Leicester
- Thread starter El Flaco
- Start date
They are not scoring more because they don't have many quality players to attack/sustain ball....but they can defend well due to Raneri's methods
Still like them because they are achieving at fraction of budget what other's cannot achieve with millions more.
Blaugrana Bull
HiiiPoWeR
This is Atletico 13/14 all over again. Leicester has quite a similar approach.
te amo barca
Blaugrana al vent
It's much easier "creating" chances in the EPL - the defensive approach is very naive in this league.
barcafan161
Active member
They will be happy with that going forward
barcafan161
Active member
They will be pot A though
Kerrybai
New member
Can't wait for Barcelona - Leicester next season in CL
As Barcafan said they will be pot A provided they win and I doubt they will get out of their group.
barcafan161
Active member
Dunno about that, they should get a good draw and they will spend in the summer. Impossible to say how they will do given we don't know who they sign
xavisionary
Active member
Amidst the fan fare of Leicester challenging for the league I'd forgotten they'll be in the CL next season. Can't wait to see Leicester v Dortmund.
Catalan Fan
New member
Can't wait for Barcelona - Leicester next season in CL
Got each other before that
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35872998
El Flaco
Active member
Vardy & Drinkwater interviewed by The Guardian
Danny, did you ever believe you would arrive at this point? Preparing to make your England debut against either Germany on Saturday or Holland on Tuesday, before a major tournament, having impressed at a club who are top of the league?
Danny Drinkwater “Well, not really, to be honest. I wasn’t really focusing on this as a target. It has just sort of happened – and it’s massive. Absolutely huge and a total honour. It just highlights what type of a season it’s been. You hear little things here and there, and every player wants to play for his country, but I was focusing on club football. When it was announced I was in the squad we were training and there were five minutes of madness really. Training kind of half stopped and there were high-fives everywhere.”
What did Claudio Ranieri say to you and the group when the news came through?
Jamie Vardy “Dilly-ding, dilly-dong.”
DD “He was chuffed for us. N’Golo Kanté got called up the same day, so to have both midfielders getting their first call-ups in the same week was a good moment. I’d usually be topping up my tan in an international break like this, if we’re given some time off from the usual training. I haven’t booked anything for the summer as yet. Not because I thought I’d get the call-up … I love a holiday, don’t get me wrong, but my missus works and stuff.”
Jamie, when you received your first call-up last summer, did you feel the pressure to have to take your chance when it had come?
JV “I don’t think it’s really pressure. When you come into this environment the lads all make you [feel] welcome straight away. You are there for a reason and the boss tells you exactly why he has picked you. He doesn’t want you to change anything. He just wants you to do exactly what you’ve been doing for your club. If I had any advice for Danny, it would just be: ‘Stick to what you’ve been doing.’ There are quite a few of our players being picked for their national teams, so it just shows how well we’ve been doing.”
What are Danny’s qualities as a footballer?
DD “No pressure answering that … ” [laughs]
JV “He is the puppet master. He is the one who holds all the strings and makes sure he pulls everyone into the right places. He feeds the ball where it needs to go.”
Is he the best you’ve played with?
DD “You don’t have to answer that.”
JV “He has been brilliant. If you look at the whole squad at Leicester, it’s brilliant as well. We know achieving anything this season is going to take a lot of hard work but that is what we will do to go places.”
You’ve both endured quite tortuous routes to the top. Jamie’s story in non-league has been well told but you have experienced a different journey, Danny, from playing alongside Danny Welbeck in the Manchester United youth teams to learning your trade in four loan spells away from Old Trafford. Did you ever wonder if your chance had gone?
DD “In the back of my mind I thought it was probably half-gone but I have worked hard. I have got into a team where everything ticks, everything works well. It is a good club and it was always going to move forward. It was never: ‘Can I get back up to that stage?’ It was always: ‘Get your head down, work hard and see what happens.’ You can always have self-belief but leaving a club like United was huge. But look where we are now.”
Was that the lowest point?
DD “I’m down after every loss, to be honest, but, yes, probably leaving United was the lowest. I support them, it was my childhood club and I’d played reserve team football for quite a few years. I’d had two years of loan moves and I didn’t really want to go back into the reserves. I wanted to play first team. I was out on loan at Barnsley when United accepted an offer for me from Leicester and that was it really. I just had to concentrate on my new club. It was a low but look what has come of it.”
Who was blocking your route into the first team at United at the time?
DD “People like Paul Scholes, so what are you going to do with that? [Vardy bursts out laughing] I looked up at him as an idol. I’ve watched him since I was a little kid, so I couldn’t have had a better teacher.”
So why has it taken so long for you to gain proper recognition? After all, you were behind Esteban Cambiasso in the team at Leicester even last season.
