Will it actually come down to Manchester City vs Leicester for the title fight? As a Manchester City fan, I came into the season with a strong positive opinion of our club and sky high expectations. I firmly believed that we have a strong chance to win the league this season after a solid off-season fixed the perceived issues with the team last season. At the beginning I laid out a set of likely scenarios for what I thought would be the title fight. I expected a Chelsea vs City title fight, Arsenal vs City, or perhaps even a Man United vs City battle. Sitting at second place right now however, is a completely unexpected team, Leicester City that is giving us the biggest challenge. Leicester City’s rise to the top early this season has elicited really varied opinions, with shock being the prevalent attitude. Not even the most positive Leicester supporters can say that they realistically expected Leicester sit in second place after more than a third of the season. Barely surviving relegation last season, the Foxes’ amazing run early this season is shocking and you don’t have to look far to see plenty of people discrediting Leicester City with increasingly absurd mental gymnastics. Some pundits like Rio Ferdinand seems to believe that Leicester’s success has to be built on poor performances by the rest of the league. When it comes to judging performance however, pedigree really doesn’t matter much. Despite not signing big stars or top prospects, it is undeniable that Leicester City is performing spectacularly. With eight wins and only one loss, Leicester isn’t exactly scraping by. A solid goal difference of +8 shows that they have put on some strong performances. Along the way, the relatively unknown Jamie Vardy managed to score in 11 consecutive games, smashing a premier league record along the way. It is undeniable that so far, Leicester is probably playing like one of the best teams in the world. However, despite the strong performances to start the season, I do not believe that Leicester City are in a strong position to challenge for the title, however, I won’t be surprised if Leicester end up challenging for a European place or perhaps even top four this season. In my opinion, Leicester City faces two major challenges, strongly limiting their odds of successfully challenging for the Premier League title. First of all, Leicester lacks depth. Injuries, suspensions, and runs of poor form are inevitable over the length of the long premier league season, and unlike say, Manchester City, Leicester simply lack the depth to compete consistently at a high level. For instance, with 14 goals, Jamie Vardy is essentially carrying the Leicester offense. If he gets injured or suspended (something he was quite close to when he flipped off the ref a few days ago), could Leicester still assemble a strong enough attack to blow the opposition away like they have been doing? Their other strikers Leonardo Ulloa, Shinji Okazaki and Andrej Kramaric have three goals between them! Despite their spectacular start, their defence so far has been quite woeful - they’ve conceded more goals than anyone else in the top seven. Their offense is also mostly riding on the shoulders of Riyad Mahrez and Vardy, and it remains to be seen if they can keep this up after other clubs change their game plans to target these two. As a Manchester City fan, do I really anticipate a long, drawn out title fight with Leicester City? Probably not. I am amazed by their spectacular start, and hats off to them. But in the end, they just lack the defense and the depth to really dream of fighting all the way to the end. Manchester City fan blogger Sihan Zheng
Nothing new here, more or less repeating what other pundits (and if we are honest, ourselves as well) have been saying - namely that we have massively exceeded expectations but expect us to fade as the season goes on.
I seriously hope that this perspective of Mahrez and Vardy being the driving force of our team continues well into the next year. Teams are already doubling/trebling up on Mahrez, and aware of JVs pace. They are unable to stop Kante winning the ball in midfield, ignoring Drinks being the playmaker, and failing to stop Albrighton from zipping in those crosses. Failing to note the strength that we have on the bench, and forgetting that we have the January window to strengthen even further. That we have owners who have and are willing to spend money to compete for a top 4 place. Yes, everybody we are a 2 man team, we concede goals and we will fade away as the season progresses. Or maybe, just maybe we will do what Paul Merson said whilst watching us v Newcastle - Leicester are going nowhere (ie staying at the top). Exciting times .....................
From what ive seen of leicester,its the engine room which has been the catalyst for Vardy & mahrez to get the plaudits and its a breakdown in that department would be the most damaging rather than injury/suspension of vardy
We do seem to be improving defensively, to be fair... By my calculations, we haven't conceded a goal that wasn't from a set piece, corner, or penalty since Saturday 3rd October... Southampton - Conceded twice, one from a corner, the other from a free-kick Palace - Clean sheet West Brom - Conceded twice, one from a corner, the other a penalty Watford - Conceded one, it was a penalty Newcastle - Clean sheet Man Utd - Conceded one, from a corner
We need to be more cleverer on set pieces as we have a short team - Huth and Morgan are the tallest players and they mark the opposition tallest, but then really who do we have other then Ulloa who is normally on the bench or substituted? Schmeichal he needs to dominate the area more but then again he is short for a keeper as well.
