The Iborra Thread

[Vardinio'sCat]

 

 Well. he was fit enough to get in the box at the end there, but still a bit loose with the ball generally.

 

I think he is a really strong character, and he is knitting us together pretty well. Could easily have had 2 goals today.

 

[foxfanazer]

Think we’re a lot stronger with him in the side. Yes he gives the ball away occasionally but he’s commanding and has real class 

[sphericalfox]

Just now, Swan Lesta said:

Immense today and in the first half some sublime touches and passes. Real quality. Didn't get everything right by any means but tire Rooney a new arsehole.

Ndidi did a fine job alongside him, and robbed Rooney on a couple of occasions leaving him like a chump. Ndidi's passing wasn't always great, but Iborra balanced things out nicely. 

 

It's a shame the ball bounced so high under his control denying him a proper shot and maybe a goal.

[Vardinio'sCat]

 

 So how does the song go? 

 

He came from sunny Spain...

[Tielemans63]

Great finish for our third tonight

 

 

 

 

[Mint23]

11 minutes ago, Vardinio'sCat said:

 

 So how does the song go? 

 

He came from sunny Spain...

To live on Saffron lane

[StriderHiryu]

12 minutes ago, Vardinio'sCat said:

 

 Well. he was fit enough to get in the box at the end there, but still a bit loose with the ball generally.

 

I think he is a really strong character, and he is knitting us together pretty well. Could easily have had 2 goals today.

 

Agree with you here. I've seen him talk a lot to other senior members of the team and I think it's clear there is respect both ways. As incredible as both Kante and Drinkwater were, they weren't leaders like Iborra. Supposedly Silva is also like this, so it will be interesting when he comes into the team.

[SheppyFox]

Calm and composed and will only get better! Can’t wait to see Silva with him  

[sm1]

Really loved his desire. For the Vardy goal he ran the full length of the pitch to get to the penalty box. For his chance, Okazaki just stopped running near the centre circle,  but Iborra ran past him to get into the box. Would've been great if he could've finished it, but really impressed with him.

[sdb]

Excellent today. Looked dominant and another who benefitted from a more balanced formation and clear instructions. 

[roblcfc84]

That touch first half - back heel, took out two players. 

[Max Power]

Without dissecting his performance step by step, I just feel his general presence massively helps the team. He's calm and composed with and without the ball. Always talking and controlling. Even if some passes don't come off he massively improves us generally. 

[The whole world smiles]

So pleased with him looks an unbelievable signing. 

 

Has shades of Esteban Cambiasso about him. Not just with his constant talking, encouraging and organising but he also seems to have Esteban's knack for arriving in the penalty area at exactly the right time.

 

People have been complaining that he isn't quick enough but you don't need to be quick when you have a footballing IQ as high as his is.

 

He came from sunny Spain....

[tetly]

He is going to be very important Player for us.  His game intelligence is class, he gets in great positions and uses the ball in a positive way.

 

i think our midfield is going to be quite good when we finally get silva on the pitch.

[ZeGuy]

4 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Was Ok today, but a little bit loose both in possession and off the ball. Would have loved to have seen him score though! Would be nice to see more runs from deep from our centre mids.

Yeah he was, but when you play forward you have to expect that not all of your passes will come through. 

[fox in the sox]

Thought him and Ndidi were poor today with lots of misplaced passes particularly in the 2nd half. Midfield still a major issue.

[weller54]

2 minutes ago, fox in the sox said:

Thought him and Ndidi were poor today with lots of misplaced passes particularly in the 2nd half. Midfield still a major issue.

Harsh! 

[fairbanksh]

Times article showed him as a great role model and team player

Great asset to the team Great for Ndidi to learn from

Roll on Silva

[brucey]

Vicente Iborra finds Leicester’s unity is familiar to that of his former club Levante

Jonathan Northcroft, Football correspondent

 

Mister, it’s God’s business, if you need me I’m going to play,” he told the manager and play he did, coming on with 24 minutes left to help Levante close out the win. Only at full-time, leaving the pitch, did he allow his tears to come. They were for Alma. A beautiful name; Spanish for “soul.” Alma was Vicente Iborra’s first child, who was born prematurely and died aged five days, in December 2011. The morning after her passing, he had simply turned up for training and put in his customary committed shift.

The day after that was match day, when he told Juan Ignacio Martinez, his boss, to put him in and when his 24 minutes helped Levante beat Sevilla 1-0. Nano, the scorer, dedicated his goal to Alma. “It was an emotive moment, a moment I will remember for all my life,” Iborra says.

We all deal with grief differently. Sitting with this gentle, gentlemanly Spaniard inside Leicester’s training ground on a sunny morning, it is hard to comprehend how he found the strength but Martinez’s tribute to his player at the time sounds apt. “His professionalism came above everything else.”

