Watching Leicester last night..

[Gin&Juice]

Style of play has become a recent obsession while watching United.

This isn't trying to be a comparison, but the way they played got me thinking.. I wish United played that style/brand of football. Fast-paced, counter attacking and devastatingly direct and I remembered they did. Cast your mind back to post-Fulham in the FA Cup, when Clough "experimented" with Baxter as the false 9. Now obviously quality apart and the use of an out-and-out forward, we were very similar in approach and it was effective.

Obviously the season after was different, unfortunately Wallace's gamble wasn't what we all and the management expected and the price was ultimately payed, the style of play shifted and it was boring and slow to be generous. Obviously rambling apart, what has our style been this season? A miss-match, in my opinion Adkins has done the right thing playing the team he has recently, i'm also sure that this isn't his chosen philosophy e.g. Blackwell in which creativity is redundant. This team I reckon will snatch the play-off's and I'm more confident that it will be better equipped than last years.

Un-pretty football will get us up, Clough (post-Fulham) tactics will keep us up and we can advance on from that. I'm confident, unless Adkins walks in which I don't blame but I feel we shouldn't class this season as a "write-off" and look at the bigger picture, we've tried playing our way out, it doesn't work. Admittedly Wednesday signed the right players, their brand of football was shit in comparison to ours in 2012 but their in the championship. If Adams, Baxter etc. are dropped then good! I feel they won't be the answer at this moment, the pressure is on and experience will be key.

Keep faith, this is shit and the right thing is digging deep and grinding out boring results and honestly Adkins is the best thing for this club right now.

Ps. I hate living in Leeds on my own during the weekdays, as you can see it does get boring.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Went to the Leicester game last night. It was a real cracker. Oh how I wish The Blades could play half as well as Leicester did. I'm convinced a heck of a lot of it is just down to self-belief and confidence!

 

[boo radley]

Leicester have to give clubs like us hope. If they can do it..... Yes we are years off but that is what we all want surely?

 

[super_pig]

leicester are playing old fashioned route one football.. if we had the 1990 team we'd be top of the league and not them

 

[DiggerBlade]

And to think the Leicester fans were expecting a relegation battle this season.

It just goes to show how things can change eh?

 

[super_pig]

And to think the Leicester fans were expecting a relegation battle this season.

It just goes to show how things can change eh?

i'd love Leicester to win the league.. just to piss off the money teams and the tikka takka monkeys

 

[pommpey]

Helps when you have a rapid centre forward who has a very good eye for the half-opportunity. Sharp isn't as quick, and hasn't the staff around him to drive opposition teams onto the back foot to allow mistakes and half-chances to be exploited. Vardy is bang in form at the moment and last night's goal was outrageous ... typical confidence stuff.

It isn't all about the end product ... its all about the way to get there. Leicester have a tight, compact set of movers of the ball (illustrated by that nine pass move last night) which had Liverpool wondering how they were to defend it.

With Leicester and Tottenham mixing it up, the Premier League is looking a damn sight better this season.

pommpey

 

[DiggerBlade]

i'd love Leicester to win the league.. just to piss off the money teams and the tikka takka monkeys

I'd love to see Leicester win the prem just as a rest from the big 4 money clubs. In fact, I'd love to see us win the play off final at Wembley this coming May for another change.

 

[Barney]

Helps when you have a rapid centre forward who has a very good eye for the half-opportunity. Sharp isn't as quick, and hasn't the staff around him to drive opposition teams onto the back foot to allow mistakes and half-chances to be exploited. Vardy is bang in form at the moment and last night's goal was outrageous ... typical confidence stuff.

It isn't all about the end product ... its all about the way to get there. Leicester have a tight, compact set of movers of the ball (illustrated by that nine pass move last night) which had Liverpool wondering how they were to defend it.

With Leicester and Tottenham mixing it up, the Premier League is looking a damn sight better this season.

pommpey

Entertainment wise, you might have a point. But quality wise, certainly not. As has been shown with the English sides continual and (annually) increasingly apparent struggles in the European competitions.

 

[BerksBlade]

Leicester seem like a team greater than the sum of their parts. We are the opposite.

