Leicester City
2015/16
Starting 11:
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Goalkeeper: Kasper Schmeichel
Centre backs: Wes Morgan, Robert Huth
Full backs: Christian Fuchs (Left), Danny SImpson(Right)
Midfielders: Danny Drinkwater, N'golo Kante (Centre)
Marc Albrighton (Left)
Riyad Mahrez (right)
Strikers: Jamie Vardy, Shinji Okazaki
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Substitutes (With more than 5 appearance):
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Gokhan Inler
Formation: 4-2-2
Counter attack.
To compete against good teams such as Manchester United and Chelsea, their chance of having high possession is low. Their way to play is to wait for chances while defending than trying to attack all the time.
A great example of counter attack by Leicester. Liverpool is deperate to score, so almost their whole team is up front attacking. Only two defenders is staying below the half way line. Once Leicester successfully get the ball back, Vardy immediately run forward and with an accurate long pass, the ball pass through two defender and Vardy scores a beautiful goal.
Counter attack:
A tactics that teams changes from defending to attacking and maybe even scoring a goal in really short time and with simple passes.Usually it works best when the opponent team is attacking and pushing really far up front, and one counter attack can break through their defence since lots of their players are still up front and out of position.
Same kind of goal by Leicester ,this time against Manchester United. Once they get the ball, the right back instantly look for a simple long pass to Vardy, and it works again.
Low pressure.
Except from counter attack, what they do when they do not have the ball is really important too.
They usually play a low pressure tactics when defending.They immediately drop back when losing the ball, and form a tight defence..High pressure is a tactic that you try to put pressure on your opponent when you don’t have the possession, and what Leicester did was the opposite. Sit back and wait for chances rather than trying to get the ball back immediately.
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Whole team moves to one side when opponent is attacking on a side, and the other narrow the gap between players
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Only the two striker put pressure, the other team sit back and defend patiently
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Once they get the ball back from defending, the two strikers immediately run forward and try to get in behind of the defenders
According to Sky Sports, they only had an average of 44.8 possession per game. That is the 3rd lowest percentage among the 20 teams in the league.
New Manager:
Ranieri
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He has been appointed to be the new manager before the season starts, and he brings a lot to the team.
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He has good relationships with his players. We can see that from small things such as he promises to treat his players with pizzas after their first clean sheet(no goal conceded in a game), and he really did it. These kind of small things really bring the team together and improve relationships between players and also manager.
Momentum.
Kante with the "player of the year" award, an award by the club.
Attack as one, defend as one.
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Ranieri (Their manager) bring in discipline and momentum to the team, making sure the whole team attack and defend with their 120% effort.
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Starting the season off with a 4-2 victory, Leicester kept undefeated until the 7th game against Arsenal with a 5-2 lose.But rather than stoping their momentum,it makes them even more united and kept undefeated in their next 10 game with 2 draws 8 wins.
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When they get beaten by Arsenal the second time in February, they even get stronger.They did not lose a single league game until the end of the season, winning the champion.
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He brings in new players in the team and also uses the existing players well.
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One good example is his first signing, midfielder N’golo Kante from France, who later was awarded Leicester’s player of the season.
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Mahrez who was an existing players got awarded the “PFA (professional football association) player’s player of the year” which is voted by all the players in the league.
Mahrez with the "PFA player's player of the year" award, voted by all players in the Premier League.
Picture of Ranieri eating pizzas with his team after they successfully kept the first clean sheet in the season.
Picture of Cristian Fuchs pouring beer over Ranieri's head after winning the title.Shows the good relationship between manager and players.
Return of classic formation-
4-4-2
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4-4-2 was the major formation that England team uses back in the 90s. It evolved into different formations nowadays such as 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, and most of them involved in only one striker.
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Leiciester is one of the few teams that decided to use the classic formation that few team still use nowadays and it works well because teams are not expecting that.
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Their simple playstyle fits the formation, and not a lot of team can catch up on their intensity.