LanguedocFox

I was over in the UK watching the Spurs v Arsenal match with a mate of mine, and the fvckin commentators kept going on about Spurs' record in never having been top in March since the early 1960s. As soon as they got in front, they seemed to think that was it - so did I, to be fair. And when Arsenal scored the equaliser, the first thing one of them said was "Spurs were top of the Premier League for 14 minutes and 43 seconds. Does that count?" Answer: Nope. Spurs are more obsessed with their soddin' history than Florist and Newcastle. Nearly, anyway.

This. I remember reading an interview with Pearson after we won the Championship (in some style) and he was asked how he'd done it. He said that after the Watford defeat the previous season, he and his key staff - Shakespeare, Walsh, the sports-science team etc - went and spent a weekend at his father-in-law's pub in Shropshire to decide what, if anything, they were going to do. He didn't mention who came up with the thought, but someone raised the idea of doing exactly what Dave Brailsford did with the Sky and UK cycling teams, which was to look look continually at every aspect of every team member's performance, and to aim for marginal improvements. Nothing big, but maybe half a second on a sprint, a tenth of a second in a start and so on. Pearson said that's what they did with the City players: continually aim to make them a little bit better in everything they did - running, shooting, heading, reacting. Seems to have worked!

We've been benefiting from our sports science and fitness set-up throughout the past three or four seasons: there was a half-hour TV documentary about it a couple of years ago, but I've not been able to find a link. Anyway, I'm fairly sure that Matt James is the only player we've had with an ACL injury during the past four or five years (when was the previous one?) and aside from Schmeichel, Moore, Drinkwater and Schlupp, none of our other first team squad have had injuries lasting more than a couple of weeks since we were in the Championship. That's not accidental, and it's certainly not down to performance-enhancing drugs. As you say, it's down to the best sports science/fitness facilities and staff in the country.

I don't know if this has been posted - did a search and couldn't find it - but this BBC post from earlier in the week is interesting: http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35739231. Over the past 38 games (since the start of "the greatest escape") we're 11 points ahead of our nearest challengers, Man City.

Might be difficult to copy, but the video clip in this article is absolutely brilliant: http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/mar/09/marcilo-agro-leicester-city-barney-ronay.

I'm over in London for the weekend of the Watford match. Can't get a ticket, so I was wondering if the Stag's Head is still the pub where London fans go?

I feel a new thread coming on: "The wit and wisdom of Michael Owen".

This is good: http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/10159081/leicester-fairytale-continues

"Leicester’s remarkable success has been a joy to watch, but Ash Hails is worried that they could have a negative impact on English football in the coming seasons." Who the fvck is "Ash Hails"? He can worry all he fvckin' likes, but if we play in the CL like we have the past couple of games, we won't have anything to concern us, and that's all that matters. Ash Hails FFS. Sounds like a strange weather-pattern.

The interesting thing about Blackburn is how much money they spent - nearly £15 million, 20 years ago, to buy Tim Flowers, Chris Sutton, Graeme Le Saux, Colin Hendry, Tim Sherwood and that tw4t Shearer, among others. Look at our squad, where we are, and wonder... How the fvck did we do it on less than £25 million. Whatever happens from here on, we have done something very special.

I didn't get any of that. Am I missing something?

If you took Schmeichel out of our team and put me in goal we'd be bottom; if you took Morgan, Huth or Fuchs out of our team and put a defender from a pub team in their place, we'd be bottom; if you took Kanté, Albrighton, Mahrez... well, you get the point. It's a fvckin' team game, and the team that is Leicester City is top of the league. Deal with it, Tony. Tw4t.

Robbie Savage is such a kn0b. Last night was the first time we have beaten a "big club" this season: http://sport.bt.com/savage-leicester-can-now-win-the-premier-league-91364037956333. Oh and we could but won't win the Prem as a result. Completely tw4t.

Brilliantly OTT piece from the Irish Independent: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/a-streeturchin-amongst-the-millionaires-footballer-of-the-year-in-waiting-jamie-vardy-34420970.html . Quote: "Jamie Vardy has the spare, stringy, covetous frame and the quick, darting, suspicious eyes of a Dickensian pickpocket. If this upstart season has a face, it belongs to the pale, rawboned, backstreet whippet: Oliver Twist has stolen the back pages...." and so on for several hundred words. Love it.

Compare and contrast: http://www.foxestalk.co.uk/forums/topic/77569-greatest-goal/page-2

Don't think this has been posted, from NBC's Facebook page: the goal from every angle https://www.facebook.com/NBCSportsSoccer/videos/1043793145700381/. 44,000 likes, over two million views!

I was watching it on a stream, and screamed so loudly that my wife came in to told me to shut the fvck up because I'd wake the neighbours - who are more than 60 metres away, the other side of a thick hedge! Loved it.

Couple of brilliant articles from The Guardian: this on their "Tea-Timely Football email, The Fiver" - http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/feb/02/the-fiver-leicester-city-and-pretty-much-certainly-jinxing-them?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=The+Fiver+main&utm_term=154378&subid=2714395&CMP=EMCFTBEML853. I like the comment halfway down: "Join Tim Hill from 7.45pm GMT for hot MBM coverage of Leicester City 0-49 Liverpool". There's also this on the main website, and presumably in the newspaper: http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/02/leicester-liverpool-premier-league-arsenal-manchester-city. Some lovely comments at the end - we really are most fans' second-favourite club this season.

Saddest day of our lives - and so unnecessary. Thanks Holloway.

I like the comments from the Stokies on their forum. Level headed and interesting for the most part, and a lot better than supporters from some clubs.

Sounds like a messy episode all round. I loved Lenny when he played for us, but glad we have Claudio as our manager and not him - as some people wanted.

I'm glad you felt the same thing. And why was he slumped on his coach when Okazaki scored? What's Remi Garde ever done to him?

Saw this in The Grauniad: http://www.theguardian.com/football/these-football-times/2015/oct/19/steffen-freund-tottenham-hotspur-and-midfielders?CMP=EMCFTBEML853 I looked Freund up on Wikipedia, and I was surprised to find he only played 14 games for us. I thought it was a full season. Fond memories, though, despite that League Cup final. He was one of the few older players we signed in that era who wasn't in it for one last payday.

That's so sad. I was crap at football, and would love to have had Powell's talent. Sad that it looks like he is going to waste it.

Yes, but good attitude: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/tranmere-rovers-gary-taylor-fletchers-10285719. - "People wanted to question why I came down to this level but why not?" said Taylor Fletcher. "It is enjoyable. It is what I want to do. I was getting frustrated. I'm helping Tranmere and they are helping me." I like that: good luck to him.