Lack of Motivation

[Kitchandro]

5 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Maybe CR got them to over perform last season and this is more their actual level?

That makes no sense. How can you over perform? It's impossible.

 

I won't accept that this is their level, that attitude is exactly the problem. Instead of acting like champions these talented players have believed the flukey fairytale and the bullshit 'little Leicester' tag and forgotten the reality that their talent and hard work got them success.

 

It's almost like they believe it was all luck and so aren't going to bother this season because what's the point.

 

Granted the squad is poor, there are too many players not good enough, but there are several top quality regulars from last season who are performing well below of what they're capable of and that's largely down to their own mental failings.

 

As for the quality of players we've brought in, that in itself highlights the lack of both ambition and ability to change our tactics in the transfer market once we became aware that we were able to attract a higher calibre of player. We didn't adapt to the situation and now we are paying the price as we will now have to settle for the type of limited signing that relegation strugglers bring in rather than the one who could have taken us to the next level.

 

It's time this club found it's proverbial testicles and started taking responsibility for it's underachievement. Last season didn't happen by luck and things like that don't happen if all your players are shit.

[Kitchandro]

5 hours ago, Manwell Pablo said:

 

Kane's a more versatile and effective player than vardy. Vardy had a good season, clear for anyone to see we was never going to repeat it. Realistically speaking you'd be happy if he scores 15 a season.

 

Mahrez I think as col has alluded to perhaps would do a bit better in a side that has other ridiculous creative talents to call upon. Most teams have now worked out priority one is not letting us play how we want too as a team (another issue)  priority two is shut down Riyadh mahrez.

 

thirdly the whole team played well above itself last season, to expect us to pick up where we left off and even get close to repeating it is, we'll like I say, a total lack of realism. 

Not really much sense in this post to be honest.

 

Firstly the bizarre comment that Kane is more versatile and effective player than Vardy when quite the opposite is true. Kane has a knack for socring goals but doesn't have the pace Vardy does, the movement off the ball, the technical skill, is not a team player and is frankly not even as strong as Vardy despite being much bigger. There is very, very little to Kane's game, he's just a goalscorer, which is quite a bit easier when you're playing in peforming team and taking all their dodgy penalties.

 

Anyone can see that Vardy is key to us playing well in a way that Kane could never be for any team. Kane's a glorified target man for christ's sake, a rich man's Peter Crouch. But Vardy has let himself down this season and people have forgotten how effective he is at this level when he's at it. And that's the apathy and lack of self-expectation that the players are showing as well. It's very easy to label the players as shit (they did the same when Pearson's tactics had us bottom of the league) but those with a bit more brain power try to actually analyse what's going wrong.

 

Why is it unrealistic for us to continue what we'd been doing for 15 months before? Ok, losing Kante was bound to set us back a bit, but this much? No, not acceptable. What's the actual reason for our loss of form? For the players loss of form? Think about it rather than just jumping to a silly conclusion like 'we played above ourselves'. Even if that was the case, we'd been doing that for 15 months, why are we not doing it now?

 

It's ludicrous to suggest these players are not in control of their own form, or Claudio's not in control of his own decisions, which is essentially what you're doing. Are we to believe this is like Space Jam where Claudio, Vardy, Mahrez, Albrighton, Fuchs and Morgan stole the talent from other professional footballers/managers, then had to give it back at the end of the season?

 

Individuals can't play above themselves. Yes, the team can make up for the failings of individuals with good tactics, but this is a massive, massive drop in form from several players, and the manager's previously faultless tactics have gone out the window. Stop excusing them. A regression like this does not 'just happen', it occurs because individuals and the collective stop doing the right things.

 

 

[Goober]

4 hours ago, Kitchandro said:

It's almost like they believe it was all luck and so aren't going to bother this season because what's the point.

 

 

An interview with Ranieri on SSN the other day had him pretty much putting the whole thing down to luck going with us last year, while not going for us this year, saying it was the only difference. Worried me to be honest. I hope he doesn't honestly believe that, otherwise it's no wonder we regressed so badly this year. Doesn't seem like he set the players up mentally well enough at all this season.

The players can't be excused for buying into it, but still. 

