Are We Better than Our 15/16 Season?

[Corky]

It was mentioned we were fortunate with few injuries that year and it is applicable to now. We had Kante, Vardy, Mahrez available for pretty much every game barring Vardy's supsension- this year we've lost Ndidi, Vardy and Ricardo for spells at different times which would affect most teams. If we'd lost Kante for the best part of two months, Mahrez for 10 games (I'll compare him with Ricardo rather than Simpson) and Vardy when at almost peak form there's no doubt we may've struggled for a while.

 

That side was better mentally and quality wise, but we did benefit from having key players throughout the season.

[Brooksy]

Edited 30 June 2020 by Brooksy

[Gamble92]

For the first half of that season and some of the second half, teams just assumed we'd get worse. When they shut up shop and respected us we hand to grind out alot of 1-0 wins. The difference there was, all that team wanted it more than anything and played out their skin to get an achievement of a lifetime.

 

Most of, if not all, the younger players in this time will go on to Champions League clubs. Im not sure theres the same drive towards the end goal this time. 

[Leeds Fox]

The 15/16 team finished on more points than this side will. 

 

We’ve been very good at times this season but the 15/16 team were consistent. Was any performance as professional as that 3-1 against Man City? Maybe the 9-0 but So’ton weren’t Man City. 

 

15/16 they showed some real bottle. This seasons team have in glimpses but really lost the plot for the majority of the bigger games. 
 

You could say this seasons team has individuals who have a higher ceiling. 15/16 we hit that ceiling collectively and had to look a fair way down to see our closest challengers. 
 

 

Edited 30 June 2020 by Leeds Fox

[Mike Oxlong]

No 

[weller54]

In 15/16 the team didn't know the meaning of defeat.. Arsenal and Liverpool were the only sides to beat us!

This current team have a very soft underbelly... there's no comparison IMO.

[trabuch]

26 minutes ago, weller54 said:

In 15/16 the team didn't know the meaning of defeat.. Arsenal and Liverpool were the only sides to beat us!

This current team have a very soft underbelly... there's no comparison IMO.

It's about mentality. Everything clicked in 15/16. I still think we have it in us. We don't lack the ability. Time for Brendan to step up. 

[Clever Fox]

There's pros and Cons to both teams. 

 

The 15/16 Team had an element of surprise, luck with injuries. A clearer way of playing that suited the players.

The benefit of Kante and Mahrez and Goals from all parts of the Team. And a great will to win always.

 

The current Team. Though very talented, Is suffering from injuries, Hampered by Poor signings, A physical presence.

And a lack of real pace and Balance. And too reliant on a Striker who offers very little else when the Goals are not flowing.

 

The Heart says the 15/16 Team will always command that respect for what they achieved.

 

However the Club has moved even further ahead, Closing the Gap on the respected bigger Clubs.

 

Can this squad emulate the 15/16 team I doubt it. Can the Club emulate the 15/16 success , Yes they can with a few key signings and additions to the Squad.     We live in hope.

[deanolegend1989]

We were a much better team back then because we had a much better first 11.

People always say that the league was weaker in 15/16. Whilst that’s true , in terms of there were no super teams and no one was really strong, I’d argue the league then was stronger in the middle.

Spurs, Arsenal , Southampton and West Ham were all much better then than now. Poor teams like Liverpool and Chelsea still had quality and were really strong for ‘mid table ‘ teams.

The team this year would struggle for consistency in that league because there were loads of tough teams.

15/16 we had Kante Vardy and Mahrez who were all absolutely world class abs they stayed fit nearly all season.

Vardy sent off vs West Ham we fell apart, Kante missed 1 game through injury and we drew at home to West Brom.

Its clear our squad is stronger now but our best 12 in 15/16 was miles better.

[coolhandfox]

Still think stick a Mahrez in this side and we would be 10-15 points better off, this season. 

 

To be fair its also a much better league this year.

Edited 30 June 2020 by coolhandfox

[shailen]

This team in terms of quality is better imo. We never saw performances against Southampton, Villa x2, Newcastle, etc., in the 15/16 seasons where we absolutely blew teams away. 

