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Leicester - What A Team This Year


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9 minutes ago, Parklife said:

Okazaki, Kante, Inler, Demarai Gray, Daniel Amratey. Admittedly the last 2 were just in January. Soccerbase has that totalling £26.1 million. They also spent £9 million on Kramaric last january. So, let's not pretend that they're not a big spending team, chock full of highly paid international footballers. 

They've bridged a big gap to the top teams and done exceptionally well but the disparity in resources between themselves and those top teams is far smaller than the one Aberdeen have to bridge to beat Celtic. 

I would say they are not big spending in relation to their competitors though. An average of £5m a player, bringing in 5 players for the price of half a Raheem Sterling, or one Memphis Depay. Thats not a big spend in the context of that league, in relation to what their competitors spend on transfers and wages or what they generate in income.

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It's a higher percentage of spend in relation to the rest of the league compared to what Aberdeen spend in relation to Celtic though.  Not sure that's the sole criteria because in terms of challengers Aberdeen only have Hearts and Celtic whereas Leicester have, as already pointed out, many more. You can flip that too though, that's many more challengers for everyone all taking points off each other rather than the total monopoly situation.  In others words, they are very different examples and if Aberdeen and Leicester both won their respective leagues, I've nae idea which would be the more amazing achievement.  That said, I know which one I would consider more "amazing" and see me open the case of 1985 Pomerol I've been saving. 

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30 minutes ago, SMcoolJ said:

It's a higher percentage of spend in relation to the rest of the league compared to what Aberdeen spend in relation to Celtic though.  Not sure that's the sole criteria because in terms of challengers Aberdeen only have Hearts and Celtic whereas Leicester have, as already pointed out, many more. You can flip that too though, that's many more challengers for everyone all taking points off each other rather than the total monopoly situation.  In others words, they are very different examples and if Aberdeen and Leicester both won their respective leagues, I've nae idea which would be the more amazing achievement.  That said, I know which one I would consider more "amazing" and see me open the case of 1985 Pomerol I've been saving. 

I think thats the key, how much you spend is not the sole criteria for judging what a team achieves.

I am sure if Aberdeen win the league then, quite rightly, to their supporters, it will be the far better achievement. I think for neutrals however, Leicester would be the greater achievement.

 

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I'd incline towards Aberdeen. In relative terms the gap in budget between Celtic and Aberdeen is greater than that between Leicester and their (admittedly far more numerous) competitors. Granted Leicester have needed several teams to be bad all at the same time, unlike Aberdeen who only need Celtic to underperform, but Leicester started off from a base of having a squad of very well paid, reasonably highly rated players assembled from around the world.  Ranieri has got them organised and augmented the squad with several good players that have fully bought into what he is trying to do. Fair play to him, and it appears they have got lucky twice over (lack of injuries and everyone else being poor) as well. And they run around a lot - something you'd think is a perequisite at any level, but it's surprising how often it isn't.

Law of diminishing returns at a lot of the EPL clubs, throwing more and more money at things just doesn't work nearly as well as having a good manager who can identify and bring in good players, and get the best out of what he's got to work with. Both McInnes and Ranieri have done that, I just think on balance McInnes has been able to close a bigger gap. The narrative for many (viewed from a neutral perspective) seems to be that were Aberdeen to win it would be because Celtic were really awful and Rangers weren't in the league, rather than that Aberdeen have actually been any good. 

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3 hours ago, Dalgety Bay TA said:

I would say they are not big spending in relation to their competitors though. An average of £5m a player, bringing in 5 players for the price of half a Raheem Sterling, or one Memphis Depay. Thats not a big spend in the context of that league, in relation to what their competitors spend on transfers and wages or what they generate in income.

Leicester certainly don't have the depth of squad of many others, but if you look at the value of their starting XIs the disparity will not be as great.

Leicester have certainly benefitted this season from being able to pick a settled side without suffering serious injuries or suspensions. I suppose akin to when Dundee Utd won the league in 1983, did they only use 14 players or something? The strength in depth was lacking but it didn't need to be tested.

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7 minutes ago, Pool Q said:

Law of diminishing returns at a lot of the EPL clubs, throwing more and more money at things just doesn't work nearly as well as having a good manager who can identify and bring in good players, and get the best out of what he's got to work with. Both McInnes and Ranieri have done that

I think that's an important point, surely there is a saturation point, where £50k a week or £70k, doesn't really matter.