[Blarmy]

From a psychological point of view, winning the prem with this squad was a very tricky thing to handle, and CR hasn't made a good job of it. Very early on he was talking about 40 points being the goal again, which is completely the wrong attitude. He his now continuing this with his tactics, showing a lack of belief in the players that has clearly rubbed off on them. I also believe that he may be in job saving mode at the moment, which isn't helping. 

[roblcfc84]

So the following is not intended to take anything away from last season. But, we won the league because of so many factors it's almost impossible to pull them all together in one post - yes hard work, a style that suited us at that time, players over performing. But also a huge amount of luck and so much disruption and poor decision making at other clubs. I can remember a lot of games like boro yesterday last year - little possession, sitting deep with the key difference being other teams allowing us to counter attack more effectively and the blistering form of Vardy and mahrez. Now again this season so many factors have played into our current form - an unusual summer, constant media attention, pressure, injuries, new signings which need to bed in. Our club is trying to figure it all out and will need time. Frankly safety and last 16 of the CL is a great season for me - building for next year!!

[car1os]

11 hours ago, chapero82 said:

100k a week should get you motivated 

100K a week will also tell a player they have "made it", so I personally don't think its helps with motivation.

 

The club, players and fans have had a lot against them this season,  First of all, a bunch of unfancied footballers have won the Premier League - overnight they have become superstars, so have to respond to this added pressure.

 

In pre-season the team were flown across the world for the International Club Championship - this wasn't going to help with pre-season preparation.

 

Then, as the Premier League Champions, everyone (especially the "big clubs") wants to prove a point against them.  There's nowhere to hide this season.

 

There's the fact that we're in the Champions League - whilst its wonderful, its also a huge distraction for the players as this is a new thing for them.

 

Then we lost Walsh.  I know that a number of the signings we made this summer were long term targets but I do wonder how much of an impact this had within the club, as well as going forwards.

 

Then we lost Kante.   I don't like mentioning this but his loss means that Mahrez gets no one to cover his defensive duties and as a result he is having the same season as Hazard had last season.  Mahrez needs to be allowed to create and by tracking back means he is less effective when we're going forward.  To get the best out of Mahrez, the midfield needs an energetic defensive midfielder which (a) allows Mahrez to create and (b) allow Drinkwater to pull the strings.  Our tactics as a result of Mahrez being shackled means lots of long balls over the top, instead of also having the option of driving through midfield as we had last season (which created space for Mahrez).

 

The new signings have taken some time to integrate into the squad.  I knew we would need a number of new players as our squad was too small, but we didn't recruit a single player from a Premier League team.  This was a mistake IMHO, as it means new players need time to acclimatise to the demands of the league as well as get to know the rest of the squad.  In January we must sign players with Premier League experience.

 

Then, as we didn't start so well, immediately the Press have been "asking what is wrong at Leicester City".  This adds to the negativity.

 

Then we've had injuries which we didn't experience last season.  Mendy, Drinkwater, Vardy, Slimani, Schmeichel, just to name the few that immediately come to mind.

 

So, going forward, we have a number of positives:

 

 - First of all, we are back to our true level.  The sooner we realise this the better.  We can then start to build again.

 

 - The new signings are now bedding in.  I think we'll see an improvement in them after January

 

 - If we can sign Ndidi, I hope we can have that energetic and solid component back in Midfield which we have sorely missed.

 

 - If we can get a few results together and ensure that we are safe for next season, we should give some of the younger players a chance.  If they can show that they are worthy a place in the squad, it'll mean we do not need to recruit so heavily next summer

 

 - Finally, I think the club needs to plan for next season as of now (which I am sure they are doing) - no more mega contracts, re-establish team spirit, recruit known quantities, promote youth to add hunger to the squad, have a good pre-season without having the squad travel the world.

 

[Innovindil]

7 hours ago, ozleicester said:

The expression of anger displayed by so many about us coming back from an away game with a point and a clean sheet is evidence of what is wrong.

 

Delusions of Granduer.

Absolutely this. Too many of our fans have spent too much time watching these YouTube videos of last season that make us look like Barcelona demolishing teams left and right, when in reality almost every game we played we edged it, by a slice of luck, a solo chunk of skill or an opponents mistake. 

 

We aren't going to blow teams away, and expecting us to is doing a lot more harm than good. 

[chapero82]

14 minutes ago, car1os said:

100K a week will also tell a player they have "made it", so I personally don't think its helps with motivation.

