OT: For members in England, how is Leicester City atop EPL???

[makoti]

Originally Posted by Idris Icabod

Well it happened, Leicester won the Premier league!

While sitting at home watching. How....? I always thought you had to kind of be present to win in sports.

[gary_a_gooner]

Freaking amazing....that no one got sent off in that game.

But congrats to them. Fully deserved.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by makoti

While sitting at home watching. How....? I always thought you had to kind of be present to win in sports.

Mathematical elimination.

[cadence90]

Originally Posted by wc1934

Italian coach - haha.

You meant awesome, amazing, excellent Italian coach, right?

My team is Inter Milan, and I wish daily that Ranieri was still there, instead of that arrogant ego-maniac Mancini.

[BobC]

Hazard was brilliant in that game. Completely changed the game.

Like watching a train wreck as it occurred. How many yellow cards were there? Did everyone (except the keeper) on Spurs get a yellow? I lost count.

[cadence90]

Originally Posted by BobC

Hazard was brilliant in that game. Completely changed the game.

Like watching a train wreck as it occurred. How many yellow cards were there? Did everyone (except the keeper) on Spurs get a yellow? I lost count.

Almost. Spurs 9 - Blues 3.
If Mou had been there add 2 more for Chelsea, certainly.

[goonster]

Dave Bassett, Leicester City manager circa 2001, was once asked to describe the average home game crowd:

"Three people and five cabbages."

This is one for the ages. Much bigger upset than Verona in 1985, who were on a more even playing field. Anyone who says they can explain it is either lying, or doesn't know better.

I can't get that Mahrez goal against Swansea out of my head. He was gifted possession, but then still had to thread the needle between defender, keeper and post at the less likely angle. Supreme confidence under intense pressure. What a season he's had.

Let's also not forget what Bournemouth (Bournemouth!) have achieved. They had some terrible luck with injuries early on, and still survive with room to spare.

Edit: Holy cow, it feels strange to root for Chelsea . . .

[cachagua]

Hilarious article in my local paper about all this. Actually it was only glancingly about the team and the games, and mainly about what the betting shops are losing.

5,000 to 1 payout. Wild!

Two examples of things given better odds -- that is, judged more likely to happen -- than this: 1) that Elvis Presley turn up alive and well, and 2) President Obama publicly announcing that the moon landings were a hoax.

[verticaldoug]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/201...derwear-after/

I guess Gary Lineker is doing MotD in his underwear.

[martl]

Originally Posted by Climb01742

Leicester City is in first and Chelsea is flirting with relegation. Cats and dogs are truly sleeping together and the universe is out of whack. How is this happening??

The even bigger teams (Leichester is not as much of an underdog as people seem to think) screwed up for various reasons.
United is still rocking in the wake of SAFs departure, they lost a year fooling around with out-of-his-depth Moyes, then tried to fix everything at once with the very controversial Louis van Gaal and a couple of not-so-well-fitting but still expensive transfers.

Chelsea was busy with themselves and have held onto The Chosen One for way too long. Liverpool pulled the plug too late but seem to be on a good track now. City, like Chelsea, suffer from lacking consistency. They also made their coach into a lame duck by announcing Peps arrival for next season. Since Pep doesn't do things half-assed (as a Munich supporter i've watched him closely the past three years), i expect him to give the team a proper overhaul and expect them to challenge the league title very soon.

Arsenal achieved what could be expected of them, only the teams above them in the league table are not who everone thought.

Many of the english top clubs suffer from having too many overrated players who think they are as good as Zlatan, are paid like Zlatan, but don't play like Zlatan.

Also it is becoming more obvious season after season that the EPL is way behind the top spanish clubs or Bayern Munich on two regards: Youth development and tactics. Leichester did the right thing, they didn't hire big names but players that were a fit for the system, and hired a coach who brought tactical brilliance. (similar could be said about Liverpool).

[BobC]

Originally Posted by goonster

Let's also not forget what Bournemouth (Bournemouth!) have achieved. They had some terrible luck with injuries early on, and still survive with room to spare.

Ahem, Watford 44 points. Bournemouth 41. First time the Hornets have stayed up after promotion plus making the FA Cup Semis (AND there is talk of Flores getting sacked. Incredible).

But yes Bournemouth staying up is impressive.

Now we shift focus to the more interesting fight -- the relegation battle. How incredible would it be if BOTH Newcastle & Sunderland are relegated?

