Anyone happy for 5th place/Europa League???

[jeffschlupp]

Echoing the thoughts here, 5th isn't so bad but CL would be a superb achievement from the club. To say we've not just broken into the top six, but finished above at least three of Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea/Man United, along with every other team in the league including Wolves and Everton, would be an unbelievable achievement given our aspirations just to even finish above one of the 'established' big six.

 

I think we might play better if we're relaxed, and now we're secure in the top five we could see a bit of that.

 

It's a cracking final week to the season and I don't think it's worth getting nervous and anxious about. If we do it, it's a truly brilliant moment for the club. If not, then we've done extremely well and we move on to next season and try and build upon it.

[Gerard]

33 minutes ago, Bilo said:

I'm in two minds tbh.

 

The Champions League is the pinnacle in every way. The biggest clubs, the iconic stadia, the greatest players and all that history.

 

Qualify for it, and we have a chance to have a proper transfer window instead of buying absolute pony like in 2016. It's no exaggeration to say that it could be an opportunity to cement ourselves as a top six club for years.

 

The problem is that it could be a fan experience to leave us cold. As has been mentioned, we won't get the Carlsberg group we got in 2016. We had three teams inferior to us then; we'll do well to get one this time, as we'll be third or even fourth seed.

 

Sure, we could draw one of the weaker Pot 2 sides, but we're almost certain to draw a Real, Bayern or Juventus as the seed and could end up having to throw everything at third place after a 5-0 pasting at the Bernabeu. Then we're in the Europa League knockout anyway and could even miss out on that if we get an absolute bastard of a group. 

 

Europa League would probably be more fun. More obscure teams means we could jig the team about a bit for the home game against Spartak Doganduckski and have a genuine chance of winning not only the group, but the competition. The away days wouldn't have the same glamour as the Champions League admittedly, but so what? Bruges didn't exactly disappoint as an away day despite not being an iconic ground or club, and I see no reason why a fixture like Slavia Prague would either.

 

Actually it can still be very much luck of the draw. If we were in the CL this season we could have been in a group with Zenit, Benfica & Dinamo Zagreb and i would back us to finish top two in that group. The nightmare scenario is getting the La Liga runners up with a big five league winner. If we were in it last year we could have ended up in a group with Bayern, Real Madrid and Inter

[jim5000]

European football secured for next season, and the second highest league finish in the clubs history about to be recorded. And still the members of foxestalk are disappointed!!!

 

Top summed it up well in his pre match comments; yes, it's amazing where we are and we have exceeded the seasons targets, but the first half of the season promised so much (biggest ever Premier League away win, title contenders until Liverpool and Man City knocked the stuffing out of us) that we could be genuinely disappointed with only qualifying for the europa league and having the a club legend secure the Premier League golden boot for the first time ever.

 

What a time to be a Leicester City supporter

[jim5000]

26 minutes ago, jeffschlupp said:

Echoing the thoughts here, 5th isn't so bad but CL would be a superb achievement from the club. To say we've not just broken into the top six, but finished above at least three of Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea/Man United, along with every other team in the league including Wolves and Everton, would be an unbelievable achievement given our aspirations just to even finish above one of the 'established' big six.

 

I think we might play better if we're relaxed, and now we're secure in the top five we could see a bit of that.

 

It's a cracking final week to the season and I don't think it's worth getting nervous and anxious about. If we do it, it's a truly brilliant moment for the club. If not, then we've done extremely well and we move on to next season and try and build upon it.

 

Vardy's farewell season will feature a European tour, and we can't ask for more than that. How on earth we replace him I have no idea, we have no player even remotely close to him, he was playing like cambiasso in his prime today. Building on next season is going to be a huge challenge when Vardy inevitably retires

[jeffschlupp]

19 minutes ago, jim5000 said:

 

Vardy's farewell season will feature a European tour, and we can't ask for more than that. How on earth we replace him I have no idea, we have no player even remotely close to him, he was playing like cambiasso in his prime today. Building on next season is going to be a huge challenge when Vardy inevitably retires

What gives you the impression it's Vardy's farewell season - he's contracted until 2022, has 23 league goals this season and doesn't show many signs of stopping.

 

More than that, the guy has only had 8 seasons in the football league, in reality that could mean his body in a footballing sense is only about 29 years old. He hasn't had that many years of being in peak condition, enduring the mental and physical fatigue and damage, and so on. And for what it's worth, his speed and general fitness stats last summer were his best ever.

 

The guy loves scoring goals. He loves being the big fish in the smallish pond I think too. Rodgers knows what he can and can't do, and he has cut the amount of pressing he does to give him longevity.

 

There'll be a time where Vardy needs replacing, yes. But this is his best season for us. Nobody looked at Cristiano Ronaldo two years ago and thought 'well he's not going to be around at the top for much longer' (apart from Florentine Perez), because he's still a world class player and will be for a while yet.

 

If he continues at this rate there's no reason he doesn't sign an extension in 2022 at the age of 35, just like Wes and Fuchs have done. And I sure hope he does.

[UpTheLeagueFox]

1 hour ago, jim5000 said:

Vardy's farewell season will feature a European tour

 

39 minutes ago, jeffschlupp said:

What gives you the impression it's Vardy's farewell season

Jamie Vardy will still be starting and scoring for Leicester when he's 50.

He's that good.

[Tom12345]

I hate to say it, but the 4 goals we casually conceded against Bournemouth could make the difference against us vs Man Utd. Man Utd are only 3 goals behind us and if we lose to Spurs big time or if Man Utd wins big time next game, our GD could turn against us.