And, softly, Iborra tries to explain. “The most important thing is to continue fighting,” he says. “My team, my teammates, are my second family. I wanted to help them win that game, because they helped me in the previous days. I wanted to fight for them. I couldn’t do any more [for Alma and Arantxa, his wife] and football is very important to me. I thought the best way to continue my life was to keep playing with my second family.”

Finding strength in the group. Putting team above self. Iborra is an example of the values that brought Leicester a miracle not so very long ago.

If it feels the club have lost direction, maybe new manager Claude Puel is not the only figure Leicester can rally round. Iborra, outstanding since finally gaining fitness after a £12.5m summer move, seems a potential rock — on the pitch, but also in the dressing room.

Back in 2011-12, Levante were Leicester’s Spanish precursor. Collectivity propelled the little Valencian club to the top of La Liga going into November and they finished sixth, to reach the Europa League. Just two seasons previously they had been in the second tier and rebuilding after financial trouble reduced the squad at one point to four. “Our secret was our unity, and it was similar to here,” Iborra says.

“A very humble team. A humble club. No stars in the dressing room and we all fight together.” Even now, the old gang meet up for epic group meals of paella, which Iborra joins when he is back in town. “We speak to each other every week,” he says. “They are important for me because I was only 19 when I started playing in that team and 21, 22 when we climbed to La Liga. A lot of those guys were veterans and I learnt from them, they helped me grow up.”

Iborra is from Moncada, a small town to Valencia’s north, where his mother cleaned houses and his father was maintenance man for a seminary. As a kid, he played football with the trainee priests. He always played with elders. Aged four, his dad tried enrolling him at Moncada’s soccer school, but was turned away because the minimum age was six, so he joined another club. But was unable to play in games when the referee asked for ID, because he was still too young.

Always competing with bigger lads meant “I learnt to fight. And I also learnt to think.” He was puny, he says, but at 15 he shot up and filled out. Now he is tall, powerful, broad-chested.

Monchi, the fabled sporting director, took him from Levante to Sevilla and there he became captain, winning three Europa Leagues. Nearing 30, he felt it was time to fulfil an ambition to play in England, experience English culture and learn the English language. Though an interpreter is with us, he pushes on, answering slowly and deliberately and doing rather well in his new tongue. A teacher comes to his house in the village of Countesthorpe, for lessons twice a week.

Before joining Leicester he was already a fan. In 2015-16, in the Sevilla dressing room, “we were watching and hoping for Leicester,” he reveals. “I identified with the club, with the culture and I recognised their achievement was very important — for the world.”

Strong, cultured and composed as a holding player in the victory at Swansea last time out, Iborra is also comfortable in an attacking role. He is the third player in Spanish top-flight history to score a hat-trick as a substitute and has “no preference,” where he plays. Team man.

A groin injury meant he did not appear until September. “It was frustrating because I wanted to play and wanted to help,” he says. “But now I am 100%”

We are speaking just before a meeting where Leicester’s players are being introduced to Puel for the first time. The squad is “a little sad” that Craig Shakespeare lost the job, he admits. “It was a difficult start to the season. We played against very strong teams and in football the most important thing is results. We were working very well in the week and when the game arrived we didn’t win.”

Leicestershire life is “very quiet, tranquilo.” He and Arantxa have two sons now. “They go to school and enjoy playing with their new friends. My wife goes to the gym because for her it’s difficult, she doesn’t know anyone yet.” Unlike Iborra. He has his new “second family”.

[BoyJones]

1 hour ago, fox in the sox said:

Thought him and Ndidi were poor today with lots of misplaced passes particularly in the 2nd half. Midfield still a major issue.

Bit unfair IMO. 

 

We did did a lot of defending as we clearly decided to sit back for the last hour; it's not easy to pick passes, when the tempo is lost. 

 

Personally love watching players like Iborra, creates time on the ball and doesn't just kick it anywhere. By winning the Europa multiple times, shows he is no mug and I think he could be the man this season. 

[ARM1968]

Great player, but today some sloppy passes and probably should have scored. A 6 from me. 

[Col city fan]

Jury still out imo.

Iborra can look so composed and simply calm us down when we need it.

He also looks at times like he's still playing in La Liga, not in the much faster paced premiership. He ambles about a bit too much for my liking and we'll be punished when we play against a much quicker midfield.

[whoareyaaa]

If James and King was in there we would probably have been beat... fact of the matter is iborra and Niddi done what they had to do yesterday, granted they both gave away a few sloppy passes but they are starting to create a good partnership

 

[Leeds Fox]

8 hours ago, tetly said:

He is going to be very important Player for us.  His game intelligence is class, he gets in great positions and uses the ball in a positive way.

 

i think our midfield is going to be quite good when we finally get silva on the pitch.

 

Not having Silva until January might be a blessing in disguise for the long term. I doubt Iborra would’ve featured much if we had got him in time, and he’s proving himself to be far better than a back-up player.

[The Quick Brown Fox]

I was concerned about his fitness and pace but, I have those fears no more. Seeing him get on the end of Vardys cross towards the end of yesterdays game showed he is at a high level of fitness and is no slouch.