 

The club, players and fans have had a lot against them this season,  First of all, a bunch of unfancied footballers have won the Premier League - overnight they have become superstars, so have to respond to this added pressure.

 

In pre-season the team were flown across the world for the International Club Championship - this wasn't going to help with pre-season preparation.

 

Then, as the Premier League Champions, everyone (especially the "big clubs") wants to prove a point against them.  There's nowhere to hide this season.

 

There's the fact that we're in the Champions League - whilst its wonderful, its also a huge distraction for the players as this is a new thing for them.

 

Then we lost Walsh.  I know that a number of the signings we made this summer were long term targets but I do wonder how much of an impact this had within the club, as well as going forwards.

 

Then we lost Kante.   I don't like mentioning this but his loss means that Mahrez gets no one to cover his defensive duties and as a result he is having the same season as Hazard had last season.  Mahrez needs to be allowed to create and by tracking back means he is less effective when we're going forward.  To get the best out of Mahrez, the midfield needs an energetic defensive midfielder which (a) allows Mahrez to create and (b) allow Drinkwater to pull the strings.  Our tactics as a result of Mahrez being shackled means lots of long balls over the top, instead of also having the option of driving through midfield as we had last season (which created space for Mahrez).

 

The new signings have taken some time to integrate into the squad.  I knew we would need a number of new players as our squad was too small, but we didn't recruit a single player from a Premier League team.  This was a mistake IMHO, as it means new players need time to acclimatise to the demands of the league as well as get to know the rest of the squad.  In January we must sign players with Premier League experience.

 

Then, as we didn't start so well, immediately the Press have been "asking what is wrong at Leicester City".  This adds to the negativity.

 

Then we've had injuries which we didn't experience last season.  Mendy, Drinkwater, Vardy, Slimani, Schmeichel, just to name the few that immediately come to mind.

 

So, going forward, we have a number of positives:

 

 - First of all, we are back to our true level.  The sooner we realise this the better.  We can then start to build again.

 

 - The new signings are now bedding in.  I think we'll see an improvement in them after January

 

 - If we can sign Ndidi, I hope we can have that energetic and solid component back in Midfield which we have sorely missed.

 

 - If we can get a few results together and ensure that we are safe for next season, we should give some of the younger players a chance.  If they can show that they are worthy a place in the squad, it'll mean we do not need to recruit so heavily next summer

 

 - Finally, I think the club needs to plan for next season as of now (which I am sure they are doing) - no more mega contracts, re-establish team spirit, recruit known quantities, promote youth to add hunger to the squad, have a good pre-season without having the squad travel the world.

 

I'm sorry but these are just all excuses for them! The hunger and desire is not there like last season! It was there the season before and the promotion season well before Kante! 

 

I hope I am wrong but it looks like some don't want to be here!

 

[MC Prussian]

12 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

I agree, but both players and the team should be preforming better than they had.

 

Vardy and Mahrez scored 41 goals between them, they will be lucky to get 20 this year!

 

I would even argue that they both played better in the last eight games of the great escape season! 

That's you and your problem with your expectations - again, you fail to realize what a one-off last season was and use it as the basis of your argumentation. It doesn't work that way, I'm afraid. You can't take an exception to the rule and treat it as the rule itself.

 

I think you'll find most Leicester fans will share the sentiment and expect us to sort of fade away from the Top Four or even Top Six spots in the long run. That development I can excuse, because we don't have talent in overabundance and so many other and better teams competing with us. Last season, we compensated for that by the use of terrific teamwork and great individual effort, that's what's won us the league. Here's where the manager and the players need to pick up from in order to show that they can do better, be it in terms of effort or precision and cooperation. Maybe we can treat ourselves to a Top Ten finish this campaign, but it'd require a series of games unbeaten in a row and that's as far as I'd go.

[mazarron fox]

10 hours ago, Freeman's Wharfer said:

There's an interesting bit in the 'Fearless Foxes' book where King talks about the night they won the league. Says that they all went mental for 20 minutes, then came the phone calls to friends and family etc. before a weird period of quiet where they all sat around just thinking: "where do we go from here? What do we do now we've achieved this ultimate goal?".

 

I think that's the hangover that we're seeing this season. When they've played with such intensity and pressure and reached the pinnacle of their lives, how do they now get up for it?

