Greavswasthegreatest
Vital Football Legend
Well we play Chelsea at home on 3rd Feb......lets compare how we pay against them versus Leicester......or will we park the bus like at the Bridge....my guess is the latter
Spursex
Alert Team
To be fair, both at the redbindippers and at Leicester last year, he'd lost key players and it showed, in both cases - the bin dippers were money strapped and last season, he just didn't have the depth of quality you need to achieve anything now..
As you say, they look good enough for a CL finish, but I do think it will come at our expense unless we actually approach every game with positive set-up and game management to match.
muttley
Alert Team
What I notice most about Leicester is how Rodgers is investing in the younger group. Last night they had 7 players 25 or under - Justin, Fofana, Maddison, Ndidi, Castagne, Tielemans, Barnes. They then put them with seniors Schmeichel, Evans, Vardy and Albrighton. Guys like Soyuncu and Pereira had to sit on the bench.
Then you look at the transfer news and you see Jose sniffing around 28 year olds Ings and Lingard whilst selling Dele. We've barely played an U23 player in our league side all season, let alone an U21. It starts to get you worried remembering that half the Utd squad were 28 or over under his stewardship and it has taken a couple of years for the club to repair his squad strategy.
Then you look at the transfer news and you see Jose sniffing around 28 year olds Ings and Lingard whilst selling Dele. We've barely played an U23 player in our league side all season, let alone an U21. It starts to get you worried remembering that half the Utd squad were 28 or over under his stewardship and it has taken a couple of years for the club to repair his squad strategy.
Spursex
Alert Team
Why Leicester must be taken seriously as Premier League title contenders
By Phil McNultyChief football writer
Last updated on
10 hours ago10 hours ago.From the section Premier League
2
Since the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign only Manchester City (547), Liverpool (534) and Chelsea (194) have spent more days at the top of the Premier League table than Leicester (175)
Leicester City have won a reputation as the Premier League's great front-runners this season - now they must be taken seriously after moving out in front as an increasingly unpredictable race for the title unfolds.
The Foxes have proved impregnable when they have gone ahead this term, the 2-0 win over Chelsea the 12th time in 12 league games this season they have claimed three points after going ahead.
It means no-one should have been surprised that they closed out the win that took them top ahead of Manchester United at the halfway point in their season, although the comfort with which they dismissed Chelsea will have alarm bells clanging for manager Frank Lampard and, rather more significantly, owner Roman Abramovich.
Lampard will know Abramovich does not do mates' rates when it comes to managers and he will go the same way as all the others he played under if Chelsea fall too far away from Champions League contention for the Russian's liking.
It was after a 2-1 loss at Leicester in December 2015 that Abramovich brought a brutal end to Jose Mourinho's second Chelsea reign and while Lampard may not have reached that point yet, this lame, heartless performance will not have helped his long-term prospects.
No such problems for Leicester, who are top of the table and moving with the ease of a well-oiled machine.
The Foxes are hardly unfamiliar with this position having been a constant presence in the top four, and often in the top two, last season until the Liverpool juggernaut broke clear, before they stumbled and missed out on the Champions League with a last-day loss at home to Manchester United.
Their points tally this season stands comparison to their Claudio Ranieri-inspired title win of 2015-16. In that campaign, they were second to Arsenal with 39 points at the midway point, while they now have just one point less from the same number of matches.
So should we take Leicester seriously as Premier League title contenders? It would be patronising in the extreme not to.
Leicester City's Brendan Rodgers has now beaten all 34 of the teams he's faced in the Premier League as a manager
Brendan Rodgers has worked this part of the Premier League before, almost winning it with Liverpool in 2013-14 and pushing Leicester towards the top four last term.
And this victory was impressive evidence of the quality he has at his disposal, an elegant, pacy team that is superbly coached and organised.
Leicester still rely heavily on the old master, striker Jamie Vardy, but even on nights like this when his touch is not quite as sure as normal, they have potent weapons elsewhere, especially in the gifted James Maddison, who added the second after Wilfred Ndidi's opener.
