Sampson

Have to agree. I was also skeptical of him back in September, but he's really stepped up and become the main man this season after Maddison left and Vardy went past his best, he should be doing a clean sweep at POTS awards for both club and the division really. I get other players may be unsung or more consistant like Winks or Hermansson, but KDH is the difference maker in so many games.

Eh. It’s a dumb argument but to take the bait - Albrighton and Huth were both established PL players when we signed them. Fuchs and Okazaki were both established Bundesliga players at top half/European chasing clubs and internationals when we signed them. Simpson had years of PL experience when we signed him including in a Newcastle side that finished 5th. Drinkwater, De Laet and James were not Championship players but young ManUtd academy players who’d played in Europe when we signed them. Kante had just had a brilliant season in Ligue 1 when we signed him. Ulloa had had a season in La Liga, albeit got relegated and then was the top scorer in the Spanish second tier the following season. So that one’s debatable But still. These weren’t all Championship players when we signed them at all.

Schmeichel, Morgan, Drinkwater and Vardy were hands down the best players in the Championship already in their respective positions though tbf. I’m not convinced they were *that* far off their peak (Mahrez I do think was though), they just had never had the chance to prove it yet. That’s why I don’t think you can really answer the question until you’ve really seen how some of these players play in the top flight next season. Knockaert was one of the players I thought would step up most and he never really did, yet fringe players like Wood and Schlupp went on to be good Premier League players (Schlupp was still fairly young when we went up tbf).

All reads exactly like what people said of Burnley and Kompany last season though when they were running away with the league and on course to break the points record until they took their foot off the gas after already being promoted. I hope you’re right but way too soon to think we won’t be seriously up against it next season. Not convinced how anyone can already be confident enough to say the likes of Faes, Vestergaard, Justin, KDH, Ndidi, Daka etc. aren’t going to look just as lost at PL level next season assuming we got promoted as they did last season.

I don't get your point though. Half of this lot just got relegated because they showed they weren't good enough at PL level (and we probably would've fared even worse last season without Maddison and Barnes being our only remotely threatening players, neither of whom are here anymore) and the only one we've signed who was actually a proven PL player was Winks and many mocked that signing when we made it because his reputation was on the floor. I mean Ndidi as an example has been great this season and was a great PL player 4 years ago but he'd been completely rotten at PL level for a good 2.5 seasons, let's be honest. You may as well count Kevin Phillips and Gary Taylor-Flectcher in the 13-14 side as "Premier League" players in that case.

You think Schmeichel, Konchesky, Morgan, Drinkwater, Mahrez, Schlupp, Vardy and even Wood who couldn't get into that side weren't "Premier League players"? Wtf? Even Nugent, King and Wasilewski did good jobs for us in the PL even if not spectacular. De Laet and James were also perfectly ok bottom half PL players too. Personally, I this this side has more "very good" players across it's starting XI, but the best 4 or 5 players in the 14/15 side were better than the best 4 or 5 players in this side

Eh. I don't have a problem with preferring the current side but this post is clearly unfair. Fatawu against Konchesky, if you want, but Konchesky was a consistent top half PL full-back for years who kept far, far better wingers than Fatawu at bay and was unquestionably a better player than Justin is, especially defensively (who is probably our weakest starter) and you can't really argue that without arguing the same thing for Dyer, Mahrez and Knockaert all against Justin imo. Why are you comparing Ndidi to Dean Hammond as well? you're comparing a starter in one season to a player who was our 4th choice midfielder when we played a 2 man midfield, Drinkwater on the other hand completely ran and dominated that division and everything we did went through him, was miles ahead of any other player in the division that season when it came to passes iirc and was hands down the best player in the Championship that season and even better than Winks, KDH or Ndidi have been this season tbf. Think Morgan, Vardy and Nugent were also all clearly superior to any players we have in their position now too. Wasilewski likely too, although that's debatable I mean, you can say "the game has moved on" but Chris Wood was still a consistently good PL striker for Burnley who got into double figures in the level above this for 4 or 5 seasons straight until only a couple of seasons ago and he couldn't even get in that side because Vardy and Nugent were so good and kept him out. Not saying that side was definitely better overall (don't think we can decide that until the end of the season) and don't have a problem with people preferring the current side but at least be fair in your comparisons.