 

Elite players and winners can do it again and again but we're not a team full of them. We won it based on team work and not individual pedigree so, however frustrating it is that we know they can do it (I don't buy that they were playing above themselves - more just at their absolute best), if Mahrez, Vardy etc. could maintain their best every single week then they would never have been as low as they have in the footballing world.

This is spot on!

[Manwell Pablo]

8 hours ago, Kitchandro said:

Not really much sense in this post to be honest.

 

Firstly the bizarre comment that Kane is more versatile and effective player than Vardy when quite the opposite is true. Kane has a knack for socring goals but doesn't have the pace Vardy does, the movement off the ball, the technical skill, is not a team player and is frankly not even as strong as Vardy despite being much bigger. There is very, very little to Kane's game, he's just a goalscorer, which is quite a bit easier when you're playing in peforming team and taking all their dodgy penalties.

 

Anyone can see that Vardy is key to us playing well in a way that Kane could never be for any team. Kane's a glorified target man for christ's sake, a rich man's Peter Crouch. But Vardy has let himself down this season and people have forgotten how effective he is at this level when he's at it. And that's the apathy and lack of self-expectation that the players are showing as well. It's very easy to label the players as shit (they did the same when Pearson's tactics had us bottom of the league) but those with a bit more brain power try to actually analyse what's going wrong.

 

Why is it unrealistic for us to continue what we'd been doing for 15 months before? Ok, losing Kante was bound to set us back a bit, but this much? No, not acceptable. What's the actual reason for our loss of form? For the players loss of form? Think about it rather than just jumping to a silly conclusion like 'we played above ourselves'. Even if that was the case, we'd been doing that for 15 months, why are we not doing it now?

 

It's ludicrous to suggest these players are not in control of their own form, or Claudio's not in control of his own decisions, which is essentially what you're doing. Are we to believe this is like Space Jam where Claudio, Vardy, Mahrez, Albrighton, Fuchs and Morgan stole the talent from other professional footballers/managers, then had to give it back at the end of the season?

 

Individuals can't play above themselves. Yes, the team can make up for the failings of individuals with good tactics, but this is a massive, massive drop in form from several players, and the manager's previously faultless tactics have gone out the window. Stop excusing them. A regression like this does not 'just happen', it occurs because individuals and the collective stop doing the right things.

 

 

 

There's a lot more sense in this post than the one in which you called Jamie Vardy a poor championship player who can't finish and has no touch who you are now trying to imply should be scoring 20 goals a season in the Premier League whilst challenging for major honors. A prime example of some of the laughable opinions you put across at times. 

 

We all know you seem to live in this world were Leicester City are one of the biggest names in World football, we should scoff and look down upon the likes of West Brom and Southampton as a vastly superior club which of course is not the case now just because we've managed one league title. Unfortunately this is the real world where we realize you can huff and puff about how great you are all you want it doesn't change reality. 

 

Kane is a better goal scorer than Vardy, consistently, its ok saying he just scores goals, that's not something that's a bad thing especially when it is 20+ a season, pretty much every season, he is capable of scoring different types of goals,  hence, he scores more goals. and why Vardy wont get near 24 again (and even when he did, Kane still got more than him, and perhaps if Vardy could of done that job from 12 yards out you make out to be so easy that would not have been the case) Vardy lacks dimensions as a striker, is readable, and takes time to re-invent himself every time a divisions center halves work out how to mark him. I find it inexplicable you talk about "analysis" yet seem incapable of looking at a game of football and seeing that what the opposition team does does actually matter and how it is actually preventing Jamie Vardy from being "on it" your  "analysis" of the Manchester City game proved that, "nothing to do with the opposition he just played well" yes, of course, total coincidence the one team that payed no mind to how we set up are the ones that got a tonking.

Although where you've got that I've said he is shit from I don't know, he's not a top six striker, he'll certainly do playing for us.  

 

If you think this team can realistically challenge for honors on a regular basis time to wake up, if players can't play above themselves and this is how they should be playing 100% of the time they should be ashamed of their careers, as not one of them bar Huth as a squad player has achieved anything near as grand as what they achieved last season, and non of them are particularly young. Pretty odd that if that is their natural level non of them have even threatened to show it till their late 20's don't you think, and once they did, inexplicably they go back to playing at the level they have done for pretty much their entire career, odd, very odd indeed. 