[Climb01742]

Originally Posted by martl

Arsenal achieved what could be expected of them, only the teams above them in the league table are not who everyone thought.

As a Gunners' fan, I'm perplexed about what should come next. Feels like_something_must change or they'll go on being top four but never top of the table or Champions League champ while Wenger is manager.

I admire Arsene and he's done brilliantly by the club, but now they feel stuck, under achievers at a very high level. Is it Arsene's scheme? His stubbornness? Lack of an Henry or Bergkamp? Are eight perfect passes in a row just too much to ask for to score??

I'm far more fan than expert but my uneducated sense is there's a fire missing, a killer instinct, a striker willing to take it on himself to will a goal into the net. The club feels almost too calm and cerebral, like...Arsene? Thing is, who's better??

[goonster]

Originally Posted by martl

(Leichester is not as much of an underdog as people seem to think)

Come again? Can you expand on this?

They are apparently still a big enough underdog that a lot of people cannot pronounce or, ahem, spell them correctly.

Originally Posted by martl

United is still rocking in the wake of SAFs departure, they lost a year fooling around with out-of-his-depth Moyes, then tried to fix everything at once with the very controversial Louis van Gaal and a couple of not-so-well-fitting but still expensive transfers.

Chelsea was busy with themselves and have held onto The Chosen One for way too long. Liverpool pulled the plug too late but seem to be on a good track now. City, like Chelsea, suffer from lacking consistency.

You're not wrong, but Leicester were also retooling, having fired their manager halfway through the off-season. They had lost their best player (Cambiasso), and three out of four new starters were bought by a manager who was gone before the first training session. So, Ranieri also had to rebuild the team, but had much less money or time to do it.

Originally Posted by martl

They also made their coach into a lame duck by announcing Peps arrival for next season. Since Pep doesn't do things half-assed (as a Munich supporter i've watched him closely the past three years),

Excellent. Then you'll know better than me how the lame duck Heynckes failed to drag an unfocused, demotivated squad over the . . . . oh, wait.

[FlashUNC]

There's some nice poetry to the notion that Chelsea effectively book-ended this season. Expected to be world beaters this year, they have the total meltdown. (Epic even by Mourinho standards.) And then they proceed to have the fantastic finish to deliver the title to the team we all wanted to see win -- apologies to any Tottenham fans.

Man, that Hazard goal and build to that strike reminds you why he was player of the year in the league last year.

[martl]

Originally Posted by goonster

Come again? Can you expand on this?

They do have a billionaire owner who likes to fly in in a Heli for home games, for starters

Leicester ist not the biggest player in the EPL, but the spreadth of wealth among the teams on top and on the bottom of the table is way less than in other leagues. Given the general ammount of money distributed to the EPL teams, that means Leicester, promoted only last year, has a warchest similar to that of an Europa League regular of the Bundesliga, and thus can attract competent players.

The EPL has more title contender teams than any other in Europe. This means also the top teams take points from each other. Barcelona and Atleti lost 5 matches each so far all season, PSG lost 2, Bayern lost 2, Dortmund 3. Leicester lost 11 and still got the title. 11 lost games would earn you a 6th place in the Bundesliga.

They are apparently still a big enough underdog that a lot of people cannot pronounce or, ahem, spell them correctly.

Given the ammount of wrongly set "ü"s, "ä"s and "ö"s even quality media like the BBC or the Guardian torture me with when printing german names, i feel i'm entitled to my occasinal typo And don't even get me started about english-language pundits and pronounciation.

You're not wrong, but Leicester were also retooling, having fired their manager halfway through the off-season. They had lost their best player (Cambiasso), and three out of four new starters were bought by a manager who was gone before the first training session. So, Ranieri also had to rebuild the team, but had much less money or time to do it.

He did a cool job, no doubt.

Excellent. Then you'll know better than me how the lame duck Heynckes failed to drag an unfocused, demotivated squad over the . . . . oh, wait.

I don't define "lame duck" as "manager who is going to be replaced by Guardiola". Heynckes was 69 and had himself declared it his last season coaching. The players were excited about working with Pep, but even more wanted to win the title for Jupp whom they completely adored.
Also, there was that small matter of making up for the lost "Finale dahoam".

Pellegrini, on the other hand, did a good job and had no reason to find himself replaced. And i doubt the current city team could be described as band of brothers.