They are also a monument to smart recruitment, especially when we witnessed their £50m summer sale Ben Chilwell struggling so badly for their hapless opponents Chelsea on Tuesday.
James Justin plays like an upgrade in Chilwell's place while the solid Belgium international Timothy Castagne is equally impressive at right-back.
The best acquisition of all, however, may yet be the outstanding 20-year-old French defender Wesley Fofana, brought in from St Etienne for a fee reported to be about £30m in the summer.
Fofana, a France Under-21 international, looks the complete package and already has team-mates like Jonny Evans suggesting he could become one of the world's best defenders.
He is composed on the ball, dominant in the air and possesses an air of confidence that belies his years.
It underscores just how bad Chelsea were that greater tests than this will lie ahead for Leicester but nothing must be taken away from just how good they were here.
Rodgers has pieced together a beautifully balanced side, with the industrious Ndidi the perfect foil for Maddison and Youri Tielemans in midfield, with Vardy fed by the plentiful supply line from Marc Albrighton and Harvey Barnes.
Reality suggests the Premier League champions will still come from the old guard, with Manchester City suddenly looking the most ominous of all, with the possibility of going back to the top if they beat Aston Villa on Wednesday, but it would be foolish and ignorant to dismiss Leicester in what is proving a topsy-turvy season.
Maddison, beaming with delight after a top-class individual and team performance, was playing it cool but there was no disguising the excitement at what could lie ahead.
"We're top of the league because we work hard," he said. "We're not there by fluke. We'll do our business in the background. Let them talk about Liverpool, Manchester United and Spurs. We'll just keep doing what we're doing."
And manager Rodgers added: "I don't really think about it [the title] - it's something which gets floated about and we have seen it all season.
"Tottenham a few weeks ago and Chelsea themselves, five or six weeks ago, everyone was talking about them.
"There is the quality of Manchester City, Liverpool are the champions and Manchester United have been great. For Leicester to be up with the level of the teams who are there makes me really happy.
"It's going to be a huge challenge to be up there but we are happy to take on that challenge."
Yes, Manchester City and Liverpool may emerge from the shake-up as the usual suspects, while Manchester United's hopes have risen and Jose Mourinho can never be ruled out at Spurs.
Leicester are certainly outsiders - just as they were five years ago - but no-one can argue with their current league position.
Rodgers and his players are showing quiet confidence off the field and the right sort of arrogance on it to say loud and clear that they must not be under-estimated.
By Phil McNultyChief football writer
Last updated on
10 hours ago10 hours ago.From the section Premier League
2
Leicester City have won a reputation as the Premier League's great front-runners this season - now they must be taken seriously after moving out in front as an increasingly unpredictable race for the title unfolds.
The Foxes have proved impregnable when they have gone ahead this term, the 2-0 win over Chelsea the 12th time in 12 league games this season they have claimed three points after going ahead.
It means no-one should have been surprised that they closed out the win that took them top ahead of Manchester United at the halfway point in their season, although the comfort with which they dismissed Chelsea will have alarm bells clanging for manager Frank Lampard and, rather more significantly, owner Roman Abramovich.
Lampard will know Abramovich does not do mates' rates when it comes to managers and he will go the same way as all the others he played under if Chelsea fall too far away from Champions League contention for the Russian's liking.
It was after a 2-1 loss at Leicester in December 2015 that Abramovich brought a brutal end to Jose Mourinho's second Chelsea reign and while Lampard may not have reached that point yet, this lame, heartless performance will not have helped his long-term prospects.
No such problems for Leicester, who are top of the table and moving with the ease of a well-oiled machine.
The Foxes are hardly unfamiliar with this position having been a constant presence in the top four, and often in the top two, last season until the Liverpool juggernaut broke clear, before they stumbled and missed out on the Champions League with a last-day loss at home to Manchester United.
Their points tally this season stands comparison to their Claudio Ranieri-inspired title win of 2015-16. In that campaign, they were second to Arsenal with 39 points at the midway point, while they now have just one point less from the same number of matches.
So should we take Leicester seriously as Premier League title contenders? It would be patronising in the extreme not to.
