They're talking about us
- Thread starter Brown Nose
- Start date
bocadillo
Water Gypsy
Four players in the Home Internationals: Banks, Gibson, shalalalah DouganD and Rodrigues.
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ThaiSweetChilli
Well-Known Member
Blue Maniac
Alzheimers sufferer
Great stat
Jenks
Well-Known Member
I've got that ****er signed by all four! Go me.
Brown Nose
Well-Known Member
Brown Nose
Well-Known Member
City Fan
Well-Known Member
Based on that stat? Yes please. Could have sworn we did alright that season.
Miles Away
Well-Known Member
Not doing too badly thus far this either.
londonfox
Well-Known Member
No. All that stat proves is that there is more than one way to play football.
Graz
Well-Known Member
I was at this game in 2004. Why does the video look like it's from the 1970s?
This was my first couple of weeks as a student at Loughborough, when I thought I'd be going to games all the time.
If memory serves me correctly, in my first few weeks I saw us get beaten twice by Preston within a week, one from this goalkeeper goal and another where we threw away a lead (as was our habit back then) to then lose and one of our players (Nathan Blake I believe) said something along the lines of "all our players knew it was coming as soon as they equalised", and then a game against Ipswich where I got assaulted by some of our own fans after the game because they didn't believe I was "real Leicester" despite my shirt because I was walking to the train station...
I think I gave up after that. Although rather than any of the above, think the reason was because I was a typical first year student and realised I'd spent all my money in the first 3 weeks and couldn't afford to keep going!
Blue Maniac
Alzheimers sufferer
If it makes it easier, I believe the above game was a draw.
AberFox
Member
Sleeping at the training ground and 'the idea': How Enzo Maresca transformed Leicester City
Since last season’s tame drop from the Premier League, Leicester have secured nine league wins from 10 matches under their new managerBy John Percy 5 October 2023 • 9:00am
Under the Italian, Leicester are riding high in the Championship Credit: Getty IMages/Plumb Images
In his first training session as Leicester City’s new manager, Enzo Maresca huddled the squad together and delivered his vision for the future.
Outlining his philosophy and style of play in detail, he can remember the clear message he relayed to his players.
“Do what we have to do, and don’t worry if there’s any mistakes. A mistake is part of the process and we will make them in the future, but this way is what we believe and we will continue that.”
Maresca’s message has clearly had an effect, for Leicester are transformed under the Italian and riding high in the Championship with nine wins from 10 matches.
A former Manchester City first-team coach, who was part of the backroom staff for last season’s Treble, he is the latest disciple of Pep Guardiola to make an impact in the technical area, following in the footsteps of Mikel Arteta, Xavi and Vincent Kompany.
He is a football obsessive, who insisted on his squad staying overnight at Leicester’s training ground for the entire first week of pre-season to build a culture and get his ideas across.
A part of Pep Guardiola's staff for City's Treble last season, Enzo Maresca left this summer for Leicester Credit: Shutterstock/Adam Vaughan
Marcesa's high-risk yet high-reward approach is already having an impact at Leicester Credit: Getty Images/Plumb Images
The bitter disappointment of last season’s relegation is now being gradually forgotten, with supporters revelling in a brand new playing style.
“Straight back up Leicester City, playing football the Enzo way,” is the chant, and Wednesday night’s home win over Preston lifted the club back to the top of the table.
Heavily influenced by Guardiola and his close friend Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton, Maresca’s high-risk yet high-reward approach can be devastating.
He refers to it as “the idea”, and there were a few Leicester players who initially wondered whether it could work in a division renowned for chaos and impatience. After the September international break, it seems to have all clicked into place.
Usually operating in a 4-3-3 formation, Maresca wants his team to build from the back slowly and patiently, and then react ruthlessly and quickly in the final third when spaces are exploited.
In the 4-1 demolition of Southampton last month, the third goal from Wilfred Ndidi was Maresca’s vision in high definition after 33 passes.
“The more you have the ball, the more you enjoy it as a player,” he says.
“We need to convince them, and they are giving 100 per cent to being open-minded and to learn. We are trying to teach the players and the results obviously help a lot. They are showing resilience and sacrificing a lot to work with each other.”
Winks and Hermansen among the individual success stories
An uncompromising football purist, Maresca is completely wedded to his style. In his mind, his way is the only way. He often takes greater satisfaction from his players sticking to the plan over the positive results.On his WhatsApp profile, he provides an intriguing insight into his methods with a quote from Johan Cruyff: “Teams don’t learn. Individuals within the team learn. Development is a personal process even when conducted in a team environment.”
Crucially, the players are fully on board, and there are already many individual success stories. Harry Winks, a £10million summer signing from Tottenham, has been outstanding and is the heartbeat of the team.
He detests giving the ball away, and in the recent win at Norwich City recorded a 100 per cent success rate from 83 passes.
Mads Hermansen, a Danish goalkeeper signed from Brondby, is proving a game-changer in many respects. He is essentially a playmaker from the back and can put the ball wherever he wants, drawing comparisons with Ederson at Manchester City.
Maresca was pivotal in the signings of both Winks and Hermansen - shortly after his arrival, Leicester’s head of recruitment Martyn Glover presented him with a list of players in those positions and Maresca decided both would be perfect for his style of play.
