What's Leicester's net spend this season? And what kind of wage bill do they have now? Whatever it is, it's enough that 17th isn't really acceptable, so I understand why the trigger was pulled.
In regards the League Cup Final, definite case of more experienced heads - De Gea, Ibrahimovic, Valencia - making the difference when Southampton generally had the better of play. Saints keeping/defending for all three goals was shocking too, and they were the first they conceded in the EFL Cup apparently? Could yet turn out to be a very good year for Manchester United, if they continue on in the cups and get over the hump of the CPL places in the league. They need Mkhitarian to be fit though, huge difference when he's in the team.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
how many times did MOTD and Sky highlight the lack of closing down and effort by the Leicester players? do they not watch these things themselves??Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
I would love to see players getting the sack rather than just the manager as is so often the case
When Ranieri took them over, they were a team which had just avoided relegation. He leaves them as League title winners, outside the relegation zone (when he left) and in the knock out stages of the CL. I don't know about their net spend, but I know that their midfield general N'Golo Kanté was sold to Chelsea which is a huge loss. Disgraceful decision to sack.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
A harmless enough £21.46m according to this.
The sacking of Ranieri is one of the worst things i have even seen in football for a long long time. FFs Arsenal haven't won the league in what, ten years, and as for Liverpool.....They have just reverted to normality this season
It's absurd the amount of credit I have seen Nigel Pearson get for Leicester winning the league.
They wouldn't have come within an arse's roar of qualifying for the Europa League let alone win the PL under him.
Not complaining but neither am I under any illusions. Neither team are in the form that's taken them to where they currently stand. The defending was shocking for the goal, the lead up to the penalty and the subsequent corner.
I similarly empathised with the Saints. A trophy that would've meant something real and tangible to them is just something for Mourinho to point to when his detractors come calling.
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
Hang on, hang on, did not all bar one (Kante) of Leicesters star guys turn down moves to sides they would never have expected to be interested in them in their careers, to stay and play for Ranieri and Leicester not even six months ago ? They,(and in doing so bucked a trend which I feel is destroying modern football) showed remarkable loyalty. Everyone expected Schmeichel, Drinkwater, Mahrez, Vardy and more to go.
Are none of you willing to even consider that from that starting point, to his sacking last week, that Ranieri must have really and repeatedly fupped up, to kill that ? Because he did. And it started with how he was sending them out to play, and setting them up to play, and demanding they change to conservative negative containing football, the opposite of the strength of that group (considerable strength too, strong enough to win a league) And it was downhill from there.
It wasn't just that either, have any of you read how the backroom staff were changed in the off season, one a sports psychologist Ken Way was badly treated. He had been very well regarded by the players, he had earned their trust, and it was known he was getting sacked before he himself was told. It was a Ranieri decision, as were plenty more which sapped the good will from the most beautiful story in sport in my lifetime.
Whatever he achieved last season, he was going to get them relegated this, and he has no one to blame but himself because his actions and decisions made a pigs ear of a title win. It was the correct decision. Its to my mind, lazy uninformed cliched thinking to just blame the dressing room for this and it doesn't stand up to even mild scrutiny.
A piece from a blog on a Leicester board tonight, which is absolutely on the money regarding the fabricated mock outrage & nonsense around this.
Do they love Claudio - yes, always and forever.
Do they want a statue of him outside the ground, - yes please.
Do those who actually regularly watch this side play (me included, been watching them as a neutral since 2002 now) feel he had to go - yes, sadly but absolutely, yes. He fu*ked it.
Can't say I've noticed it to any major degree. He deserves a lot credit for getting them promoted to the Premier League and keeping them there with a brilliant run at the end of the 2014/15 season, which can ultimately be looked back upon as the turn in form that eventually led them to the title.
I'm not sure what tributes you're referencing though so it's hard to know if it's been overblown or not, but he picked up 22 points from a possible 27 in his last nine games there which is Championship winning form in itself, granted over a less relevant time frame.
