Championship winners 13/14 v Enzobore team

G

Glastotorfox

Roofer
Watching the Sunderland v Saints 5-0 highlights took me back to the football of Pearson and his team that smashed up the championship of 13/14.

Schmeichel, De Laat, Konchesky, Morgan, Wasileski, James, Drinkwater, King, Mahrez, Nugent, Vardy.

That team had everything to dominate a game, ball winners, battlers, pace, created a lot of chances and ripped defences apart.

That team would have taken apart the Enzo pass pass pass merchants, they didn't need 700or 800 passes to dominate games, win the ball, find the runners, Nuge and Vardy would finish it.

Never boring too.
 
6 wins in 7 games......with Coady and Cannon yet to be introduced to us in a Leicester shirt....

I`m happy.........winning IS everything in football.
 
That season started almost identically to this one - unbeaten in the first four league games then a defeat just before the international break, two away wins in the league cup. The only difference was that in 2013 we had 10 points in the league whereas this season we have 12. But there is a clear comparison between the two.

We’ve scarcely begun. Everybody knows it will take time for the team to fully adjust to the new style and get up to steam. Before the season a of of folk were predicting we’d struggle badly while Maresca implemented his ideas. As it happens we’ve made a brilliant start and won six games out of seven. And we will get a lot better.

And people are still whingeing…
 
ClaphamFox said:
That season started almost identically to this one - unbeaten in the first four league games then a defeat just before the international break, two away wins in the league cup. The only difference was that in 2013 we had 10 points in the league whereas this season we have 12. But there is a clear comparison between the two.

We’ve scarcely begun. Everybody knows it will take time for the team to fully adjust to the new style and get up to steam. Before the season a of of folk were predicting we’d struggle badly while Maresca implemented his ideas. As it happens we’ve made a brilliant start and won six games out of seven. And we will get a lot better.

And people are still whingeing…
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It isnt a “new style”, we’ve been watching Bodger trying to implement it for two years. How is the latest incarnation different?
 
Possession based football will be successful if its played at a good tempo, unfortunately most of it is at pedestrian pace meaning even a lower league outfit have time to get back behind the ball as at Tranmere first half. If its going to work there has to be players that put a pass for a killer ball that can be finished with some zest, speed, pace what ever you want to call it. It has to develop, it must progress otherwise we are in for more of what we had from Hull City. Tough month ahead, just hope Enzo is right and us doubters eat humble pie.
 
Silk purse and sow’s ear come to mind.

You manage who you have not who you wish they were. One of my favourite Ranieri quotes was after we played Copenhagen at home.
“I told them not to worry about possession. They aren’t good enough to keep possession.”
 
astleyfox said:
It isnt a “new style”, we’ve been watching Bodger trying to implement it for two years. How is the latest incarnation different?
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Even 'Bodger' managed to play possession football in an entertaining way for his first two years. We played some great stuff in the two seasons we finished fifth, and only missed out on the CL on both occasions because that team, despite its many strengths, was already mentally fragile. It all started to go wrong after the FA Cup win, when Rodgers had clearly begun to lose the dressing room and his flailing attempts to improve things just alienated the squad further. The emphasis on possession didn't change, but the players' lack of belief in Rodgers meant that it became slow and turgid.

Maresca isn't asking the team to play possession for possession's sake - he wants them to move it quickly, pull teams out of possession, and exploit any gaps that appear. It takes a lot of practice to do that effectively. The players are still learning it. Until Saturday, they'd managed to win every game while getting to grips with it. They could even have won on Saturday if they'd been a bit more clinical.

Maresca asked for patience at the beginning of the season. I expected that to be severely tested if we made a bad start to the season. As it happens, we've had an excellent start to the season followed by one narrow defeat, and some people are getting agitated already. I think we should all calm down a little.

David_Nish said:
Silk purse and sow’s ear come to mind.

You manage who you have not who you wish they were. One of my favourite Ranieri quotes was after we played Copenhagen at home.
“I told them not to worry about possession. They aren’t good enough to keep possession.”
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We're building a squad to play the kind of football Maresca wants to play. All the new signings have been purchased with that in mind. Can Ndidi or KDH learn to play that way effectively? I don't know, but if they can't they will be replaced. It's a shame we didn't push a bit harder to get Ilias Chair from QPR, who was apparently obtainable for very little and would have been very well suited to one one of the number 8 roles. Maybe we'll go in for him in January...

essingtonblue said:
Is that a certainty?
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There's are few certainties in life, essington, but I'm very confident about it.
 
Bit unfair to compare a team that had been built over the previous two seasons, with one built over the previous two months...
 
I don’t think anyone isn’t calm. There’s just a difference of opinion about whether - if we CAN play like this, it is enjoyable to watch.

As someone said to the rapper, you do what you do really well, but is it worth doing?
 
Adumass said:
Bit unfair to compare a team that had been built over the previous two seasons, with one built over the previous two months...
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This is a good point. In Pearson's first season, when we won League One, I wouldn't say the football was particularly exciting. I remember us struggling to break down teams that played with a low block. We were just that bit better than everybody else and over the season it showed. The 2013/14 Championship-winning team was more entertaining to watch, but Pearson was two years into his second spell with us then. Maresca has been here for a fraction of that time.
 
So Clappers do you thinks it's;
A) Boring to watch
B) Boring but tolerable
C) Not too bad
D) Worth the extortionate entrance fee
 
What? said:
So Clappers do you thinks it's;
A) Boring to watch
B) Boring but tolerable
C) Not too bad
D) Worth the extortionate entrance fee
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I think it is at times very impressive and at times, yes, boring. Over time I expect the ratio to shift in favour of the former.
 
31st August 2013 we lost 2-1 at Charlton. Team:

Schmeichel
de Laet
Morgan
Miquel
Moore
Drinkwater
King
James
Schlupp
Vardy
Nugent

Not sure I remember who Miquel is .. but that team scores more goals than the current and I think would win most times if they played each other.
 
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For what it's worth, I think it'll be an absolute fucking miracle if he can get these 'cheap' £5-10m players to improve enough to be able to beat well set-up teams in this division, let alone for them to be any cop at all in the PL.
I've really, really hated all the comparisons between what we're trying to do, and what fucking poxy Burnley did last season. Burnley!! Thanks a fucking million, YCR*, for dragging us down to the level of being compared to fucking Burnley!!
And I suspect I'll hate even more, in a years time if we're lucky enough to go up, the same sort of comparisons as we echo their struggles to make any in-roads into games against better teams.

*(You Cunt Rogers, in the hope he's reading this)
 
Brusselsfox said:
31st August 2013 we lost 2-1 at Charlton. Team:

Schmeichel
de Laet
Morgan
Miquel
Moore
Drinkwater
King
James
Vardy
Nugent

Not sure I remember who Miquel is .. but that team scores more goals than the current and I think would win most times if they played each other.
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I was at that game.

Miquel was I think a young loanee from Arsenal.

We didn't play that badly, Drinky was sent off after about 65 mins, which didn't help.

But no inkling that we would cruise the division, 20+ game unbeaten run etc. In fact, it wasn't until the win at QPR, in late Nov, featuring a classic Vardy finish, that I thought we could do it
 
Just watching that team under Dean Smith, showed how completely shattered and devoid of confidence they were. There's a long road ahead, pack a lunch.
 
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