There have been other key performers: Ndidi is revitalised this season, academy product Kasey McAteer and Manchester City loanee Callum Doyle were both excellent before recent injuries, while Jannik Vestergaard - frozen out by Brendan Rodgers to such an extent that last season he was training alone - is back in the picture.
You can also never write off Jamie Vardy, 37 in January. Leicester’s best ever signing has four goals already and is flourishing under a new approach.
“We cannot teach Jamie anything inside the box, he is probably the best and he knows everything,” says Maresca. “But now he’s enjoying it because he’s linking with the team and touching the ball more.”
Maresca prefers to train with 20 players who know they are connected to the matchday squad. It is a similar approach to Rodgers, who always insisted that up to 25 players can leave five or six feeling detached and unwanted.
His strengths are his tactical knowledge and simplifying details. The message is always clear, and every player knows what is demanded of them. Lengthy meetings are the norm, while afternoon training sessions are far more frequent than under any of Maresca’s predecessors.
Until recently, Maresca was living at the club’s state-of-the-art training ground in Seagrave before moving into a new home with wife Maria and his four children.
There is a good vibe around the club, and some cliques from last season - when groups of players would sit together separately in the training ground canteen - have been removed.
The new management has managed to create a feel-good vibe on and off the pitch Credit: Getty Images/Plumb Images
Leicester’s fans are loving the ride. Disillusioned over last season’s tame drop from the Premier League, the fanbase needed re-energising and Maresca has delivered. It may come as no surprise but the majority of those fans are also loving a league without Var.
Rival managers look on with envy at Leicester’s squad, which is arguably one of the best ever in the Championship and has some players earning over £70,000 a week.
Despite the sales of James Maddison and Harvey Barnes after relegation, they still possess a number of players who could easily operate in the Premier League now.
Maresca is weary of pressure being built on his team, yet will know the expectation is to make a swift return to the top division.
Maresca’s ‘Football and Chess’ thesis
This moment has been coming for the 43-year-old, ever since passing his Pro-License coaching badges in the summer of 2019 with a near perfect score.Like De Zerbi, he studied at the revered national training centre in Coverciano. With him in the classroom were the likes of Italy World Cup winner Mauro Camoranesi, former Arsenal and Manchester City defender Sylvinho and Antonio Conte’s assistant Cristian Stellini.
Maresca’s thesis was called “Football and Chess”, and he has taken those ideals into management: “There are many similarities between both games: the opponent will do something a certain way and I have to react and adapt.”
His education under Manuel Pellegrini (who managed him at Malaga and took him to West Ham as a coach) and then Guardiola opened his mind wide to the possibilities. After being appointed as head coach of Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad in August 2020, he won the Premier League 2 title that season.
His relationship became closer with Guardiola on Sunday mornings. When City’s first-team players came in for recovery sessions, a few of Maresca’s youngsters would join in and the pair established a bond there.
After a disappointing spell with Parma in 2021, he returned to the Etihad Stadium and played a key role in last season’s treble. The plan was always to return to management, and when he met Leicester’s hierarchy in June there was an immediate connection.
Guardiola gave him his blessing to leave, and will be looking on with interest.
Maresca’s “idea” is working and, on the evidence of recent results, Leicester’s tour of the Championship could be very brief.
Enzo is a fanatic and very good at what he does. I expect him to be leading a team playing in the Campions League before long. He could be as good a manager as Pep, or even better. We need to keep him as long as we can (or until it all goes pear-shaped.....)
These are some great days for Leicester City - a part of history. These days will be looked back on in many years time.
These are some great days for Leicester City - a part of history. These days will be looked back on in many years time.
Lako42
Well-Known Member
Bottom by Christmas
Miles Away
Well-Known Member
I think that’s a statistical impossibility at this stage.
Sheff W are bottom, but they could in theory have 41 points by xmas. And we could have only 27.
So it's not impossible, it would just need a lot of extremely improbable results.
Miles Away
Well-Known Member
Bastard, I didn’t count the number of fixtures.
*that would be a statistical improbability*
Championship
| P | Pld | Pts | |
| 1 | Leicester | 44 | 94 |
| 2 | Leeds Utd | 45 | 90 |
| 3 | Ipswich | 44 | 90 |
| 4 | Southampton | 45 | 84 |
| 5 | Norwich City | 45 | 73 |
| 6 | West Brom | 45 | 72 |
| 7 | Hull City | 45 | 70 |
| 8 | Middlesbro | 45 | 66 |
| 9 | Coventry City | 44 | 64 |
| 10 | Preston | 44 | 63 |
| 11 | Bristol City | 45 | 62 |
| 12 | Cardiff City | 45 | 62 |
| 13 | Swansea City | 45 | 57 |
| 14 | Watford | 45 | 56 |
| 15 | Sunderland | 45 | 56 |
| 16 | Millwall | 45 | 56 |
| 17 | QPR | 45 | 53 |
| 18 | Stoke City | 45 | 53 |
| 19 | Blackburn | 45 | 50 |
| 20 | Sheffield W | 45 | 50 |
| 21 | Plymouth | 45 | 48 |
| 22 | Birmingham | 45 | 47 |
| 23 | Huddersfield | 45 | 45 |
| 24 | Rotherham Utd | 45 | 24 |