DD “A lot of hard work has gone into getting where I am now and I guess when the whole team is doing well, and you are at the top, people take note. I didn’t play as much as I’d have liked last season but, then again, the club was going through a difficult time. The total opposite to this year. I haven’t changed as a player. I am not doing anything massively different. I just think it is being watched a lot more. If it is down to confidence, then that is quite high at the minute. I am playing probably my best football. It is just all coming together.”
How has life changed for you, Jamie, since your England debut and that run of goals in 11 successive Premier League games back in the autumn?
JV “I feel exactly the same. How has life changed? I wouldn’t know. I don’t really leave the house. Literally, I train, come home, look after the kids, the dogs, my missus … then it’s time to go to bed.”
But do you ever take a moment just to sit down and contemplate what you’ve achieved in the last couple of years? You’ve been approached by a Hollywood screenwriter, Adrian Butchart, wanting to make a movie of your life. Does that not have an effect?
JV “I met him and asked him if he was mad. It was in the papers and I didn’t know if it was true. It turned out it was. That is up to them – if they want to do that there is nothing I can do. You do get a chance to think about things when you’re at home but that is when you want to relax and forget about football for a bit. Honestly, you don’t really get time to stop and think about things. We have a job to do. That is all we concentrate on, going game by game.”
You’re five points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur at the top of the table, with five Spurs players in the England squad alongside you. Can you win it? Has the subject been mentioned?
JV “Listen, the only pressure we had this season was to make sure we stayed up. Now we’re enjoying ourselves. People keep asking me if I’m watching our rivals’ games in the Premier League but I’m usually on my PlayStation. If I had been watching, it would have been on an illegal stream, so I don’t even know why they are asking me. We’ve had a chat with the Spurs lads but not about club football. We’ve been talking about England or Call of Duty. We’ll sit down together and have a game of that before the week’s out. One of the lads just camps in a corner apparently and waits for someone to run past so he can jump out and get him.”
They have announced Leicester’s involvement in the International Champions Cup in the summer, where you’ll play Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Celtic as one of the five Premier League clubs participating. That’s not a bad pre-season, surely?
JV “I’ve just been sent the picture of the schedule. Very interesting. It’ll be unbelievable to play against a top team like Barcelona but it is pre-season, so all about getting back to full fitness.”
DD “We will be fit running around after them … ”
JV “Unbelievable scenes.”
Do you think what Leicester have achieved this season offers England encouragement for the Euro 2016 tournament in the summer?
JV “I just think that, with the players we have here, we’ve a good chance of doing very well in France. We will have to see where it takes us.”
Does any of this daunt you, Danny? Roy Hodgson said last week that you will be starting at least one of the friendly fixtures.
DD “That’s news to me. Good. I am looking forward to the opportunity and, hopefully, I’ll take the chance. I am not daunted, no. I would say I am more excited than anything. I am a football fan. I have watched players like that week in, week out, so to play against them would be an exciting experience.”
http://www.theguardian.com/football...r-city-puppet-master-danny-drinkwater-england
Danny Drinkwater “Well, not really, to be honest. I wasn’t really focusing on this as a target. It has just sort of happened – and it’s massive. Absolutely huge and a total honour. It just highlights what type of a season it’s been. You hear little things here and there, and every player wants to play for his country, but I was focusing on club football. When it was announced I was in the squad we were training and there were five minutes of madness really. Training kind of half stopped and there were high-fives everywhere.”
What did Claudio Ranieri say to you and the group when the news came through?
Jamie Vardy “Dilly-ding, dilly-dong.”
DD “He was chuffed for us. N’Golo Kanté got called up the same day, so to have both midfielders getting their first call-ups in the same week was a good moment. I’d usually be topping up my tan in an international break like this, if we’re given some time off from the usual training. I haven’t booked anything for the summer as yet. Not because I thought I’d get the call-up … I love a holiday, don’t get me wrong, but my missus works and stuff.”
Jamie, when you received your first call-up last summer, did you feel the pressure to have to take your chance when it had come?
JV “I don’t think it’s really pressure. When you come into this environment the lads all make you [feel] welcome straight away. You are there for a reason and the boss tells you exactly why he has picked you. He doesn’t want you to change anything. He just wants you to do exactly what you’ve been doing for your club. If I had any advice for Danny, it would just be: ‘Stick to what you’ve been doing.’ There are quite a few of our players being picked for their national teams, so it just shows how well we’ve been doing.”
What are Danny’s qualities as a footballer?
DD “No pressure answering that … ” [laughs]
JV “He is the puppet master. He is the one who holds all the strings and makes sure he pulls everyone into the right places. He feeds the ball where it needs to go.”