 

The 15/16 team were more tactically aware, organised and fundamentally more consistent. Everyone knew their positions and there was very little change all season. Tactics were always the same, the substitutions, etc.. 

[goody2028]

Not in my opinion. The league may well be tougher now but I just can’t see this side putting together the consistent run like our side did in 15/16. At times looks like a team of individuals.  Despite a good first half to the season we’ve lacked that quality and belief in the second half, the half that counts the most. I really do feel that this side underperforms with pressure, which I’m hoping won’t be our down fall for the last run in of games. 

[Leicester_Loyal]

That 15/16 team never knew when to give up, they were all warriors to a man. This team seems to have a few spineless lads who when the going gets tough, they get going.

[Dan LCFC]

Simply no chance. I think this team has more natural talent in it collectively (although still nobody close to Riyad) but to compare the two does the title winners a massive disservice in my opinion, when you look at the mentality of one side under pressure against the other they're chalk and cheese really. I think this part of the game is largely underrated too, it's why the Spurs over-praise always annoyed me.

[Chrysalis]

5 hours ago, pmcla26 said:

This teams more talented, but it doesn’t come close when you compare it to the mental strength of the 15/16 team.

15.16 Team was better but depends how you look at it.

 

It had lots of individual talent

 

Fuchs - considered best left wing back in league that season, lots of high quality forward balls.

Mahrez - EPL player of season says it all, but even when we had bad seasons he always stood out as world class quality, we will probably never get a player with his talent again in my lifetime.

Kante - considered best defensive midfielder in world, he catapulted to french national team under us, 

Vardy - prime years, absolute beast.

Okazaki, not a goal machine, but his one touch movement was outstanding.

Huth - he had a clear positive impact on our defense when he joined, and this persisted through the 15/16 campaign.

 

Mental strength of the team was light years ahead of what we got now.

 

Now we also have players with talent, but I feel is less who standout, and the mental strength of the team is one of the weakest in the division.

[CosbehFox]

On 03/11/2019 at 09:09, Cardiff_Fox said:

It’s been discounted what the 15/16 team had to do in the home stretch. 

 

The mental strength to keep it up despite blips, naysayers and your own inner pressure was incredible. 

 

Yes the current team can be brilliant on the pitch to watch but we’ve yet to see them have to pass the mental tests of consistency (of which today is an example)

3rd November - happy I got that right 

[Sampson]

It was a ludicrous suggestion when people were making the suggestion months ago and its still ludicrous now. The 2015-16 team were several levels above this current one.

 

The thing that made 2015-16 so good was their insane consistency. No one ever had off days, players were at it game after after game.

 

Like Maddison or Tieleman's peaks may much higher than 2015-16 Drinkwater but they were nowhere near as consistent as Drinkwater was that season and had way more bad games. Same if you compare Barnes to 2015-16 Albrighton or Evans and Soyunchu to Morgan and Huth or Chilwell to Fuchs or Ndidi to Kante etc.

 

I don't doubt those current players have more talent in a lot of ways and their best games might be better than their 2015-16 equivalent, but they were nowhere as consistent and have had way more bad games. The 2015-16 players all to a man just turned up week after week. And that consistency is what wins you competitions rather than individual games and why the 2015-16 team was so much better.

Edited 1 July 2020 by Sampson

[weller54]

10 hours ago, Clever Fox said:

There's pros and Cons to both teams. 

 

The 15/16 Team had an element of surprise, luck with injuries. A clearer way of playing that suited the players.

The benefit of Kante and Mahrez and Goals from all parts of the Team. And a great will to win always.

 

The current Team. Though very talented, Is suffering from injuries, Hampered by Poor signings, A physical presence.

And a lack of real pace and Balance. And too reliant on a Striker who offers very little else when the Goals are not flowing.

 

The Heart says the 15/16 Team will always command that respect for what they achieved.

 

However the Club has moved even further ahead, Closing the Gap on the respected bigger Clubs.

 

Can this squad emulate the 15/16 team I doubt it. Can the Club emulate the 15/16 success , Yes they can with a few key signings and additions to the Squad.     We live in hope.

