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Leicester City
Leicester's play-off pain drives them towards Premier League promised landNigel Pearson's team lead the Championship by 10 points and may see last season's anguish as a blessing in disguise
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James Riach
The Guardian, Saturday 8 February 2014
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Leicester's Kevin Phillips, left, celebrates with Anthony Knockaert after the veteran scored against Bournemouth last Saturday. Photograph: David Field/Action Images
For Leicester City Anthony Knockaert's celebration at Vicarage Road in December was an exercise in exorcism. Knockaert, after scoring in the second half of a comfortable 3-0 victory, ran to the travelling supporters as if the biggest of burdens had been disposed of, relief and joy etched on his face in equal measure.
His reaction was no surprise. Leicester, who will be reunited withWatford on Saturday in the Championship, were one kick away from a play-off final and a shot at promotion to the Premier League, only for Manuel Almunia to save Knockaert's penalty in the dying seconds. Watford, with their campaign seemingly at an end, then countered to score in the most dramatic of finishes.
Leicester were inconsolable, yet now, having kept Nigel Pearson at the helm, are having a season in the sun. From annus horribilis to annus mirabilis the Foxes are currently 10 points clear at the top of the table and 13 ahead of Burnley in third. This time around there will surely be no bitter denouement.
"If we'd have gone up last year you wonder if we would have gone straight back down," says Ian Bason, chairman of the Foxes Trust. "It wouldn't have been definite but this year we should go up as a much stronger unit for the experience some of the younger players have gained this season.
"We're only now about two points behind what we got for the whole of last season. We had a bad run this time last year but I can't see it happening at the moment."
Automatic promotion beckons for Leicester, who could make it a club record 10th league win in succession should they secure another three points at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
The defender Ignasi Miquel could feature despite a recent thigh strain, as could Chris Wood, who has struggled with a tight hamstring in recent weeks.
Leicester, though, have been imperious of late. Sweeping past fellow promotion-hopefuls Derby County 4-1 proved the zenith of a domineering January, which also provided grit alongside the glitter. There were tough wins at Leeds and Birmingham whereas last weekend's 1-0 victory at Bournemouth was secured by a late goal from Kevin Phillips, his first effort for the club.
It has been a period in which Leicester have consolidated their position at the summit of the Championship, with Pearson being named the division's manager of the month for January.
Barring a monumental capitulation Leicester will be a top-flight side in little over three months' time. Hindsight can be a wonderful thing in football but, given the rise to prominence of a number of players in the squad this season and the improved health at the club overall, the argument that not being promoted last term has proved beneficial in the long term holds a certain credence.
The emergence of Jamie Vardy, signed by Leicester in 2012, has possibly been the biggest positive, the striker with 10 goals to his name this year having joined from Fleetwood for £1m.
Liam Moore, a 21-year-old centre-half, has also performed well alongside Wes Morgan in defence and it is questionable whether either player would have been given the same opportunity had City beaten Watford last May and gone on to beat Crystal Palace in the play-off final.
"I think we've got better in all areas [this season] if I'm totally honest," said Pearson, below, this week. "You look at the central midfield positions for instance; if we play with a two in there we are very fortunate to have four very, very good players for those two places.
"I think competition in itself is healthy. Clearly we've got two players who are probably not enjoying not playing but they are very supportive of the players playing in there and, with the number of games that we have left, we're going to need everybody."
Off the pitch there has also been good news this season, with Leicester's owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, effectively wiping out their £103m debt in December by swapping the club's liabilities for shares in City, making it easier for the Foxes to comply with financial fair play.
However, Pearson insists there is still work to be done. He said: "We have to continue to build on the standards that we've set, which won't be easy, but we're in a situation where the season has gone well so far, but whenever you're in a good position, people want to shoot you down."
The stats don't lie! Championship table-toppers Leicester streaking towards 10 wins on bounce and a return to the big timeBy LAURIE WHITWELL
PUBLISHED: 01:11, 8 February 2014 | UPDATED: 01:11, 8 February 2014
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The statistics swirling around Leicester City right now really are rather remarkable. Top of the Championship by 10 points, Nigel Pearson’s team can make it 10 wins in a row by beating Watford at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
Victory against the club who so dramatically knocked them out of last season’s play-offs would also mean their entire total from that campaign of 68 points is eclipsed – and we are only in the first week of February.
