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jim5000

Playing UK only friendlies

By jim5000, in Leicester City Forum

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jim5000

jim5000

Posted
Posted

I've noticed that we have setup our pre-season fixtures entirely against UK based clubs, generally away to lower league teams and finishing with a glamour tie against Atlanta at home. Most other top half Premier League teams, and all of the 'Big 6' are playing all over the world, in Asia, Australia, and the USA. Some are even having their last pre-season fixture on the other side of the world, 5 days before PL kick off!

 

Do you think this will help City get off to a good start? We may be warming up against lesser opponents but we won't be exhausted and jet-lagged from spending a month jetting all over the world playing friendlies.

 

Will it make any difference and enable us to (hopefully) get off to a flying start?

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Danizen

Danizen

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Another benefit is, after these games, the players are going home to their families. Anyone who's worked away for a significant period of time knows that travelling around with work takes it's toll on you mentally. 

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Voll Blau

Voll Blau

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We should never consider doing those stupid world tours again after the 2016 pre-season debacle. Even if we were successful again, having a solid pre-season is worth way more than building "brand awareness" and having players not know what time zone they're in on the opening day of the season.

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rachhere

rachhere

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We have just been so sluggish in preseason the last few years, and not in a good place when starting the season, so I am all up for us trying something new. At least we will be building up to a certain extent, with lower leagues at first, then the Stoke match, and finally progressing onto Atalanta. 

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PhillippaT

PhillippaT

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24 minutes ago, rachhere said:

We have just been so sluggish in preseason the last few years, and not in a good place when starting the season, so I am all up for us trying something new. At least we will be building up to a certain extent, with lower leagues at first, then the Stoke match, and finally progressing onto Atalanta. 

That's the way I always did it in FM...

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Fox92

Fox92

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Games against lower opposition are my idea of a pre season, not some tour for our "brand". That's just a personal opinion, of course, because I like to get try and get to new grounds I haven't been to yet.

 

I just love losing at places like Northampton and then the usual section of our fanbase saying how we're going to get relegated..

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CosbehFox

CosbehFox

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1 hour ago, lcfcsnow said:

I was thinking about this earlier, would have preferred some games against sides in the championship/league one instead of three separate friendlies against League two sides.

To be fair, potentially at the point of arranging these Scunny and Rotherham were a division higher. 

 

Add to this, it won't have been certain about Europa League - I'm sure Brendan will have brief the club after spending many early summers with Celtic. 

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LCFC FOX

LCFC FOX

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I don’t want us to play big European sides over in Asia or America or anywhere far like that just for a money tournament. 

 

However I would love us to travel to a European country for a week (like Evian) but actually play against two or three local sides at proper stadiums that fans can attend. 

 

 

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StriderHiryu

StriderHiryu

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Massively prefer this approach. Think the club got it bang on - take the lads out for a summer camp for intense training and to bond the team, but then for matches keep it in the UK so travel times are kept to a minimum, players can be at their happiest and so training gets it's maximum bang for it's buck.

 

The proof will be in the pudding, but for me that first 45 minutes against Scunthorpe was already massively exciting. Forget the opposition and the score, friendlies in preseason are a great test to see the style of a team - how are they responding to the ideas of their manager and how are they implementing it. That 45 minutes was like watching us at our best last season, but twice as good. The most notable thing was the speed of our passing, it was so much faster and so much more one touch. If all we do in preseason is practice that against teams and get better at it, I reckon it will be worth it. 

 

Let's see what we are like on Saturday!

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Jordan

Jordan

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Teams have been doing overseas preseasons long before the International Champions Cup was a twinkle in Charlie Stillitano's eye. There's nothing wrong with going abroad--but on the football side of things, teams just have to be smart about it.

 

2016 was just a weird preseason program with too much travel and not enough games.

 

However, City went out to Thailand in 2014 but got back to England in plenty of time to have a full slate of friendlies and settle in for the new season.

 

I think the slow start in 2017 had less to do with Hong Kong and much more to do with having a manager that (and I say this with all due respect) probably wasn't ready to be the main man for a Premier League team, and a squad that was coming down from a crazy two seasons (they had finished 2016/17 on a swoon once there was nothing left to play for, too). 

 

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Paninistickers

Paninistickers

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I like the brand building overseas tours.

 

Disastrous as the ICC was, it was fun (in a perverse way) watching us outclassed against PSG in LA at 5 in the morning. And I watched the penalty shoot out v Celtic on holiday in a Croatian beach bar with Danes cheering on Amartey and Schmeichel. 

 

And that Hong Kong thing with 89000 Chinamen wearing Liverpool gear and around 200 in City clobber.

 

I like being famous

 

 

 

 

Edited by Paninistickers
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Bayfox

Bayfox

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3 minutes ago, Smiffy Fox said:

Would love us to have a mini tour in Germany one year! 

Yeah prefer this low key, fitness thing, that globe trotting shit did nothing for us.

 

However I wouldn't mind a tour of The Netherlands, there's some clubs, like Emmen and Excelsior etc that could provide good warm up games. Infact just a week in Rotterdam play, excelsior, sparta and Feyanoord.

 

Job done 

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