 

But of course they did play above themselves, in a consistent unchanged team, that gained momentum, had a game plan that nobody went out of their way to thwart until 3/4 of the way through the season, had no cup distractions, was lucky enough to not be interrupted by injuries and had a world class ball winner in the center of the park. This is all gone, not to mention the big teams are now back in business and getting points off them is difficult. Ultimately if the CL spots are now your bench mark I'd pretty much stop following us now, I guarantee you will be very very dissapointed,  prime example of the total lack of realism from some fans, but as I say, from you, not surprised in the least. 

 

 

 

 

[Chico1958]

Ndidi won't motivate the team, his performance might

 

But he will have to hit the ground running.

 

We all have people we work with that you want to say " If you don't want to be here................ Just go"

 

Perhaps somebody needs to say that in the dressing room.

 

Whatever happens though if they're wearing the shirt I'll still support them come hell or high water.

 

 

[Stadt]

11 hours ago, ozleicester said:

The expression of anger displayed by so many about us coming back from an away game with a point and a clean sheet is evidence of what is wrong.

 

Delusions of Granduer.

I don't think expressing dissatisfaction with going from champions to a relegation battle is really delusions of grandeur. 

 

 

 

 

 

As much as much as it pains me to say it Kane is a much better footballer than Vardy, Kane's all round game is better and he scores more goals.

[ozleicester]

9 minutes ago, Wookie said:

I don't think expressing dissatisfaction with going from champions to a relegation battle is really delusions of grandeur. 

im not having a go about being disappointed, i think we are all justified in that. But the apparent expectation to more than compete with the top four and then to smash the promoted teams seems a little excessive.

 

It was only a couple of years ago we were a promoted club. Winning the league was an aberration (albeit the greatest ever), I look at our squad, especially from the other night and i wonder who would be a starter in another prem team?

 

[Lako42]

we need more of these type of threads.

 

Who is in charge of motivating Ranieri? That's who is letting us down, the bastards.

[Fox92]

11 hours ago, Kitchandro said:

Not really much sense in this post to be honest.

 

Firstly the bizarre comment that Kane is more versatile and effective player than Vardy when quite the opposite is true. Kane has a knack for socring goals but doesn't have the pace Vardy does, the movement off the ball, the technical skill, is not a team player and is frankly not even as strong as Vardy despite being much bigger. There is very, very little to Kane's game, he's just a goalscorer, which is quite a bit easier when you're playing in peforming team and taking all their dodgy penalties.

 

Anyone can see that Vardy is key to us playing well in a way that Kane could never be for any team. Kane's a glorified target man for christ's sake, a rich man's Peter Crouch. But Vardy has let himself down this season and people have forgotten how effective he is at this level when he's at it. And that's the apathy and lack of self-expectation that the players are showing as well. It's very easy to label the players as shit (they did the same when Pearson's tactics had us bottom of the league) but those with a bit more brain power try to actually analyse what's going wrong.

 

 

Your dislike of Kane is unbelievable. You never give the lad credit.

 

His record at Spurs speaks for itself. He has scored 20 goals consistently (that's the key here) at top flight level and will do again this season. He's miles better than any of our strikers. He might not have much technical skill but to knock his movement is stupid. 

 

Your comment of Kane "just a goalscorer" is stupid as well. He's a striker. What do you want him to do? Lineker was just a "goalscorer" but he was bloody good at it, just like Kane seems to be and 59 goals in 97 game in the top flight (which is a superb record) backs that up. He is outstanding. 

[Stadt]

4 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

im not having a go about being disappointed, i think we are all justified in that. But the apparent expectation to more than compete with the top four and then to smash the promoted teams seems a little excessive.

 

It was only a couple of years ago we were a promoted club. Winning the league was an aberration (albeit the greatest ever), I look at our squad, especially from the other night and i wonder who would be a starter in another prem team?

 

Nobody expected us to compete for champions league qualification but achieving a europa league place or fininishing on the top 10 was reasonable expectation

[ozleicester]

1 minute ago, Wookie said:

Nobody expected us to compete for champions league qualification but achieving a europa league place or fininishing on the top 10 was reasonable expectation

Certainly top 10 i agree...and to be fair, we are one win from 10th, with half a season to play... its not out of the question.

