Manager of the year?
Leicester - the title is still theirs to lose.
- Thread starter Rafateria
- Start date
I would too like to know what sparked their mass turn around after the late international break last season.
Nigel Pearson deserves some credit though. I thought they were silly to sack him after they survived relegation.
Incredible stuff.
Nigel Pearson deserves some credit though. I thought they were silly to sack him after they survived relegation.
Incredible stuff.
It's been amazing. I don't think there are many teams who try to play football at 100% intensity in every match. Somehow Leicester try to do that and it's been working for them. More often than not, their energy levels gets rightly praised but tbh they can play some decent football too. There are sequences of beautiful one touch passing involving Kanté, Mahrez, Drinkwater. Albrighton has improved so much, Morgan is a monster. The only weak players I see in their first 11 are Simpson and whoever plays upfront with Vardy.
Moreover winning the league in a old school 4-4-2 formation with wingers providing width and goals, that would be a great way to win the league.
I don't think that can be disputed at this point surely. Its ridiculous!
In conjunction with the list of results up there, I remember a MotD from towards the end of last season when it was suggested they might stay up because Leics could score goals whereas some of the other relegation contenders weren't doing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31475995
With Kramaric, Mahrez & Schlupp being talked up I think it was.
If you look at the teams at the bottom of that page, there have been some significant changes made. Full backs, Vardy, Drinkwater in. Kramaric, Konchesky, Upson gone.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31475995
With Kramaric, Mahrez & Schlupp being talked up I think it was.
If you look at the teams at the bottom of that page, there have been some significant changes made. Full backs, Vardy, Drinkwater in. Kramaric, Konchesky, Upson gone.
4 out of the next 6 games are at home
Newcastle, Southampton, West Ham, Swansea
9pts + there, somewhere else someone is already on the beach for a free 3pts - which is a factor all round for predicting & so on.
And the final exciting point from my research - between Xmas & Jan 20th they had a bad patch of 1 win in 7 games. Playing twice a week around that time they were, form has returned since they went out of the Cup & gone back to playing 1 game a week.
Newcastle, Southampton, West Ham, Swansea
9pts + there, somewhere else someone is already on the beach for a free 3pts - which is a factor all round for predicting & so on.
And the final exciting point from my research - between Xmas & Jan 20th they had a bad patch of 1 win in 7 games. Playing twice a week around that time they were, form has returned since they went out of the Cup & gone back to playing 1 game a week.
I know people love to give a credit to one who is able to bent and put his head into the sand. English media are desperate to take almost all credit from the one who they mocked and laughed at from 1st minute it was announced his appointment. I highly doubted it they would be in same position now if there wasnt a change in the summer.
Everyone wants them to win, and I want them to win only on 1 condition: They wrap up the title at Everton, so that they get Guard of Honour from Chelsea.
Although, they have a few tricky fixtures from now until end of season. They have Palace, who have Bolasie back from injury, they have Sunderland who always rediscover their form in April, they have WHU at King Power and WHU has been incredible away from home this season, and ofcourse, Utd, inconsistent Everton and Chelsea
Although, they have a few tricky fixtures from now until end of season. They have Palace, who have Bolasie back from injury, they have Sunderland who always rediscover their form in April, they have WHU at King Power and WHU has been incredible away from home this season, and ofcourse, Utd, inconsistent Everton and Chelsea
From an ethical point of view Pearson had to be sacked. It turns out it was a master stroke.
English media being hostile, almost racist to some foreign manager? Well, it happens almost always.
Well i dont know,in this case it was/is really weird,like it was CR fault that NP got sacked. I understand the bias when it comes to English managers but the amount of mockery towards CR in the summer and at the start of season was just...Remember when someone on 5live couldnt understand why English coach/manager cant get a job at top clubs.
Did they even expect the likes of Vardy, Mahrez and Kante to be so good this season? 
Yep. They're savvy, skilful and progressive players when in tight spots (i.e. particularly when hemmed-in by opponents near the touchlines). Leicester's success is no fluke; it's deserved.
If we don't win it which admittedly is highly unlikely I would prefer Leicester to win it. Ranieri deserves Manager of the season whatever happens between now and the last game.
All the teams in the race have suffered blips, Leicester less than the others.
They are playing fewer games than the others, they have had less injuries to key players than the others which has helped them.
Over the last 4 games they have won against Norwich and Watford with difficulty and lost to Arsenal and drawn at home to WBA.
Although their next games do not appear that difficult on paper I think they may draw quite a few and their last three games could prove very difficult.
They will be moving into unchartered territory and any injuries to key players would be crucial.
They could just as easily win most of their remaining matches as lose a lot of them. Imo the points difference at the end of the season between 1st and 4th will be quite small
The thing is this season they're figting against arse and spurs. If this were a prime chelsea / city / united it'll be a different story
Right now i probably put them at 50/50, spurs and arse will bottle some pts as well and imo city will be too far behind to be bothered to give a fight, next year perhaps but i think their player already accept not winning the league this year
I think the team most likely to catch them are City. I don't buy Spurs as legitimate title contenders and Arsenal are in Spring self-destruct mode as usual. That being said, look at the next 6 matches for LC:
Newcastle
Palace
Southampton
Sunderland
West Ham
Swansea
The way this season has been, those are 6 winnable matches for LC. The chances they win all 6 are obviously quite small, but at this point it's less about them winning every week and more about the other teams dropping points they can no longer afford to drop. Spurs and Arsenal are pretty much guaranteed to drop points over that stretch.
I never want to root against United, but if they aren't going to be champions I'm all-in on Leicester. What I'm dreading is that we're gonna get to week 36 and be in a position where a Leicester win will win them the league, at the cost of United missing out on top 4.