Is he the best you’ve played with?
DD “You don’t have to answer that.”
JV “He has been brilliant. If you look at the whole squad at Leicester, it’s brilliant as well. We know achieving anything this season is going to take a lot of hard work but that is what we will do to go places.”
You’ve both endured quite tortuous routes to the top. Jamie’s story in non-league has been well told but you have experienced a different journey, Danny, from playing alongside Danny Welbeck in the Manchester United youth teams to learning your trade in four loan spells away from Old Trafford. Did you ever wonder if your chance had gone?
DD “In the back of my mind I thought it was probably half-gone but I have worked hard. I have got into a team where everything ticks, everything works well. It is a good club and it was always going to move forward. It was never: ‘Can I get back up to that stage?’ It was always: ‘Get your head down, work hard and see what happens.’ You can always have self-belief but leaving a club like United was huge. But look where we are now.”
Was that the lowest point?
DD “I’m down after every loss, to be honest, but, yes, probably leaving United was the lowest. I support them, it was my childhood club and I’d played reserve team football for quite a few years. I’d had two years of loan moves and I didn’t really want to go back into the reserves. I wanted to play first team. I was out on loan at Barnsley when United accepted an offer for me from Leicester and that was it really. I just had to concentrate on my new club. It was a low but look what has come of it.”
Who was blocking your route into the first team at United at the time?
DD “People like Paul Scholes, so what are you going to do with that? [Vardy bursts out laughing] I looked up at him as an idol. I’ve watched him since I was a little kid, so I couldn’t have had a better teacher.”
So why has it taken so long for you to gain proper recognition? After all, you were behind Esteban Cambiasso in the team at Leicester even last season.
DD “A lot of hard work has gone into getting where I am now and I guess when the whole team is doing well, and you are at the top, people take note. I didn’t play as much as I’d have liked last season but, then again, the club was going through a difficult time. The total opposite to this year. I haven’t changed as a player. I am not doing anything massively different. I just think it is being watched a lot more. If it is down to confidence, then that is quite high at the minute. I am playing probably my best football. It is just all coming together.”
How has life changed for you, Jamie, since your England debut and that run of goals in 11 successive Premier League games back in the autumn?
JV “I feel exactly the same. How has life changed? I wouldn’t know. I don’t really leave the house. Literally, I train, come home, look after the kids, the dogs, my missus … then it’s time to go to bed.”
But do you ever take a moment just to sit down and contemplate what you’ve achieved in the last couple of years? You’ve been approached by a Hollywood screenwriter, Adrian Butchart, wanting to make a movie of your life. Does that not have an effect?
JV “I met him and asked him if he was mad. It was in the papers and I didn’t know if it was true. It turned out it was. That is up to them – if they want to do that there is nothing I can do. You do get a chance to think about things when you’re at home but that is when you want to relax and forget about football for a bit. Honestly, you don’t really get time to stop and think about things. We have a job to do. That is all we concentrate on, going game by game.”
You’re five points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur at the top of the table, with five Spurs players in the England squad alongside you. Can you win it? Has the subject been mentioned?
JV “Listen, the only pressure we had this season was to make sure we stayed up. Now we’re enjoying ourselves. People keep asking me if I’m watching our rivals’ games in the Premier League but I’m usually on my PlayStation. If I had been watching, it would have been on an illegal stream, so I don’t even know why they are asking me. We’ve had a chat with the Spurs lads but not about club football. We’ve been talking about England or Call of Duty. We’ll sit down together and have a game of that before the week’s out. One of the lads just camps in a corner apparently and waits for someone to run past so he can jump out and get him.”
They have announced Leicester’s involvement in the International Champions Cup in the summer, where you’ll play Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Celtic as one of the five Premier League clubs participating. That’s not a bad pre-season, surely?
JV “I’ve just been sent the picture of the schedule. Very interesting. It’ll be unbelievable to play against a top team like Barcelona but it is pre-season, so all about getting back to full fitness.”
DD “We will be fit running around after them … ”
JV “Unbelievable scenes.”
Do you think what Leicester have achieved this season offers England encouragement for the Euro 2016 tournament in the summer?
JV “I just think that, with the players we have here, we’ve a good chance of doing very well in France. We will have to see where it takes us.”
Does any of this daunt you, Danny? Roy Hodgson said last week that you will be starting at least one of the friendly fixtures.
DD “That’s news to me. Good. I am looking forward to the opportunity and, hopefully, I’ll take the chance. I am not daunted, no. I would say I am more excited than anything. I am a football fan. I have watched players like that week in, week out, so to play against them would be an exciting experience.”
http://www.theguardian.com/football...r-city-puppet-master-danny-drinkwater-england
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