Sport
Leicester City – the difficult follow up season?
Leicester City – the difficult follow up season? It is now two and a half months since Leicester City shocked the world by claiming their maiden Premier League crown but still the extent of their accomplishment remains difficult to grasp. The most extraordinary title triumph in the history of English football will be spoken about for decades to come, while in the short-term it is likely to inspire other traditionally ‘smaller’ sides to hold no fear when it comes to competing with the big boys.
It is certainly healthy for any division to be full of ambitious clubs who aim high and do not feel overwhelmed by their adversaries. The incoming television deal – which looks set to catapult all 20 Premier League outfits into the list of the world’s top 30 richest clubs – has helped to level the playing field, allowing Stoke City to bring in Xherdan Shaqiri, Crystal Palace to sign Yohan Cabaye and West Ham United to land Dimitri Payet last summer. Players that were previously seen as out of the reach of mid-table teams are now being targeted as realistic acquisitions, with many more high-calibre players likely to join sides outside the traditional top six before the transfer window closes at the end of August.
Nevertheless, there are numerous reasons why supporters of comparable clubs should not expect their team to replicate Leicester’s success – or even get close to it – in the upcoming campaign.
Firstly, the Premier League in 2016/17 will be far tougher to win than in 2015/16; that is not to diminish Leicester’s achievement in any way, but their path to the championship was undoubtedly made smoother by Chelsea’s implosion, Manchester United’s muddled underachievement and Manchester City’s puzzling lethargy.
All three will be stronger this year under the guidance of Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola respectively, while Liverpool will also be more of a threat now that Jurgen Klopp has the chance to mould the squad and work with his players throughout pre-season. Arsenal, runners-up last time out, will similarly bolster their ranks in the transfer market and a young Tottenham Hotspur team will have learnt a lot from their challenge under Mauricio Pochettino in 2015/16. Finishing above all six of those clubs is a monumental task for members of the chasing pack, with a place in the top four pretty improbable too.
Leicester were also a little fortunate with injuries last season, with Claudio Ranieri able to name the same starting XI for much of the campaign. Again, it is important to stress that that does not take anything away from their triumph – having one factor in their favour does not change the fact that, in so many other ways, the odds were massively stacked against them – but the Foxes could easily have lost momentum if injuries and suspensions had stacked up at any point.
Moreover, even if another surprise package did emerge in the coming months, they will be taken a great deal more seriously much earlier than Leicester were. Indeed, it took a while for opponents to start making life difficult for Ranieri’s charges last term, with many teams not treating them as they would have done were Leicester a more traditional power; allowing them to play the way they wanted was both an error that multiple sides committed and one that they are unlikely to make again.
The thing that made Leicester’s Premier League title so spectacular was the sheer improbability of it. A repeat just 12 months later is extremely unlikely.