Leicester City's Brendan Rodgers has now beaten all 34 of the teams he's faced in the Premier League as a manager
Brendan Rodgers has worked this part of the Premier League before, almost winning it with Liverpool in 2013-14 and pushing Leicester towards the top four last term.
And this victory was impressive evidence of the quality he has at his disposal, an elegant, pacy team that is superbly coached and organised.
Leicester still rely heavily on the old master, striker Jamie Vardy, but even on nights like this when his touch is not quite as sure as normal, they have potent weapons elsewhere, especially in the gifted James Maddison, who added the second after Wilfred Ndidi's opener.
They are also a monument to smart recruitment, especially when we witnessed their £50m summer sale Ben Chilwell struggling so badly for their hapless opponents Chelsea on Tuesday.
James Justin plays like an upgrade in Chilwell's place while the solid Belgium international Timothy Castagne is equally impressive at right-back.
The best acquisition of all, however, may yet be the outstanding 20-year-old French defender Wesley Fofana, brought in from St Etienne for a fee reported to be about £30m in the summer.
Fofana, a France Under-21 international, looks the complete package and already has team-mates like Jonny Evans suggesting he could become one of the world's best defenders.
He is composed on the ball, dominant in the air and possesses an air of confidence that belies his years.
It underscores just how bad Chelsea were that greater tests than this will lie ahead for Leicester but nothing must be taken away from just how good they were here.
Rodgers has pieced together a beautifully balanced side, with the industrious Ndidi the perfect foil for Maddison and Youri Tielemans in midfield, with Vardy fed by the plentiful supply line from Marc Albrighton and Harvey Barnes.
Reality suggests the Premier League champions will still come from the old guard, with Manchester City suddenly looking the most ominous of all, with the possibility of going back to the top if they beat Aston Villa on Wednesday, but it would be foolish and ignorant to dismiss Leicester in what is proving a topsy-turvy season.
Maddison, beaming with delight after a top-class individual and team performance, was playing it cool but there was no disguising the excitement at what could lie ahead.
"We're top of the league because we work hard," he said. "We're not there by fluke. We'll do our business in the background. Let them talk about Liverpool, Manchester United and Spurs. We'll just keep doing what we're doing."
And manager Rodgers added: "I don't really think about it [the title] - it's something which gets floated about and we have seen it all season.
"Tottenham a few weeks ago and Chelsea themselves, five or six weeks ago, everyone was talking about them.
"There is the quality of Manchester City, Liverpool are the champions and Manchester United have been great. For Leicester to be up with the level of the teams who are there makes me really happy.
"It's going to be a huge challenge to be up there but we are happy to take on that challenge."
Yes, Manchester City and Liverpool may emerge from the shake-up as the usual suspects, while Manchester United's hopes have risen and Jose Mourinho can never be ruled out at Spurs.
Leicester are certainly outsiders - just as they were five years ago - but no-one can argue with their current league position.
Rodgers and his players are showing quiet confidence off the field and the right sort of arrogance on it to say loud and clear that they must not be under-estimated.
steveperryman
Vital Football Legend
Leicester have bought wisely. They've also had a good run without being hampered by long term or key injuries. Commitment wise they're leaving it all lying out on the pitch.
Gary Onedaysoon
*Prediction Champion 20/21 & 21/22*
Earlier on in the season they had their whole first choice back four out through injury. Ndidi was also injured. So they've had their fair share. That's why it's so commendable they've stayed in contention. They've got strength in depth in almost every position of their squad except cover for Vardy.
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So...we are in agreement. Well better than the pretty clear answer from 80! LOL
steveperryman
Vital Football Legend
That's right. Didn't they return after a handful of games though? I do seem to remember Evans getting suspended around xmas as well. Fofana has been a revelation for them. He really does look the business.