 

Logic suggests that west Brom, Burnley Watford and Bournemouth arent likely to maintain their positions

 

[Manwell Pablo]

31 minutes ago, Wookie said:

Nobody expected us to compete for champions league qualification but achieving a europa league place or fininishing on the top 10 was reasonable expectation

 

Why "Was"

 

We're about 4 points off 9th

 

 

[Chico1958]

22 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

Certainly top 10 i agree...and to be fair, we are one win from 10th, with half a season to play... its not out of the question.

 

Logic suggests that west Brom, Burnley Watford and Bournemouth arent likely to maintain their positions

 

Problem is as I see it:

 

We defied logic 

[kingcarr21]

1 minute ago, Manwell Pablo said:

 

Why "Was"

 

We're about 4 points off 9th

 

 

3 points off 9th. I think people are forgetting we still have another 18 games to play. Still a lot of football and a lot of points on offer. We may very well have a great 2nd half of the season and finish much higher. People need to chill out

[Stadt]

3 minutes ago, Manwell Pablo said:

 

Why "Was"

 

We're about 4 points off 9th

 

 

As in a reasonable expectation at the start of the season, it still is of course

[coolhandfox]

7 hours ago, MC Prussian said:

That's you and your problem with your expectations - again, you fail to realize what a one-off last season was and use it as the basis of your argumentation. It doesn't work that way, I'm afraid. You can't take an exception to the rule and treat it as the rule itself.

 

I think you'll find most Leicester fans will share the sentiment and expect us to sort of fade away from the Top Four or even Top Six spots in the long run. That development I can excuse, because we don't have talent in overabundance and so many other and better teams competing with us. Last season, we compensated for that by the use of terrific teamwork and great individual effort, that's what's won us the league. Here's where the manager and the players need to pick up from in order to show that they can do better, be it in terms of effort or precision and cooperation. Maybe we can treat ourselves to a Top Ten finish this campaign, but it'd require a series of games unbeaten in a row and that's as far as I'd go.

I have'nt got a expections problem, with our summer recruitment I expected top ten at best.

 

Both Vardy and Mahrez have woefully under preformed, name 5 games were Mahrez has been anymore more than average? Same for Vardy?

 

Kante has been able to perform at a similar level for Chelsea.

 

I never expected the same return goals wise, but I think 20 goals between then over 50% less then last season is a reasonable target for two players rewarded with 100k a week contracts!

 

For me Mahrez looks like someone going though the motions, and Vardy seems to have only just found the fire in his belly in the last few months.

[Footballwipe]

 

15 hours ago, Kitchandro said:

As for the quality of players we've brought in, that in itself highlights the lack of both ambition and ability to change our tactics in the transfer market once we became aware that we were able to attract a higher calibre of player. We didn't adapt to the situation and now we are paying the price as we will now have to settle for the type of limited signing that relegation strugglers bring in rather than the one who could have taken us to the next level.

 

It's time this club found it's proverbial testicles and started taking responsibility for it's underachievement. Last season didn't happen by luck and things like that don't happen if all your players are shit.

This for me is the crux, the most frustrating thing, and something which I assume will really be highlighted in 5-10 years when books are written about the era we are currently in.

 

I can actually take dropping back, as unambitious as that might sound, but the way in which we've done it is awful. The club has wasted it's best opportunity it has, and may ever have, to move on and retain itself into the upper echelons of English football. Instead, we got our recruitment largely wrong and are paying the price. When you break your transfer record three times in a season you expect them to be barnstorming regulars who move/maintain you at the level you have reached.

 

Hindsight will be the thing which tells us whether we should have rewarded our squad with huge new contracts, or whether we should have been utterly ruthless and said "thanks for last season, but we're moving onto a level of player you got us to," and replaced them/phased them out now, while we had the attraction level.

[nnfox]

Historically we have always been a battling team.  Either battling for promotion, battling against relegation or like last season battling for an unexpected title.  Pre-season, the expectation of the players has been for the last x years (and there are still a fair few of them in the squad) has been that they were going to have to roll their sleeves up and fight for everything.

 

This season though, I do wonder if that fighting attitude changed and a new mentality emerged.  Going into this season they can't have expected to challenge for the title again but at the same time I genuinely believe that the thought of relegation didn't enter their heads.  It is as if they were gearing up for a solid Champions League campaign whilst believing that just turning up in the Premier League would be sufficient for an acceptable mid-table finish.  Which it isn't.