 

[itsinyerblood]

Went to the Leicester game last night. It was a real cracker. Oh how I wish The Blades could play half as well as Leicester did. I'm convinced a heck of a lot of it is just down to self-belief and confidence!

Stating the obvious Highfield, having an attacking threat as effective as any in the Premiership must surely make Leicester worthy contenders for the title. I'm not saying they'll win it, but even though they're direct, it's surely about playing the right ball, regardless of whether it's a 60-yard killer pass or something just as telling in and around the opposing penalty box (as witnessed last night on the box).

Unless they sell the likes of Vardy, Mahrez, or Okazaki they should maintain their attacking philosophy and pose a threat to any defence, no matter how impenetrable their opponents are meant to be. Of course they may get found out next season, then the opposition may have found ways to stifle the Foxes, but for now they're exactly what top class football needs.

 

[BeakerBlade]

must admit it's refreshing to see a 'smaller' club at the top of the first division. With the money that's thrown around by the big clubs every year now, it seemed unlikely we would see something like this for a while. I tip my hat to 'em

 

[Bladesway]

All great but Leicester spent a few bob getting to this point so lets not kid ourselves we are ever likely to do that unless there is a total change of policy at the top.

And as for speak of tikka takka, the greatest exponent of it is still the best manager in world football right now so its death is not quite as clear cut as some would like to believe.

 

[beatific blade]

All great but Leicester spent a few bob getting to this point so lets not kid ourselves we are ever likely to do that unless there is a total change of policy at the top.

And as for speak of tikka takka, the greatest exponent of it is still the best manager in world football right now so its death is not quite as clear cut as some would like to believe.

Guardiola has always said he hates 'tiki taka'. Others placed that particular label upon him. He said it himself that he thinks it's pointless and his teams have never played that boring shite

 

[Bladesway]

Guardiola has always said he hates 'tiki taka'. Others placed that particular label upon him. He said it himself that he thinks it's pointless and his teams have never played that boring shite

But he played the style and is seen by most as the greatest exponent of possession football. He may not like the term but if you watched his Barca team they were the absolute masters of it. When they played it there was nothing boring or shite about it.

 

[pommpey]

But he played the style and is seen by most as the greatest exponent of possession football. He may not like the term but if you watched his Barca team they were the absolute masters of it. When they played it there was nothing boring or shite about it.

I wouldn't call Leiceter's style tiki-taka. Sure, that nine-pass move was reminiscent but was fortunate that players were moving and Liverpool's defence were a bit bamboozled by the rapid shifting of the ball.

Leicester press well and force oppositions onto the back foot and when they lose the ball, have the ability to recover quickly and nullify any counter. They also don't have many 'ball watchers' in their defence. Any ball into the box is attacked. And as said, they have the goal machine that is Vardy. I just hope he can transpose that into an England shirt with Harry Kane alongside him.

pommpey

 

[Blade56]

We could try going into admin to get to PL

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

We could try going into admin to get to PL

Agreed 56. Some people have very short memories. Remember when Warnock totally blew his top over this? They effectively cheated their way into the top division using administration. Nothing was done at the time, but the rules were quickly changed to stop clubs doing what they did.

 

[Eskimo]

I was in Leeds on Tuesday. The Evening Post was full of stuff like United fans protest at transfer window inaction. A club of this size, we deserve better. Sam Byram now, we always sell our best players. Cellino is pocketing the cash. .....................

 

[pommpey]

I was in Leeds on Tuesday. The Evening Post was full of stuff like United fans protest at transfer window inaction. A club of this size, we deserve better. Sam Byram now, we always sell our best players. Cellino is pocketing the cash. .....................

Yeah, but. Leeds. It's very difficult to have any sympathy with Leeds, isn't it?

Champions of Europe, Billy Bremner, Don Revie, those little number tags in their socks and 'Best Team in Yorkshire'. And their fans. Basiclly Yorkshire's 'Man United'.

pommpey

 

[grafikhaus]

Good post, but then you go and do this:

This team I reckon will snatch the play-off's and I'm more confident that it will be better equipped than last years.