SmithAndJones
Vital 1st Team Regular
What did those who saw it make of City's controversial opener in the eightieth minute last night, which resulted in the Villa manager being sent off. It appeared that a City player run back from an offside position, with the Villa central defender unaware that he was behind him, stole the ball and then headed back in the direction of the goal and scored. Technically it would seem that when he got in a position to steal the ball he was back onside, but it certainly wasn't in the spirit of fair play, and remained arguable in terms of transition of play. With the number of great goals that have been disallowed over the past couple of seasons by VAR by virtue of toenail length, I thought that allowing this goal stank. Would it have gone Villas way if at the other end, probably not.
muttley
Alert Team
In the spirit of the game, utterly disgraceful. I'm just not sure where the blame lies - the current rules or the interpretation of the rules by the officials etc.
The other thing I'm noticing is that when the linesman's flag doesn't go up, sometimes attacking teams are retaining possession and even getting a corner out of it. This can lead to a goal in the "next phase". That to me is so wrong if they are gaining an advantage.
Those of us that have played know that defending is as much an art form as attacking. Multiple players working together to play people offside deserves to be rewarded. That is mostly lost from the game. More goals = more TV watchers = more revenue = bigger salaries for the bigwigs....it's an easy formula !!!
Gary Onedaysoon
*Prediction Champion 20/21 & 21/22*
Has the rule changed? I remember (vaguely) Defoe (or was it Robbie Keane) scoring a similar type goal at Anfield quite a few years back but it was disallowed. And it was highly contentious because it had gone into the second phase (at least) by the time he pinched the ball.
muttley
Alert Team
So the rules distinguish between an "offside position" and an "offside offence". Now clearly when the header comes back Rodri is in an offside position. Is he interfering with play? Nope, so no offence. He then becomes "active" so we all assume that he has therefore committed an offside offence. We all assume it is the "same phase". Everyone in the stadium did except the linesman who didn't put his flag up. He knew the rules. As did Moss.
Dermot Gallagher is saying that IFAB have changed the rules at some stage because as soon as Mings touches it then it is a different phase. Therefore, there is no offside offence and no blame can be apportioned to the ref who is following IFAB's rules.
So this one is on IFAB apparently and even Gallagher had to do some research to advise BT Sports.
Where I'm disappointed is with Moss. All he had to say to Smith was "Sorry mate, the new IFAB ruling is that as soon as Mings touched it, it is now classed as a new phase. I have no choice but to give it."
Perhaps we're seeing some of the people skills missing from Moss's refereeing that Nuno was talking about a few weeks back !!!
Pompey Yid
Vital Champions League
As has been said already, defending is an art, and for me all defenders, esp CB's, should know where an opposition player is, esp if you have just played your trap and your target is caught, so basically you know where he is, thus still play on the safe side/clear the ball, either up to the other end of the park or hit row z in the stands.
If I am right Rio said the same.
If I am right Rio said the same.
Critical_Spur
Vital Football Hero
That is precisely what crossed my mind.
Can you imagine, Dier or Sanchez under that ball - unlike Mings - what?...chest the ball down and play FOOTball?...Nah!...HOOFball it man! Sorted!
Spirit of the game?...RIP.
ps., was a good game up until that point.
Gary Onedaysoon
*Prediction Champion 20/21 & 21/22*
It encourages a sort of goal-hanging then, doesn't it? If you positioned a player behind the last defender it would make a pass back to the goalkeeper or one of the defenders very risky. And there's no risk to the forward of being offside.
Spursex
Alert Team
Man City 2-0 Aston Villa: Dean Smith fumes at 'pathetic' offside decision
Last updated on
20 January 202120 January 2021.From the section Aston Villa
'Farcical' Man City goal frustrates Smith
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith felt the decision to allow Manchester City's opening goal to stand in his side's 2-0 defeat was "farcical".
City midfielder Rodri was offside when Tyrone Mings intercepted a ball forward, but ran back to challenge the Villa defender and then fed Bernardo Silva to score.
Smith was sent off for his protests about the goal, which came after his side had defended brilliantly for 79 minutes, but afterwards he was still adamant it should have been ruled out.
"It's farcical. He was 10 yards offside and came back and tackled our player, it's a pathetic law and a pathetic decision," he told BT Sport.
