look at Brighton, Boro and Burnley, nothing between them. Maybe a play off between third from top and third from bottom, but I'm not even sold on that. The Scottish Championship play off system takes it to a whole new level.

It's a money making exercise, I haven't heard any other reason for it.

loyatemu

K-9 wrote: »

I don't agree with the league play offs either, the top 3 should go up, look at Brighton, Boro and Burnley, nothing between them. Maybe a play off between third from top and third from bottom, but I'm not even sold on that. The Scottish Championship play off system takes it to a whole new level.

It's a money making exercise, I haven't heard any other reason for it.

don't know about Scotland, but the Football League playoffs are to keep teams involved towards the end of the season, and it seems to work, the Championship is incredibly competitive because most years nearly half the teams have a shot at promotion.

Billy86

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

The 2 domestic cups are completely meaningless these days so they don't provide much excitement for neutral fans anymore.

Soccer is the only sport in the world where it's generally a league and solely a league that decides who the champion is and I always think playoff type situations are far more exciting as you are guaranteed do or die matches for the title each year.

My favourite match of all time is the Atletico Barcelona game on the last day of the 2013-2014 season.It may not have been aesthetically the best game I've seen but as it was a virtual playoff for the biggest prize on Spain it was an incredible game for excitement and tension.

Also if you had a 4 team playoff at the top of the premier league you could have potentially a playoff race with 8 teams toing and froing throughout the season. which would be really exciting.

I see your point about manufacturing excitement but sport is entertainment and sold as such these days and just imagine the excitement over a playoff to decide the premier league champion every year.It would be an incredible event.

Your Atletico/Barca example actually shows one of the biggest flaws of such a system - Atletico were champions that year and thoroughly deserved it, it was somewhat like Spurs were to have won it while Man Utd and Chelsea were at their best 5-10 years ago. But their squad was absolutely exhausted by the end of the year (the last 20-30 mins and extra time in the CL final vs Madrid being as good an example of a team gassing as you could ever hope to see in your life), and just about clung on to a 1-1 draw with Barca.

Had that been a knockout game, it would have gone to extra time at which point Atletico would have been screwed like they were in the CL final from having nothing left in the tank. If I remember correctly, Diego Costa and Arda Turan were both carrying considerable knocks and were more or less just making up numbers / playing because of the threat that they would pose if fully fit. Atletico were spectacular that season and would have been punished out of the league title they earned and deserved on the basis of not being rich enough to stock their bench with 30mn+ players and for having two players get injured near the end of the year.

Top 8 would just be silly - Swansea or Southampton would have been in a position to win it last year in that set up, and as utterly amazing as this Leicester run has been, I don't think the reception would be the same for a smaller team to win it in a way such as that. A lot of neutrals would be delighted for them of course, but it wouldn't have that same feeling as been so thoroughly earned as Leicester's 'battle hard for every single point' run has been.

The domestic cups are seen as meaningless because they are not as big a challenge - there is too much put down to luck of drawing weaker teams, or drawing teams at times in the year when they are weak. It's not a true challenge in the same way that a league is, where you need to face every team both home and away during the year.

Manufacturing excitement can work, but not always. In rugby for example, the bonus points system has proved beneficial as it promotes attacking play in a sport where you can't go all-out gung-ho or will pay the consequences. On the other hand in American football, they introduced a rule about 10 years back... basically in the NFL, the quarterback takes the ball off a guy in their equivalent to a scrum (kind of like the scrum half or out half does in rugby in one role) and typically throws it down the field to a wide receiver who tries to catch it, while a cornerback is the guy to try and mark him. Kind of like wingers and fullbacks in football, I guess. They've scaled back on it since (only a little), but in 2004 they changed the rules so that wide receivers were allowed to make contact with cornerbacks, but cornerbacks could not touch wide receivers. The result of this was badly inflating the statistical output of wide receivers and quarterbacks has gone through the roof - a record for most yards that stood for 20 years basically completely unchallenged has been broken 5 times in the 11 years since, and has nearly been broken about another 15. Balance between passing the ball or running it (where the quarterback gives it to a guy behind him who slams forward) has been distorted since there is far less risk and far more reward than there previously had been in doing so. Worst of all (and this is something they have tried to correct a bit), if a wide receiver knows he cannot make the catch, he will simply push the cornerback away or purposely get in a tangle or arms, and guarantee himself a penalty call (which means the ball is placed where the foul happens for the next play, the same as if he had caught the ball and immediately been tackled to the ground).

These are both in-game examples as opposed to league structures as I have already made my point about the downsides of a playoff league structure, but what I'm getting at is that it's not always a good thing. One other massive issue would be this: let's say Chelsea finish strong and slip into 8th, Leicester would have to play them in the playoffs. Meanwhile City, who are 12 points off Leicester right now, would draw West Ham. In a one-off, must-win game (or double header) to take place in a few weeks time, I would prefer to play West Ham rather than Chelsea 100 times out of 100.