Newcastle
Palace
Southampton
Sunderland
West Ham
Swansea
The way this season has been, those are 6 winnable matches for LC. The chances they win all 6 are obviously quite small, but at this point it's less about them winning every week and more about the other teams dropping points they can no longer afford to drop. Spurs and Arsenal are pretty much guaranteed to drop points over that stretch.
I never want to root against United, but if they aren't going to be champions I'm all-in on Leicester. What I'm dreading is that we're gonna get to week 36 and be in a position where a Leicester win will win them the league, at the cost of United missing out on top 4.
Well if it came to that feck Leicester, I'm all for Leicester winning the league but not at our expense of missing out in the CL.
Why only take 4 games and not include City game which they won with ease or Stoke game a while ago in which they played sublime football, or the Liverpool win?
Even then what you have there are two wins (one at a very difficult ground too, nobody beats Watford by more than a goal there), a draw which could have easily been a win with just a small amount of luck and an incredibly unlucky late goal defeat at Arsenal while down to 10 men for 40 minutes and playing away to a title contender. Hardly a terrible set of results. I really don't understand why people want to convince themselves that Leicester are not all that and will collapse or have already collapsed. Four days ago after West Brom draw there were numerous posts 'Leicester out of the title race already'.
Because the last 4 are the current trend. No way Leicester have collapsed or are they out of the title race and they have the best chance of all the teams.
It's just a feeling that they won't go all the way and are due a blip. Personally I think they could go another 6 games undefeated including a few draws but lose their last 3 and that probably won't be enough
Would love nothing more than to see Ranieri win the PL title.
One of the nicest guys in football and I couldn't be happier to see him doing so well.
One of the nicest guys in football and I couldn't be happier to see him doing so well.
Why are 4 the current trend? Why 4 and not 5 or 3? Because it includes Arsenal loss but does not include City win thus making them look worse?
If they win 4-5 out of next 6 it's over. I really don't think they will lose at home to Everton either considering they outplayed them at Goodison and if it's a decider they will be at 200%.
Logically if Leicester win 4 or 5 of their remaining matches they will almost certainly win the title, if the game was played on a computer or by pixels emotions wouldn't come into it. Fortunately what makes football so fascinating is the unpredictability of it all. In all logic I am talking rubbish, in reality it might not be so ridiculous
Is it just me caring less or are they not being half as corny about it all as Liverpool were in the "we go again" season.
Winning the league with four games to spare "might work in their favour"?
1.61 to win the title now
Reckon 3 more wins and a couple of draws will seal it. With games against Sunderland and Swansea coming up, they'll probably win the title at Old Trafford
Sadly I am enjoying watching Leicester City more than Utd at present.
Watching paint dry is more entertaining than Utd to be fair.
Changed from champagne goalscoring football to squeezing the wins out from minimal chances now, reminds me of that spell of 1-0 wins with Cantona goals in about 95/96 was it?
Still massively beggars belief that they can be doing what they're doing.
First 11 are largely hard working functional players, with huge pace from Vardy, although he's not scored for ages now, super skillz from Mahrez and good control from the midfield 2.
The bench though! They're super lucky they've ridden out any real injuries, as that bench is shockingly weak.
Schlupp seems to come on every week for a few mins and is awful
Still massively beggars belief that they can be doing what they're doing.
First 11 are largely hard working functional players, with huge pace from Vardy, although he's not scored for ages now, super skillz from Mahrez and good control from the midfield 2.
The bench though! They're super lucky they've ridden out any real injuries, as that bench is shockingly weak.
Schlupp seems to come on every week for a few mins and is awful
They basically have CL football wrapped up now, right?
How about Simpson, who must be fighting for the most clueless PL player award of the season ? If they win the title, it will be astonishing.
One more win should get them CL football next season.
could have said the same for us in 2012
Grinding out results win you titles. We've had similar spells throughout our multi winning seasons regardless of how good our team was.
It sure will be.
And will be super interesting where they would go from there.
Remember when Ipswich came something like 5th, had a great season, got into Europe, brought the wrong players in, and ended up going down?
Leicester have obviously been a lot better, and won't go down, but I'm sure it wouldn't take too much to disrupt them.
Perhaps Mahrez and Kante being hunted down by half of Europe would do it.
When the pressure is on, teams inevitably get edgy and performance levels drop.
United under Fergie would respond by grinding out wins and staying at the top.
Arsenal under Wenger have responded by collapsing and dropping down the table in recent seasons.
Leicester look like they have more of a United mentality than an Arsenal one at the moment. I really hope it continues.
United under Fergie would respond by grinding out wins and staying at the top.
Arsenal under Wenger have responded by collapsing and dropping down the table in recent seasons.
Leicester look like they have more of a United mentality than an Arsenal one at the moment. I really hope it continues.
Everyone expected them to crumble sooner or later but they keep going every week. Great stuff.
No doubt one bad result and people will say they are bottling it, which is obviously unfair since they are very consistent with their results, even United under Fergie didn't win every game towards the end.
I reckon they need 3 more wins and and 2 draws at most to win it. Their schedule is far easier than Spurs' so it seems very possible.
No doubt one bad result and people will say they are bottling it, which is obviously unfair since they are very consistent with their results, even United under Fergie didn't win every game towards the end.
I reckon they need 3 more wins and and 2 draws at most to win it. Their schedule is far easier than Spurs' so it seems very possible.
Yeah, 2 of Westham, United and City will need to win 7 games for them to drop out of top 4 in that case.
I think they need 11 more points to win the league.