Smith was sent to the stands by referee Jon Moss for his complaints about the opening goal
Speaking to BBC Sport, he added: "I've not seen a goal like that given. It needs to be looked at. I don't think anyone in this stadium thought it was a goal.
"I thought they would go over to the VAR screen. I saw the incident and saw it was kicking off, so I asked the fourth officials did they get juggling balls for Christmas?
"If that is the law, then definitely [it's a problem]. You can't just have people standing offside and taking advantage of an unfair position."
When asked if he would have been unhappy to be on the end of a similar position, City boss Guardiola said "yes", but added: "There is VAR here, no? So, I don't know the rule or the situation but they analysed it."
Smith was also angry with the decision to award a penalty for City's second goal, scored by Ilkay Gundogan from the spot after Matty Cash handled a Gabriel Jesus header.
"A header from a yard out that has hit his arm. That's not handball. Ridiculous," he said.
What is the rule?
Rodri, highlighted, was behind Mings when the defender controlled the ball
By the letter of the law, Rodri's goal was legitimate.
In a statement, the group representing Premier League referees said: "As soon as Mings deliberately played the ball the following law applies:
"A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball, including by deliberate handball, is not considered to have gained an advantage, unless it was a deliberate save by any opponent.
"As the Law deems that Rodri has not gained an advantage, he has not committed an offside offence and play should be allowed to continue. Rodri legitimately took possession of the ball from Mings, starting the attack which resulted in the goal."
Mings later tweeted:
"Never even heard of that rule, just let players stand offside, then run back & tackle you? In hindsight I should've cleared it, 100%, but didn't even know that was the case. Nonsense."
Last updated on
20 January 202120 January 2021.From the section Aston Villa
'Farcical' Man City goal frustrates Smith
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith felt the decision to allow Manchester City's opening goal to stand in his side's 2-0 defeat was "farcical".
City midfielder Rodri was offside when Tyrone Mings intercepted a ball forward, but ran back to challenge the Villa defender and then fed Bernardo Silva to score.
Smith was sent off for his protests about the goal, which came after his side had defended brilliantly for 79 minutes, but afterwards he was still adamant it should have been ruled out.
"It's farcical. He was 10 yards offside and came back and tackled our player, it's a pathetic law and a pathetic decision," he told BT Sport.
Speaking to BBC Sport, he added: "I've not seen a goal like that given. It needs to be looked at. I don't think anyone in this stadium thought it was a goal.
"I thought they would go over to the VAR screen. I saw the incident and saw it was kicking off, so I asked the fourth officials did they get juggling balls for Christmas?
"If that is the law, then definitely [it's a problem]. You can't just have people standing offside and taking advantage of an unfair position."
When asked if he would have been unhappy to be on the end of a similar position, City boss Guardiola said "yes", but added: "There is VAR here, no? So, I don't know the rule or the situation but they analysed it."
Smith was also angry with the decision to award a penalty for City's second goal, scored by Ilkay Gundogan from the spot after Matty Cash handled a Gabriel Jesus header.
"A header from a yard out that has hit his arm. That's not handball. Ridiculous," he said.
What is the rule?
By the letter of the law, Rodri's goal was legitimate.
In a statement, the group representing Premier League referees said: "As soon as Mings deliberately played the ball the following law applies:
"A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball, including by deliberate handball, is not considered to have gained an advantage, unless it was a deliberate save by any opponent.
"As the Law deems that Rodri has not gained an advantage, he has not committed an offside offence and play should be allowed to continue. Rodri legitimately took possession of the ball from Mings, starting the attack which resulted in the goal."
Mings later tweeted:
"Never even heard of that rule, just let players stand offside, then run back & tackle you? In hindsight I should've cleared it, 100%, but didn't even know that was the case. Nonsense."
steveperryman
Vital Football Legend
Mings was at fault here. He should've been aware of the rules, it's his job after all.
Pompey Yid
Vital Champions League
Words out of mouth there Gary, so bloody true, phase this phase that bullshit aaaargh!
Pompey Yid
Vital Champions League
Ditto there Steve, basically said the same in my earlier post!