The likes of Morgan, Simpson, Albrighton, Drinkwater, Vardy, Mahrez and Ulloa were all his signings as well so I think he's obviously an important cog in what eventually happened. I agree that it's highly unlikely they would have won the league under him, but then it was highly unlikely that they would have won it under anybody. I think it's more than fair to say that he set the wheels in motion.
Last edited by DeLorean; 02/03/2017 at 9:59 AM.
Interesting posts Crafty. I don't necessarily agree or disagree with the sacking, just think that it's sad the way it's panned out, regardless of who's to blame. I remember thinking it was a disgrace when Southampton sacked Nigel Adkins but in stepped Pochettino and they haven't looked back since. Basically I think sitting on the fence is a good place to be with these kind of developments. Clubs and owners will live and die by their actions and if Ranieri's sacking triggers an upturn in Leicester's form and keeps them out of the Championship (where I think they were heading to be honest) then I'll be convinced it was the correct decision. Loyalty only gets you so far and the club has to be put first.
I would agree, and that's the overriding sentiment. There is a difference between wanting someone out and regrettably seeing the need to reluctantly change it or play Burton etc instead of Liverpool & co next season.
I don't think you can say that, not to a certainty. It was such anomaly, it's wrong to apply 'what would have happened' to it. And neither have I seen this surge of credit to NP of which you speak, there had been nothing but recognition of CRs remarkable achievement season in my opinion.
What one can say though, and with some degree of confidence is that CRs needless dismantling of the workings and nuts and bolts of the NP regime have coincided directly with this collapse. The side had come from L1 remember, constant season upon season improvement and two promotions. The aspects I particularly refer to are the sports science (in which Leicester were tremendously resourced and forward thinking, a model for others in fact) including the fore mentioned sacking of Ken Way. Recruitment, several dud signings who never impacted first team from CR. Set up, way of playing, completely changed and for what ? Not better results certainly. So there is some residual credit due to NP based on the evidence coughed up by this seasons results as his vision was fully replaced.
On Monday, Craig Shakespeare - a survivor of the NP times - set them up like they used to be set up, like they were signed to play, to their qualities as players and they duly dismantled Liverpool, coincidence or more evidence ? We shall see, it could have been a dead cat bounce result but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it weren't. Interesting to watch what happens next though, definitely.
Last edited by CraftyToePoke; 02/03/2017 at 2:48 PM.
Spectacular bottle job from Kevin Friend in Man Utd/Bournemouth game. Mings stamps on Ibrahimovic's head, the Swede nails him with an elbow seconds later. Not even a yellow card for either, and he sends some other Bournemouth player off for dissent?
Edit: he actually gave Ibrahimovic a little shove for a second yellow. Bizarre.
Last edited by NeverFeltBetter; 04/03/2017 at 1:29 PM.
Claudio Ranierwho ?
The only decision I thought he actually bottled was not giving Arter a second yellow having already sent off a Bournemouth player. He would have been doing well to spot Mings stamp and even better to determine it was deliberate from one viewing. The Ibrahimovic one was probably a bit more clear but again hard to gauge the intent on one viewing, especially when he didn't know Zlatan was seeking retribution. Surman can consider himself unlucky alright but stupid to get involved when he was on a yellow.
The interview by Ibrahimovic afterwards was a joke for the barefaced lies. Firstly he claims he didn't know who trod on him and yet you can see him looking up after the stamp and then the ridiculous comment about Ming heading his elbow. I think there was intent in the stamp for retribution for the stamp by Ibrahimovic in the same incident.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
The guy who won the league for the first time in their history and lead them to the play off rounds of the Champions League and outside the relegation zone of the EPL when he was sacked.Claudio Ranierwho ?
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Well he was hardly going to tell the truth.
Who would have followed all that with a relegation. Because as I detailed above, soon as he got his tinkering hands and a bit of time on the title winning set up he inherited, he promptly delivered a nosediving tailspin through needless at best and egotistical at worst changes.
Did LCFC owe Ranieri a relegation ? Yes or no answer please. Because that is what was coming.
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