Any news on his injury? It seems to have gone quiet with him but we will definitely need him back for AFCON.

Didn't look like the keeper was anywhere near him, also looked like it was outside the box

That was a dive and outside the box, let's be honest

Finally

That's why players dive. It's a stonewall penalty but because he doesn't go down he doesn't get it

Wtf?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67782907 Declared innocent after spending 48 years in prison. Imagine having over half your life taken from you like that, frightening.

Agree but his injury was in like January and most thought he was out of his depth the season before and he’s never really done it since his injury. I think it’s absolutely far to give him the caveat that the injury played a big role in that so it’s not necessarily his fault, but it’s also fair to say he’s been here 4.5 seasons now only really ever had a genuinely great half season in that time here

As much as I hope Ipswich thrash Leeds, i can kind of see a weak argument at least for the draw given Southampton are level on points with Leeds. Genuinely wanting Leeds to beat Ipswich strikes me as crackers though. Whether we finish 1st or 2nd doesn’t matter, keeping as big a gap as possible to 3rd is the goal.

If increasing the number of people in the labour force decreases wages and increasing housing costs that is because of how weak/how little power the unions and collective bargaining have in the UK after Thatcher tore them apart. There is absolutely no inherent reason that immigration should drive down wages and increase housing costs at all unless you are a staunch Truss/Rees-Mogg style intransigent to the ideals of the Libertarian Utopia and believe that the only genuine option is an unregulated wage market, which is what allows the undercutting of wages and cause a race to the bottom in terms of wages. It is a failiure of having a strong system of robust labour laws and systems which allow collective bargaining if our labour force cannot handle increasing labour numbers while our workforce is so desperately in need of it due to the society shifting demographic changes of population ageing and the rapidly changing warped ratio of the proportion of the burden of the tax paying population compared to those of pension/high useage of public healthcare age.

What exactly was so offensive about what he said for you to use such strong language about him? It seems extremely innocuous and inoffensive to me.

Some of our fans are such weirdos. Yet again, some of our fans can't help themselves attacking Lineker for saying something incredibly inoffensive that is pretty basic sense and human decency. Lineker was one of the best ever to wear the Leicester shirt and is such a likeable personality too, wish there were more of the likes of Lineker and Ian Wright with their reach actually speaking up against the obvious bullshittery of the current government. We should be proud to have him a club ambassador and club legend, we could've ended up with Matt Le Tissier instead.

Hate the term "migrant crisis" and the way "migrant" and "migration" is used in the media these days with an absolute passion, especially when 99% of the time it refers to a handful of people crossing the channel, yet deliberately uses the generic term "migrate" and "migration" to muddy the waters. There's a clear deliberate attempt by the media to lump anyone who moves to the UK (and even 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants who were born in the UK in some cases) all in as one and to create a profoundly negative image around the term "migrant" and to lump absolutely anyone who dares to move to another country, regardless of reasons and status, into the same group of people. If you listen to certain people on the hard right of the debate they almost talk about "migrants" as a whole being on the same level as rapist and murderers, it's absurd.

Works both ways though tbf. The same was true of Iheanacho and Slimani - that they had excellent goals to minutes ratios but never really did it when they started. Coming on in the last 20 minutes of games when everyone is tired is an inherent advantage compared to players who play full 90 minutes and so often perennial substitutes have warped stastics that make the player look a lot better than they actually are if you solely concentrate on goals to minutes ratios.

A bit like voting on if the earth is round or flat though.

https://www.lcfc.com/match/96397?lang=en#latest The OS now says “Wilfred Ndidi was credited with Leicester's third, before Kevin Nisbet pulled one back.” yet still lists Ricardo as the scorer under the score. What is this chaos?

I have always assumed someone must have misread the team sheet/squad list when they saw it was scored by number 31 and misread Bruno Berner who was our 31 that season as Mark Davis who was 33 so probably the line below. Soccerbase here for example *still* lists it as Davis’ goal https://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=41883&season_id=138