Could Leicester replace Arsenal or Chelsea in top six?
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What Leicester can achieve…
I think Leicester are a club with a lot of potential, and getting a manager with a lot of potential (some realised) is the perfect mesh really and could be a great appointment, which could see the club make a go of it for a top four place within the next two full seasons. After what happened in 2016, they have changed forever, they were always going to suffer a drop after the intoxication of that unexpected success but I think they have a collective taste now to have a proper go. They have a good squad, and their youth options have been rightly pointed out, but overall, the setup is good, regardless of youth.
I think the thing with predictions is though, we still haven’t got used to Spurs as a top four team, they seem to be written off every year and they are still title challengers, they are the best of the also-rans, so to speak. I think the top four is still seen as a toss up between Utd/Pool/City/Chelsea or Arsenal. Utd, you will have to see what they’re like next season, the pressure has been off and they have acclimatised to that well, but this is an oddity. Don’t expect Spurs/Pool/City to drop, and Arse/Chelsea could go either way, they generally look resurgent then everything goes uncertain.
I think Leicester will be the ones to take advantage of the latter two being undependable, unless Watford or Wolves have a fairytale any time soon.
Dave, Dublin (Are brackets still important?)
…Genuine question for F365 and all the mailbox readers. After reading your article about Brendan Rodgers’ return to the Premier League with Leicester, the last line of the article left me thinking….
‘Leicester provide not only a new challenge, but all the necessary tools with which to be a success once more.’
What exactly would be considered ‘a success’ for Rodgers at Leicester?
Nobody expects a Title run.
Nobody expects a top 4 finish.
Nobody would be shocked if they didn’t get into Europe.
Is best of the rest or mid-table mediocrity the definition of “success” for Rodgers at Leicester?
A good FA Cup run?
It leaves me wondering the same question I started with….
What exactly would be considered ‘a success’ for Rodgers at Leicester?
Thanks.
Tim (CFC)
…I would greatly appreciate it if Liverpool, Swansea, Watford and Celtic fans on here could give their views on three questions:
1. How would you sum up Rodgers’ time at your club?
2. What should Leicester supporters expect for the rest of this season and next?
3. Would it have been realistic for him to go to Chelsea?
I ask as I genuinely can’t make my mind up whether, overall, he’s more sinner than sinned against?
Mark (Or vice versa) MCFC
He’s baaaaaaack
Please could you show us the picture of Brendan being interviewed in front of a massive photo of Brendan. In his own living room!!!!!!!
Awesome!!!!!!!
Brendy Mick
Not sure about that, Brendy Mick, but here he is…
Loving Longstaff
Being a Newcastle fan, Sean Longstaff is the talk of the toon these days, and bloody rightly so. He’s absolutely class! I know he’s only played a handful of games, but he’s been brilliant in every single one of them, including the 4-0 defeat by Liverpool (his debut). Honestly, can’t heap enough praise on him given the way he’s performed for us since being brought into the first-team fold. He’s cool, calm, economical, hard-working, full of running, good in the tackle, and has one hell of a range on his passing. The fact that he is keeping Shelvey, Ki, and Diame out of the side (as is Hayden) speaks volumes. He got a goal yesterday, which was richly deserved, and before that he hit the crossbar against Huddersfield from 30 yards out – so he clearly has the confidence to have a go.
He’s often likened to Michael Carrick in the media…which is a fair comparison given their stature and style on the ball, as well as the fact that both rarely give the ball away and have good passing ability. We allowed Carrick to slip through the net all those years ago, but we’re all so thankful the same didn’t happen to Longstaff. Super early days yet for him, and he needs a couple of seasons of regular football under his belt before we should start comparing him to Carrick, but the right ingredients are certainly there. I don’t think Newcastle have produced a better player to graduate through to the first team in all of the years of me supporting NUFC. Shearer and Carrick would be the stand-out players, but we let both of them go! Carroll, Harper, Ameobi, Taylor, Clark are the ones of note that I can think of who came through and played for us with some merit…but Longstaff for me has a far greater trajectory (yes, already!).
Another thing you’ll find a lot about on social media is this debate about Sean Longstaff vs Declan Rice, and which one is better, who will be the future England CM etc. Fun debate I guess, but it got me thinking about England’s options over the next few tournaments…in CM we could have players to pick from such as Longstaff (21), Rice (20), Loftus-Cheek (23), Foden (18), Winks (23), Cook (22), Maddison (22), Alli (22), Sancho (18), Sessegnon (18)….f me!
Expanding it further, we actually have some quality all over the pitch too!
GKs: Pickford, Woodman, Gunn
RBs: Alexander-Arnold, Wan-Bissaka, Walker-Peters (I see a double-barrel pattern emerging here…), Trippier (oh), Jonjoe Kenny
LBs: Shaw, Chilwell, Rose
CBs: Joe Gomez, Reece Oxford, John Stones, Lascelles, Clark-Salter
CMs: As above
FW: Sterling, Rashford, Grey, Lookman, Solanke, Ojo, Calvert-Lewin, Reiss Nelson
Southgate has quite a promising selection of players to pick from in the future…and by the looks of it, the FA should start doing whatever they can to ensure that all of these players are integrated into the England set up so that the England squad becomes more than just a call-up…I feel it needs to have more of a club feel to it so that the players all feel comfortable playing together, and in each others company. St Georges’ should be use for get togethers more often to bring that club-feel to the England set up. If you’re in the England set-up, you have extra homework to do regularly to understand what Southgate wants, so that each get-together isn’t wasted going over the same stuff over and over again. By the looks of it, if these players develop the way they’re looking like showing, we could genuinely have a real shot at winning something!
Anyway – Longstaff. Mint.
Mohsin (again), Dubai
Tony, Toni, Tone
Re Tony Cascarino and captains should be from their country, maybe someone should point out to him that international players should probably be from the country they represent.
Mel – Berlin
PS. Doesn’t mean we don’t love him and always will, but glass houses and that.
A new moniker?
Instead of Big Six, can we start using Rich Six?
Makes more sense given how inconsistent most of them can be falling in and out of big club criteria on a weekly basis.
Ashish S
Erm, sorry about that
The Diamond Geezers blog has just made me buy a laptop so I can download CM 01/02.
Thank you for the expense and the countless number of lost hours I am about to incur.
Paul, London