Leicester 2-0 Arsenal - Saturday 9th November, 2019

[Dan+]

Btw you are right - the game is ages away. We have 6 league games and a cup game before it. Too much can change. It's pointless building to it now.

[Dr. Gonzo]

10 minutes ago, Dan said:

I agree you shouldn't be happy with a draw. I'm the same about our games coming up and I think our next five are all winnable. Why settle for a point at Brighton? We are a better team, we can beat them.

Draws killed you last year. Remember that.

At this point, everyone in the top 4 should be looking at most matches as "we can win this" - you beat another title contender like us, and all of a sudden that title race looks a lot more open.

All of the top 4 at this point should be feeling pretty good about something:

• Liverpool - undefeated and with a cushion between us and second place, and we just beat City 3-1
• Leicester - the defending (which blows my mind because it's Brendan fuckin' Rodgers, the man who said "defending is easy" and then routinely had us set up to be totally shite in defense) is up there with the best in the league (and therefore Europe) with an attack and midfield that can cause problems for any side on their day. I also think Leicester have the least pressure on them - nobody was expecting them to be contenders this season, people were just expecting an improvement on last year - which I think has already been achieved.
• Chelsea - play really great football and have gotten results despite a transfer ban. The big issue with Chelsea is they can't seem to get results against the top sides/the "big name" sides. But I think all things considered... if Frank Lampard can get that righted by the end of the season, there's no reason to suggest they won't be right up there. They also have the added benefit of less pressure because literally nobody was expecting them to be in a title race this season. They don't have Leicester's advantage of no European football - but I think in the grand scheme of things it's better for them to be in the CL and for Lampard to be getting experience in the CL, and if this is a legitimate long-term project at Chelsea (Abramovich's Chelsea of all places to have a long-term project)... I'm sure they agree it's better for them to be in Europe this season.
• Manchester City - they're in 4th place now... but they still play the best football in the country. Not many sides can come to Anfield and play like they did - not even Barcelona or Bayern Munich could do that last season. They're a side that's going to create shitloads of good chances every time they play, they'll always be dangerous and they'll always be contenders. And we've seen how they play under pressure - they keep playing the same as they always do. Let's not forget, this is the side that threw the gauntlet down and said "If you want to beat us to the title, you've got to have a nearly perfect season." They're an incredible side and they'll be right back in the hunt soon.

It's all very good for English football. And certainly this season has been incredibly encouraging for Leicester and Chelsea fans, because I think both clubs are far surpassing expectations and if they keep it up all season then their fans will be very happy with the progress made this year. I'm also looking forward to seeing what Rodgers has learned about managing in Europe at Celtic compared to how he approached things with us.

Rodgers has certainly proven me wrong, though, I thought when he went to Celtic it wasn't the best place for him to learn to grow as a manager because I expect Celtic to be winning the SPL year in, year out. Clearly I was wrong, because he's learned important stuff - like that having a good defense is useful if you've got a good attack because it likely means that your team is pretty fucking good. 

[Dan+]

@Dr. Gonzo I think one thing he'll have picked up at Celtic, which is coming in handy here is the ability to break down a bus-parker. They'll face a bus-parking side 95% of the time at home Celtic - and while Leicester obviously aren't as dominant as they are, the majority of teams come here and play defensively and it's worked against us well a lot of the time.

The defence here is so well balanced. Got away with a couple (Lacazette's miss for example) but by and large we are very tough to score against.

We should be looking to win always. We've got to drill that mindset into people. Really capitalise on the shortcomings of your Arsenals and your Manchester Uniteds. Like I said earlier in the thread, we were bitten the last time we made the Champions League and recruited terribly. We've taken measures to fix this so I actually think we could become a genuine European regular - providing we keep recruiting properly the sky is the limit.

It's totally beyond me how people defend lazy recruitment. It's the cardinal sin in my opinion. Clever recruitment has made Leicester, a traditional run of the mill club into the envy of many. Buy 21-25 year olds with some pedigree and sell them on when you're offered more than they're worth - see Maguire.

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Dan said:

@Dr. Gonzo I think one thing he'll have picked up at Celtic, which is coming in handy here is the ability to break down a bus-parker. They'll face a bus-parking side 95% of the time at home Celtic - and while Leicester obviously aren't as dominant as they are, the majority of teams come here and play defensively and it's worked against us well a lot of the time.

The defence here is so well balanced. Got away with a couple (Lacazette's miss for example) but by and large we are very tough to score against.

We should be looking to win always. We've got to drill that mindset into people. Really capitalise on the shortcomings of your Arsenals and your Manchester Uniteds. Like I said earlier in the thread, we were bitten the last time we made the Champions League and recruited terribly. We've taken measures to fix this so I actually think we could become a genuine European regular - providing we keep recruiting properly the sky is the limit.

It's totally beyond me how people defend lazy recruitment. It's the cardinal sin in my opinion. Clever recruitment has made Leicester, a traditional run of the mill club into the envy of many. Buy 21-25 year olds with some pedigree and sell them on when you're offered more than they're worth - see Maguire.

It’s easier though to recruit when the stakes aren’t as high - look at Southampton, they got a lot of quality cheap prospects... and we ended up buying a lot of them. But not everyone they buy ended up really panning out for them - and now that most of the good ones have moved on they haven’t really been replaced.

Once clubs know you’re minted and they know you can afford to pay more, it’s harder to take those gambles. Especially as prices go up.

Not saying that bargains still can’t be had - because they can - or that once you establish yourself as a regular contender for Europe smart recruiting isn’t necessary... because it still is. But it does make it a bit trickier

[RandoEFC+]

14 hours ago, Dan said:

Buy 21-25 year olds with some pedigree and sell them on when you're offered more than they're worth - see Maguire.

Easier said than done though. When we signed Sandro Ramirez two summers ago for £5m it was an absolute no-brainer. 21 year old lad who had just bagged 20 goals in La Liga the season before. He scored one Europa League goal for us and just this weekend scored his first competitive goal since then.

Recruitment is a big part of it but you've got to have the right structure in place for the players who come in or they will rarely flourish.

[Dan+]

5 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

Easier said than done though. When we signed Sandro Ramirez two summers ago for £5m it was an absolute no-brainer. 21 year old lad who had just bagged 20 goals in La Liga the season before. He scored one Europa League goal for us and just this weekend scored his first competitive goal since then.

Recruitment is a big part of it but you've got to have the right structure in place for the players who come in or they will rarely flourish.

You can still get it wrong occasionally but if you stick to doing this you'll get a lot more right than wrong if you're buying in the right places. Don't forget we still spent £25mil on Iheanacho who has 4 league goals in over 2 seasons.

I do think in fairness we have a big advantage due to already having Vardy.