After Premier League Title, Leicester City Learns Magic Goes Only So Far

I greatly enjoyed rooting for Leicester last season after it became clear that my team, Arsenal, was going, as usual, to fail to live up to its potential.

In fact, I was glad when Arsenal's effort to buy Jamie Vardy last summer failed. It seemed a bit churlish to attempt to use our financial power to break up a miracle team so soon after The Miracle.

Unfortunately, N'golo Kante was unable to resist Chelsea's blandishments (giving me fresh justification for hating the club, even after the departure of Jose Murinho), so we will never know whether an intact Leicester would have been in a title, rather than a relegation, battle. Probably not; a story like last year's Leicester depends on the confluence of many players having career seasons, a circumstance most unlikely to be repeated.

The real disappointment this year is defender Wes Brown, who was titanic last season, barely average this year. Looks like he is still suffering from the celebration hangover.

Nevertheless.... Leicester gave us proof that the unlikely and audacious is possible.

Shinji Okazaki Asian Footballer of the Year? I mean, nice player, but how many times did he even play 90 minutes last season for Leicester? Well, he appeared in 28 matches, and played 2074 minutes, an average of 75 minutes per match. He scored five league goals. Footballer of the year?
They really miss the energy and ball winning skills of Kante.
And last season, they absolutely killed on the counter, and were astonishingly efficient. They were able to sit deep and hoof balls up for Mahrez and Vardy to chase down. They had almost no injuries to speak of.

This season, the usual suspects have turned up and started to play the football they are known for. Last year was a horror season for the 'top four' but it's very different now. Last season everything Leicester touched turned to gold but take Vardy for instance, he's a shadow of 2015/16.

Much of any championship season consists of a magical confluence of players, managers and fans. Was it the goal scoring of Vardy and Mahrez, or the bestial defending of Huth, or Ranieri's brilliance that gave Leicester its championship? Or was it more likely the glue, distribution, support and hard work of N'Golo Kante who left for Chelsea. Kante is truly the one that got away particularly in view of Kante's performance in Chelsea's recently ended thirteen game winning streak and Leicester's lackluster play so far this year.

Gary Lineker, a TV personality??
Michael Jordan, an ex-baseball player??

Sad to report, but both Algernon and Charlie snapped out of it eventually.

Football is filled with so many emotions. The highs are high and the lows low. As a Chelsea supporter I can say that after our awful and disappointing title defence last year I found myself caught up in the magic of Leicester City's title. I was very happy when Chelsea's draw with Spurs at The Bridge helped Leicester secure the title over them and Arsenal. It really is a "The Beautiful Game".

Leicester are a bit like my team, West Ham. They look like they're going places and then, especially after Christmas, they start slipping so that, before you know it, they are where they've almost always been--in the middle of their division. But never mind, we'll always support our Leicesters and West Hams. Blind faith can be a wonderful thing.

This season was always going to be rough, with the club's hectic offseason, additional games (which often come with additional injuries), and the loss of that beautiful little dynamo, N'Golo Kanté. Come May, this will still turn out to be a decent season: the club will cement its position as a Premier League side while developing an impressive corps of young players who will contribute to future success.

And, yes, that magical season plus this year's Wednesday nights (under the liiiights, done Copenhangen, Porto, and Bruuuuugge! On to Sevilla, to drink Sangria!) will outlive us all.

"Just this week, Riyad Mahrez was named African player of the year, a title Shinji Okazaki had already picked up in Asia."

really .?.....

Rory, thanks for your reports on The Beautiful Game. Your stories add so much to my knowledge and enjoyment of European football.

They will always have Richard III. I want to go visit, and see what they do with a history museum there. Richard and I share scoliosis in common; he's always been somewhat of an inspiration for me. Fottball, not so much.

The beauty of last year it's in the books and it will still be talked about generations from now. It was fun and they were never going to repeat. They need to avoid relegation and go deeper in the FA Cup. Their Champions League run is going to end short, but if they stay up in the Prem, it's ok.

All the best Leicester. You did do it the record books say so. I'm going to make a day trip to buy a sausage and see the mural. Now if only Leyton Orient could pull off something similar.

A very timely and well written article about the improbable (and ongoing) story of Leicester FC.
The closing sentence is succinct.

It's alright. Magic is magic. It doesn't happen every day. Maybe the chemistry can be found again. But the passage of time will make it a little harder.

Teams like Leicester are what make football such a great game; any team can win on a given day. A team may be dominated by the opposition but still end up winners. This does not happen in any other sport. In other sports the dominant team invariably runs out the winner. To win the Premiership was an amazing feat. No one expected Leicester do repeat the "miracle". They are doing well in the Champions League and survival in the Premier League is their goal as it was at the start of last season. This is just one of the reasons I love football and why the other codes seem so dull.

Yes, but they will always have Paris.