Bob and No.😁

[Cecchini1976]

10 hours ago, deanolegend1989 said:

We were a much better team back then because we had a much better first 11.

People always say that the league was weaker in 15/16. Whilst that’s true , in terms of there were no super teams and no one was really strong, I’d argue the league then was stronger in the middle.

Spurs, Arsenal , Southampton and West Ham were all much better then than now. Poor teams like Liverpool and Chelsea still had quality and were really strong for ‘mid table ‘ teams.

The team this year would struggle for consistency in that league because there were loads of tough teams.

15/16 we had Kante Vardy and Mahrez who were all absolutely world class abs they stayed fit nearly all season.

Vardy sent off vs West Ham we fell apart, Kante missed 1 game through injury and we drew at home to West Brom.

Its clear our squad is stronger now but our best 12 in 15/16 was miles better.

15/16 was special, every player had the season of their life, also other teams underperformed. A perfect storm. But that team was not a better 11 than this one. The only players from that team that would get in to this XI is Kante and mahrez, and if this team had Mahrez we would have an extra 20 points. 

[Sammy]

How are some people still trying to claim this team is better hahaha

[Sampson]

23 minutes ago, Cecchini1976 said:

15/16 was special, every player had the season of their life, also other teams underperformed. A perfect storm. But that team was not a better 11 than this one. The only players from that team that would get in to this XI is Kante and mahrez, and if this team had Mahrez we would have an extra 20 points. 

We've been relegation battlers since mid December though so the players can't be that good. All 11 of the 2015-16 would easily get in our current side. I'd dream of players who do it every week rather than Maddison, Tielemans, Chilwell, Barnes or Perez only turning up once every 4 games.

Edited 1 July 2020 by Sampson

[Cecchini1976]

2 minutes ago, Sampson said:

We've been relegation battles since mid December though so the players can't be that good. All 11 of the 2015-16 would easily get in our current side. I'd dream of players who do it every week rather than Maddison, Tielemans, Chilwell, Barnes or Perez only turning up once every 4 games.

We are 3rd in the premier league and on for our 2nd best season even if we lose all out games. We have a young team so it’s natural to be inconsistent. By the way if it wasn’t for a miracle end to 14/15 season the vast majority of the squad that won is the prem would have got us relegated. We were 5000/1 for a reason you know.

[Sampson]

Just now, pmcla26 said:

That’s the thing tho, that 15/16 team didn’t play well every game, they just knew how to win nearly every game. 

Knowing how to win is playing well...

 

That's literally the sole goal of football.

 

And even their ground out performances were still miles better than anything we've had to watch since mid-December.

[Sampson]

11 minutes ago, Cecchini1976 said:

We are 3rd in the premier league and on for our 2nd best season even if we lose all out games. We have a young team so it’s natural to be inconsistent. By the way if it wasn’t for a miracle end to 14/15 season the vast majority of the squad that won is the prem would have got us relegated. We were 5000/1 for a reason you know.

But we're still way behind the 2015-16 team. I'm not saying this side isn't good, I'm saying they're nowhere near as good as 2015-16 as individuals.

 

People are crazily underrating the 2015-16 players as individuals here and seem to be writing them off as a bunch of chancers and talentless robots who just fit into a system.

 

The ability to have consistently great games week after week is just about the most important attribute in football. People seem to be solely basing it on the ability to play a short pass or something which is a tiny part of what makes a player good.

 

This current side is just nowhere near the same level as the 2015-16 team as individual players.

 

2015-16 Drinkwater would win you more points over a season than 2019-20 Maddison or Tielemans and was a better individual player because he didn't have anywhere near as many games where he went missing and he'd be positively involved in almost every single game whereas Maddison or Tielemans might only be in 1 in every 3 games. Maddison or Tielemans have better technical ability but there's so much more to being a player than that.

 

That's not criticising Maddison or Tielemans- that's typical of a footballer but people are crazily underrating and whitewashing just how good that 2015-16 side were as individuals.

Edited 1 July 2020 by Sampson

[Grebfromgrebland]

No