I've seen nothing - absolutely nothing - this season to suggest that this team is remotely ready for a serious play-off challenge. And, if we did miraculously fluke it into the Championship, what do people expect? That the Prince's millions would suddenly appear? (It would be more 'happy with the lads who got us up' and 'nothing out there that's better than what we've already got'.)

Instead of beginning every season expecting to - at least - get into the play-offs, why not emulate Leicester? They began the season fully anticipating a relegation battle, are now top of the table and have no pressure or expectations to fulfil. We are currently 14 points off an auto place and 14 points off the last relegation place. That's the reality. A week ago, us and the pigs were 7th in our respective divisions (we're now 9th*). The pigs saw it as a solid platform to push into the play-off places based on their form so far. We know another Shrewsbury/Bury/Colchester/Crewe etc. is just around the corner.

*This is the difference between being consistent and having a catalogue of dismal failures to fall back on. The pigs drop points and stay where they were. We don't play and drop down the table.

 

[super_pig]

Good post, but then you go and do this:
*This is the difference between being consistent and having a catalogue of dismal failures to fall back on. The pigs drop points and stay where they were. We don't play and drop down the table.

i curse thee footballing gods

 

[IOM Blade]

The Leicester story is beautiful. Bottom to top in 6 months. That just doesn't happen anymore. I'll be right behind them on Saturday when they go to the Etihad.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

A lot of their squad have been around for years, the difference is a classy midfielder and pacey striker, simple as that. He's still a pig though

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

The all-parliamentary Football group, Inquiry into football governance and particularly debts and the use of administration:


"Administration is the process whereby failed companies which are unable to


meet their financial obligations are given protection from their creditors whilst

being “administered” by an insolvency practitioner until such time as they are

re-structured; this often means that they pay only a fraction of their nonfootball-

related debts. Football related debt must be paid in full if membership

of the leagues is to be maintained in the future. Sporting sanctions (points’

penalties for clubs that enter administration) were introduced by both the

Premier League and Football League because of a perceived abuse of the

administration process. The most notable case was Leicester City who


entered administration in October 2002, wrote off in excess of £30 million of


debt, kept their best players, and were promoted back to the Premier League


at the end of the 2002/2003 season; whilst promotion rival Nottingham Forest,

who continued to meet the payments on their debt, did not go into

administration, and narrowly avoided promotion, were perceived to have been

disadvantaged as a result. To this extent sporting sanctions represent a

welcome development by demonstrating the willingness of the Football

League and the Premier League to address seriously the problem of poor, or

even opportunistic, financial management practices."


Getting rid of all that debt, not paying creditors what was owed, allowing them to strengthen on the pitch? Sounds very familiar, sounds like something that's happened not a million miles from S2. Quite a few on here laud their on-pitch improvements and player acquisition. Built on similar foundations of financial shenanigans and non-payment of about £30m.

I hope Spurs win the PL.

 

[Alfreton14Blade]

A lot of their squad have been around for years, the difference is a classy midfielder and pacey striker, simple as that. He's still a pig though

A fair few new additions since premier league arrival tbf, Jim. Admittedly the spine is well served by long-servers though: Schmeichel, Morgan, Drinkwater, Vardy.

Of course, out of that squad who've been around for years, they've generously allowed Dean Hammond out to pasture with us. Don't know how they manage without him

 

[finlaytheblade]

Entertainment wise, you might have a point. But quality wise, certainly not. As has been shown with the English sides continual and (annually) increasingly apparent struggles in the European competitions.

Forget European football I would love to be where leicester are right know

 

[pommpey]

Entertainment wise, you might have a point. But quality wise, certainly not. As has been shown with the English sides continual and (annually) increasingly apparent struggles in the European competitions.

But I'm not talking about them in Europe. I mean that rather than the turgid dullfest of both Manchester teams duffing it out at the top with Chelski and then Arsenal playing eternal bridesmaids, this season we have Chelsea nowhere to be seen and the likes of Leicester unpicking the stitches of the favoured sides with some at times really good football.

Europe is another conversation.

pommpey

 

[Sharrowblade]

Leicester have spent less than the big boys but still a sizeable wedge:

last 2 seasons: £52,000,000

 

[Finn Keane o' Balmaqueen]

Leicester City.



Not really interested in anything else about them.