Such numbers inevitably draw comparison to the streak from last season that was the mirror opposite. For nine consecutive matches in March and early April Leicester failed to win.
It saw their automatic promotion hopes crumble to a last-ditch squeak into the play-offs, which itself ended at Vicarage Road when Troy Deeney scored a decisive, stoppage-time goal 19 seconds after Anthony Knockaert had missed a Wembley-clinching penalty.
From such adversity, Leicester have emerged strengthened. Players talk about the Barclays Premier League not in nervous whispers but with volume. Those discussions are not discouraged.
Paul Konchesky wants to return to the division where he made his name; Matty James, once of Manchester United, is keen to test himself at the level that was his environment from the age of 10.
There are others in the squad with personal stories of course, and it is Pearson, a man more welcoming of pre-game planning than records or accolades (he is January’s manager of the month), who has moulded them into a winning machine.
Konchesky was taken to Liverpool by Roy Hodgson and in his opinion the England boss finds equal in the former Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday captain.
‘I’ll put him up there with Roy tactically and as a person,’ says the 32-year-old. ‘It’s his stature. If you’re on a downer he’s a good man-to-man manager. The training is enjoyable.
‘I came here because I wanted to get back to the Premier League. That’s where the club belongs.’ It is hard to believe anyone could have envisaged all this 11 months ago.
Pearson had his job questioned regularly but billionaire owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha stuck with him and that stability appears key to the turnaround. The set of players is largely the same, too.
Continuity has developed an understanding while the knowledge from last season’ s hurt has improved mentality, notably in gaining late 1-0 wins at Leeds and, last weekend, Bournemouth.
his year I think we’re a lot more resilient,’ says James, who was guided in moving to Leicester by Sir Alex Ferguson. ‘Last year we overplayed at times. We’ve said it openly: we don’t think we’d have won certain games that we have recently.’
Pearson’s level-headedness has proved vital and from a squad once requiring morale-boosting pick-me-ups each week he is able to simply say ‘same again’ as the points accumulate.
There is also a commitment to attacking football which means draws are turned into wins even at risk of defeat. Leicester have more losses than QPR, Burnley, and Nottingham Forest, but five more victories than next best QPR. It is just three draws in 29 matches.
Knockaert has been electric on one wing, Lloyd Dyer just as lively on the other. David Nugent and a revitalised Jamie Vardy plunder the goals while James and Danny Drinkwater, friends from years together at United’s academy, tend to set the tempo in midfield.
Pearson says he has leaders of all shapes in the dressing room, from captain Wes Morgan, who does his talking on the pitch, to more vocal figures such as Kevin Phillips, still scoring at 40.
‘The best dressing rooms I’ve been in as a player have been very much self-governing,’ reflects Pearson. ‘When you have a good balance in terms of seniority, players’ experience, character, it goes without saying you’ve got a better chance of achieving results.’
On the offensive swagger of his team he adds: ‘In my Sheffield Wednesday days under Ron Atkinson we didn’t care whether we played top of the league, we went out there and expected to win.
‘It’s a mind-set that’s very important to have. You can’t always sustain it and you can’t be arrogant with it. But it’s got to be a positive thing. When I drift around the training ground and the players are chatting they are in a good place. And they should be.’
James, 22, concurs. ‘When we came in after Bournemouth we did say that if we win the next game we’d beat the whole of last season’s tally. It shows how far we’ve come as a team but also how close we are to getting to the Premier League.
‘Promotion is not a scary word. If you want to achieve it you’re going to have to talk about it. I’m very hungry to get back to the Premier League. Not prove a point but to be where I wanted to be from the start. I think that goes for everyone in the team. But we’ve just got to focus on Watford.’
As Pearson says: ‘We’ve worked exceptionally hard to evolve the squad into what it is now. We haven’t achieved anything yet. We have to see the job through.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2554427/Leicester-make-10-Championship-wins-bounce-book-return-Premier-League.html#ixzz2siS3pDgj