As far as I'm concerned, teams should be rewarded for consistently doing better than everyone else over a long period of time, not for having the big name, big money players who can turn it on in big games. Teams who have the talent to be considered favourites to win the league on the basis of having world class players all over the place, should also accordingly be punished for not having the drive to see every game through. Man Utd don't have that level of talent right now if fans are honest, but our frequent squandering of games against teams we could/should be beating easily is what has cost us a place in the title race, and as a result... we don't deserve a shot at the title.

cj maxx

K-9 wrote: »

I don't agree with the league play offs either, the top 3 should go up, look at Brighton, Boro and Burnley, nothing between them. Maybe a play off between third from top and third from bottom, but I'm not even sold on that. The Scottish Championship play off system takes it to a whole new level.

It's a money making exercise, I haven't heard any other reason for it.

I would hate to see titles decided by playpffs .The league is about consistency as much as being brilliant in a few games. And still everyyear there are a couple of teams in the mix and a relagation dogfight.

Billy86

Brendan Filone wrote: »

Ranieri is 64 now, meaning he would have been 56 then... 'almost 70'?

I know Mourinho likes to be brash at times, but that's a serious d*ck comment to make about probably one of the most universally liked (outside of Greece) managers of the last 20-odd years in what appears to be across all corners - fans, neutral fans, players & ex players, owners & boardrooms, etc. The list of people with so much as a bad word to say about Ranieri must be one of the shortest around (outside of Greece).

Arghus

Well, to be fair, Mourinho is a dick.

Jayop

Billy86 wrote: »

Ranieri is 64 now, meaning he would have been 56 then... 'almost 70'?

I know Mourinho likes to be brash at times, but that's a serious d*ck comment to make about probably one of the most universally liked (outside of Greece) managers of the last 20-odd years in what appears to be across all corners - fans, neutral fans, players & ex players, owners & boardrooms, etc. The list of people with so much as a bad word to say about Ranieri must be one of the shortest around (outside of Greece).

I'd love to see where this quote has come from because it has all the hall marks of something that was just made up on the internet.

Chardee MacDennis

Jayop wrote: »

I'd love to see where this quote has come from because it has all the hall marks of something that was just made up on the internet.

from the horses mouth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEXxHzui_tU

Corholio

For balance, Ranieri had commented on Mourinho by saying "I am not like Mourinho, I don't have to win things to be sure of myself,"

Dirty Dingus McGee

Seve OB wrote: »

ok. I have to bite.
every other major sport you say.

well what about golf? do you see them going out week after week playing 72 holes, and then the top for going into a kind of knockout playoff?

you mentioned cricket earlier and the limited overs competitions. as in the 20:20 world cup? as in the odi world cup? well these are no different really to the football world cup... which by the way, is a knockout like you love so much.

rugby.... the 2 biggest annual rugby competitions in the world are out and out league formats with no playoffs

every other sport you say? yes you are right, a lot of other sports do it, but look at how they are structured from the bottom up and I think you will see there are reasons a lot deeper than it just being a clever thing to do.

remember football is for the masses, you are talking about minority sports

oh.... and you are talking sh1te

I was referring to team sports mainly.

The IPL,Big Bash,CPL and T20 Blast all have a league series followed by playoffs each year.

The Top 14 has a playoff, so does the English Premiership,So does Super Rugby and Pro 12.The annual international tounaments are only very short affairs with few teams and that is why there are no playoffs at the end if they were 10-12 team competitions spread over a 9 month season I'd be pretty certain they would end in a playoff round.

The 2 major Rugby League competitions in the world have playoffs at the end as does Aussie Rules Football.

The 5 biggest team sports in the USA and Canada have playoffs at the end aswell.

Soccer is basically the only major professional team sport that relies in almost totally on a league system to decide the champion and even with that the 3 biggest soccer competitions end in knockout stages.

Please put a little bit more research into your posts in future, it's embarrassing how wrong you were with the 2 bolded parts above.

LiamoSail

What can you expect from a pig but a grunt?

OwaynOTT

GavRedKing wrote: »

If Leicester beat Utd, they wont have to rely on any other results.

Thats my lock of the week.

It will go down to the Everton game, that's my shoe in if the week.

Seve OB

its also embarrassing how you spoke for most people when you claimed playoffs is what most people want.

i think the responses here have proven how up your own arse you are

Van.Bosch

klose wrote: »

You only need look at belgiums national league to see how stupid an idea play offs are, whoever signed off on that league set up should be shot.

Seriously, google it. Its crazy!

Just googled it, what a mess. The most ridiculous is the 5 (five) game playoff between the bottom 2, with second from bottom starting with 3 points.

Kidchameleon

Ah ffs lads, some people like playoffs and some people don't. Can we leave it at that?

mansize

Ranieri does comes across as very much a gentleman

Rayne Wooney

Billy86 wrote: »

Ranieri is 64 now, meaning he would have been 56 then... 'almost 70'?

I know Mourinho likes to be brash at times, but that's a serious d*ck comment to make about probably one of the most universally liked (outside of Greece) managers of the last 20-odd years in what appears to be across all corners - fans, neutral fans, players & ex players, owners & boardrooms, etc. The list of people with so much as a bad word to say about Ranieri must be one of the shortest around (outside of Greece).

He took a swipe at Mourinho and Mourinho hit back. A bit of rivalry between managers. Ranieri said Mourinho was the first to get in contact and welcome him back to England.

Pawwed Rig

When you consider that he was ridiculed by the English media when he was at Chelsea. You now see the same outlets fawning over him.