 

Needless to say, we should not even be in this position if we did not self destruct in that game or lost all those games we should not have lost.

[foxes_rule1978]

Well it is pretty much guaranteed now... you need to aim for the max, and that is third and CL. I like  how Rodgers came across after the game, felt he has the belief we can actually do it now. 
 

Luke Thomas who come in today, in such a big game, was brilliant, he produced the goods, played without fear and that is what we need now 

[jaqo88]

1 hour ago, Tom12345 said:

I hate to say it, but the 4 goals we casually conceded against Bournemouth could make the difference against us vs Man Utd. Man Utd are only 3 goals behind us and if we lose to Spurs big time or if Man Utd wins big time next game, our GD could turn against us.

 

Needless to say, we should not even be in this position if we did not self destruct in that game or lost all those games we should not have lost.

Yes but all of this is ifs, buts and maybes. Maybe the manner and chaos of the 4 goals in that Bournemouth game gave us a shot up the arse to pull our finger out and is what helped us ease to victory against Sheffield. If we had dribbled to a 2-1 defeat maybe the shock (and therefore reaction) wouldn't have been as strong?

 

Again you can't say anything with certainty but the important thing is we have reacted to that Bournemouth defeat and hopefully can continue that reaction into our last 2 games. 

Edited 17 July 2020 by jaqo88

[Sooper Steve's shin]

4 hours ago, jim5000 said:

European football secured for next season, and the second highest league finish in the clubs history about to be recorded. And still the members of foxestalk are disappointed!!!

 

Top summed it up well in his pre match comments; yes, it's amazing where we are and we have exceeded the seasons targets, but the first half of the season promised so much (biggest ever Premier League away win, title contenders until Liverpool and Man City knocked the stuffing out of us) that we could be genuinely disappointed with only qualifying for the europa league and having the a club legend secure the Premier League golden boot for the first time ever.

 

What a time to be a Leicester City supporter

Plus FA Cup quarter finalists and League Cup semi-finalists. 

[1972 Fox]

5 hours ago, jim5000 said:

European football secured for next season, and the second highest Premier League finish in the clubs history about to be recorded. And still the members of foxestalk are disappointed!!!

Corrected for you as football did start before the 92/93 season.

 

But as you also say "What a time to be a Leicester City supporter "

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

No. 

[LestaAl]

Me neither 

[Cropwellfox]

If you’d have said to me as Palaces fourth goal went in at the end of Puel’s spell in charge we’d finish 5th, league cup semi and FA QF the following season i would have said impossible. At the same time after the great form of late autumn missing out on 3rd or 4th would feel like an opportunity lost. We’ve got a squad that’s developing and we’ve not had the depth of other teams when suffering injuries. Overall In years to come if the mediocre times return we’ll look back on this season and not realise how good we had it. 

[Collymore]

We'd actually have a chance of winning the Europa but not a cat in hell's chance of winning the Champions League.

 

It's quite possible that we'd end up in the Europa anyway if we didn't make it though the group stage of the CL. 

Edited 17 July 2020 by Collymore

[Bilo]

The only problem I could see with EL from the start, apart from losing the chance to play in the CL and all that comes with it, is the fact that we'd probably end up with one or more away days no bugger would attend.

 

How many of us would actually be able to go to Azerbaijan or Israel on a Thursday night in November? How many would want to? You'd probably end up with about 100 fans travelling to watch our U23s bag a 0-0 draw with FK Qarabag, which would be a real shame for fans of a club who qualify for Europe infrequently. 

 

Then again, we could end up going on the beers in Cyprus in September to watch Vardy slam a hat-trick past Anorthosis.

[Spudulike]

I'd rather have a Europa League trophy in the cabinet than another UCL quarter final appearance. 

 

We have a better chance of winning the Europa League than the Champions League.

[foxinsocks]

Champions league is where it's at. We must hear spurs on Sunday 

Edited 17 July 2020 by foxinsocks

[UpTheLeagueFox]

2 minutes ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

LCFC: Highest Top Division Finishes

 

1927/28 3rd

1928/29 2nd

1962/63 4th

2015/16 1st

2019/20 *3rd/4th/5th tbc

As annoyed / angry / frustrated / gutted we'd be at missing out on a CL place, this puts into perspective how a fifth placed finish would compare in our ENTIRE history.

[Foxxed]

I wouldn’t be sad. But obviously I want CL

[Finnaldo]

Let’s be honest, next year we won’t care either way when we’re in Europe. 
 

As of now, whilst we’re occupying a CL spot and it’s in our hands and given realistically we should have sealed it by now, it would leave a bitter taste in the mouth. Hopefully we get over the line in a CL spot though.

[bovril]

With the injuries we've had, yes, I would be. Also don't really agree with the snobbishness over the EL, you know the "don't really fancy an away trip to Azerbaijan on a Thursday" type of comment. Looking at the group stage from this season, there were many prestigious clubs involved from some fantastic parts of Europe. That is if fans are going to be able to travel at all.

 

For me the point of European football is enjoying some good away trips and being able to compete, not the money in the bank.

Edited 17 July 2020 by bovril

[HankMarvin]

The 100 odd million, would be a disappointment plus being able to attract top players that want to play in the Champions league.

Also to stop players that want to leave coming out with the old chestnut that they  want Champions league football.

[car1os]

At the beginning of the season - Yes

Now - No.

We’re on the verge of blowing all the hard work we’d done at the start of the season, will be sad if we finish 5th

[Cameron Davidson]

If we have to be, it is still an amazing achievement, however after where whe were and how we played, and the squad..

 

nope

Edited 17 July 2020 by Cameron Davidson