:lol:

In another season with Chelsea starting in august rather than February, city playing until May instead of January, Man united and Liverpool being a bit more consistent... Leicester might've made a plucky effort to break into the top 4 and got a Europa league place. They've been in the right place at the right time to an extent.

Still a great achievement and hope they can finish it off! (I must admit, i expected the bubble to burst, but can't see it now.)

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21 minutes ago, Toepoke said:

Leicester certainly don't have the depth of squad of many others, but if you look at the value of their starting XIs the disparity will not be as great.

Leicester have certainly benefitted this season from being able to pick a settled side without suffering serious injuries or suspensions. I suppose akin to when Dundee Utd won the league in 1983, did they only use 14 players or something? The strength in depth was lacking but it didn't need to be tested.

Urban myth. Started by Mad Mental McLean himself. 

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Starting from today it would be a far, far bigger achievement or Aberdeen. but that's because they are 5 points behind having played a game more tan Celtic and Leicester are  7 points in front.

At the start of the season I would have said Aberdeen were far, far more likely to win the SPL than Leicester win the EPL, but we are talking about a fairly big difference between two very small numbers.

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38 minutes ago, Toepoke said:

Leicester certainly don't have the depth of squad of many others, but if you look at the value of their starting XIs the disparity will not be as great.

Leicester have certainly benefitted this season from being able to pick a settled side without suffering serious injuries or suspensions. I suppose akin to when Dundee Utd won the league in 1983, did they only use 14 players or something? The strength in depth was lacking but it didn't need to be tested.

Not sure about United one but Liverpool won the title in 65/66 using only 14 players, two of whom only made 6 appearances each. They also won the title in 78/79 and 83/84 using 15. The big difference between those wins and the 65/66 win was use of substitutes being more common in later seasons.

 

I also think in the comparison with Aberdeens title challenge everyone is to keen to focus on the money comparisons. Football is played on grass, not a financial spreadsheet. The remarkable thing for me is that a fair number of the Leicester side are the definition of journeymen. SImpson, Huth, Morgan, Drinkwater, Albrighton are all players who have floated about the top couple of leagues in England with little to no success. Their overseas buys have by and large performed very well - Kante, Fuchs and Mahrez and another one of their bought from lower leagues, Vardy, has been a huge success. None of that lot should be challenging teams with players like Ozil, Sanchez, Rooney, Aguero, Toure etc etc....but they are challenging and beating them. Man for man, I think the gap between Aberdeen's side and Celtic's side is far closer than say Leicester to Chelsea or Man City. That is why Leicesters achievements, so far, are the more remarkable.

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On 04/02/2016 at 9:08 AM, Fairbairn said:

Bit in the paper this morning saying if you'd put a tenner on both Leicester and Aberdeen to win their respective leagues at the start of the season you'd be looking at a pay out of £3.4M!!!!

This is the offending post.

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46 minutes ago, Fairbairn said:

What have I done?

mentioned Aberdeen which then got others to talk about Aberdeen, which has annoyed Dan Cake.

Personally i felt the post was relevant, but it had unforeseen consequences.

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8 minutes ago, phart said:

mentioned Aberdeen which then got others to talk about Aberdeen, which has annoyed Dan Cake.

Personally i felt the post was relevant, but it had unforeseen consequences.

With great power comes great responsibility. 

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Another weekend gone, another 3 points for Leicester. Still playing well, bottle intact. Some tough games coming up though. 

Credit too to the Sunderland fans who applauded Leicester off at the end despite seeing their own lose an important game.

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12 hours ago, Ta Ta said:

Another weekend gone, another 3 points for Leicester. Still playing well, bottle intact. Some tough games coming up though. 

Credit too to the Sunderland fans who applauded Leicester off at the end despite seeing their own lose an important game.

Hard to see them fvcking it up now.

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Aberdeen and Leicester are not anywhere near comparison.

Leicester are top of arguably one of the best leagues in the world. Competition for top places is demanding and the slightest slip could see you fall dramatically in league position.

Aberdeen have had a few chances to get right into the throat of Celtic but bottles it everytime.

Leicester have bought players sensibly and have a manager who has brought faith, stability and a belief amongst them.

Aberdeen have none of that.

If Leicester win the league, it's a massive achievement, huge in fact.

Nothing but the highest praise and admiration for the club, players and set up.

Aberdeen and Celtics difference in budget is nowhere near in comparison to what Leicester are up against.

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