Tinker on.

[TightEnd]

£9m for schlupp is a good price, would take it. squad player with great pace. would be worth fortunes if he could shoot straight

Mahrez is under contract until 2019 and there is no release clause. he'll go but wouldn't expect it to be yet. if it does it will be top price and we'll reinvest


non-supporters are far too gloomy (as they were about southampton), going to be fine with the recruitment team in place

[DungBeetle]

Leicester are a bit of a nightmare for the Spread firms to price this season imo.  On the face of it a 25 point drop is very derogatory, but if on the flip side it's not unimaginable with champions league football this season (plus potential extra games post Xmas) that they could really struggle to adapt.   I wouldn't have a clue where to pitch their quote if I was a bookie.

[arbboy]

Leicester are a bit of a nightmare for the Spread firms to price this season imo.  On the face of it a 25 point drop is very derogatory, but if on the flip side it's not unimaginable with champions league football this season (plus potential extra games post Xmas) that they could really struggle to adapt.   I wouldn't have a clue where to pitch their quote if I was a bookie.

They are virtually the same price as Stoke to go down on betfair.  Stoke are in for 45 points.  Might say more about what a great tiny risk buy Stoke are at that price however.

20/1 Leicester to go down at hills won't see the day out imo.  I am amazed how bullish Leicester fans still are with their rose tinted glasses on.

[TightEnd]

  I am amazed how bullish Leicester fans still are with their rose tinted glasses on.

thats just unfair and a lazy argument

we see, closer than generalists like you, the processes, recruitment and skill of the behind the scenes stuff at the club.

we won't win it again of course but i am amazed how bearish some other fans are through their foggy glasses.

the default is "x has gone, y is going, reality strikes" i think its bollocks, just as it was for Southampton

i am expecting to challenge for the top 6 and would be very surprised if we were outside the top half

[DungBeetle]

Leicester are a bit of a nightmare for the Spread firms to price this season imo.  On the face of it a 25 point drop is very derogatory, but if on the flip side it's not unimaginable with champions league football this season (plus potential extra games post Xmas) that they could really struggle to adapt.   I wouldn't have a clue where to pitch their quote if I was a bookie.

They are virtually the same price as Stoke to go down on betfair.  Stoke are in for 45 points.  Might say more about what a great tiny risk buy Stoke are at that price however.

20/1 Leicester to go down at hills won't see the day out imo.  I am amazed how bullish Leicester fans still are with their rose tinted glasses on.

Stoke are rock solid - you can pretty much be certain they'll be in the 40-52 point band I would imagine.  Leicester could do anything next year taking into account last year's performance and the new variables.  With a price of 56 or whatever it is I'd be worried being long or short.  Could end up anywhere!  I do agree that I can't see much going wrong with the Stoke buy at 45.  Just cannot envisage you ever having more than 3/4 points downside.

[arbboy]

  I am amazed how bullish Leicester fans still are with their rose tinted glasses on.

thats just unfair and a lazy argument

we see, closer than generalists like you, the processes, recruitment and skill of the behind the scenes stuff at the club.

we won't win it again of course but i am amazed how bearish some other fans are through their foggy glasses.

the default is "x has gone, y is going, reality strikes" i think its bollocks, just as it was for Southampton

i am expecting to challenge for the top 6 and would be very surprised if we were outside the top half

Tighty you talk like Leicester are the only team in the EPL doing all the behind the scenes stuff Leicester are doing.  Professional sport around the world generally is a copy cat game as the pack 'copy' what the current winners are doing.  Any relative edge Leicester had previously in this area (and it will have been relatively small and a lot of positive variance in the signings which were made to boot over a tiny sample size as we have discussed before for the tiny fees) will be massively diminished this season.  Even if you find these players you won't be paying the bargain basement fees for them this season because you are in the Champions League.  When you are one of the favs to go down like you were last season it is a lot easy to 'nick' a player on the cheap.

There are just so many second season issues/factors which go against Leicester in this spot.  It is hard to find anything that will actually go in your favour next season.

[arbboy]

Leicester are a bit of a nightmare for the Spread firms to price this season imo.  On the face of it a 25 point drop is very derogatory, but if on the flip side it's not unimaginable with champions league football this season (plus potential extra games post Xmas) that they could really struggle to adapt.   I wouldn't have a clue where to pitch their quote if I was a bookie.

They are virtually the same price as Stoke to go down on betfair.  Stoke are in for 45 points.  Might say more about what a great tiny risk buy Stoke are at that price however.

20/1 Leicester to go down at hills won't see the day out imo.  I am amazed how bullish Leicester fans still are with their rose tinted glasses on.

Stoke are rock solid - you can pretty much be certain they'll be in the 40-52 point band I would imagine.  Leicester could do anything next year taking into account last year's performance and the new variables.  With a price of 56 or whatever it is I'd be worried being long or short.  Could end up anywhere!  I do agree that I can't see much going wrong with the Stoke buy at 45.  Just cannot envisage you ever having more than 3/4 points downside.

Obviously the deviations involved with Leics are potentially huge and Stoke are the polar opposite.  I get all that.   Let's see how two aging, paceless 30 something centre halves cope this season (playing twice a week most weeks with little rest and plenty of travel compared to having 7 days between each game to prepare physically and tactically last season) without their enforcer sitting in front of them mopping up all the danger.

[DungBeetle]

  I am amazed how bullish Leicester fans still are with their rose tinted glasses on.

thats just unfair and a lazy argument

we see, closer than generalists like you, the processes, recruitment and skill of the behind the scenes stuff at the club.

we won't win it again of course but i am amazed how bearish some other fans are through their foggy glasses.

the default is "x has gone, y is going, reality strikes" i think its bollocks, just as it was for Southampton

i am expecting to challenge for the top 6 and would be very surprised if we were outside the top half

Tighty you talk like Leicester are the only team in the EPL doing all the behind the scenes stuff Leicester are doing.  Professional sport around the world generally is a copy cat game as the pack 'copy' what the current winners are doing.  Any relative edge Leicester had previously in this area (and it will have been relatively small and a lot of positive variance in the signings which were made to boot over a tiny sample size as we have discussed before for the tiny fees) will be massively diminished this season.  Even if you find these players you won't be paying the bargain basement fees for them this season because you are in the Champions League.  When you are one of the favs to go down like you were last season it is a lot easy to 'nick' a player on the cheap.

There are just so many second season issues/factors which go against Leicester in this spot.  It is hard to find anything that will actually go in your favour next season.

I don't want to trade Leicester this year, but where would you pitch their points quote?  I think it's such a hard one to price up for all the reasons we have discussed.  It's one of the few instances where a 1.5 point spread feels too small for a season points quote if I were a bookie.

[arbboy]

 I am amazed how bullish Leicester fans still are with their rose tinted glasses on.

thats just unfair and a lazy argument

we see, closer than generalists like you, the processes, recruitment and skill of the behind the scenes stuff at the club.

we won't win it again of course but i am amazed how bearish some other fans are through their foggy glasses.

the default is "x has gone, y is going, reality strikes" i think its bollocks, just as it was for Southampton

i am expecting to challenge for the top 6 and would be very surprised if we were outside the top half

Tighty you talk like Leicester are the only team in the EPL doing all the behind the scenes stuff Leicester are doing.  Professional sport around the world generally is a copy cat game as the pack 'copy' what the current winners are doing.  Any relative edge Leicester had previously in this area (and it will have been relatively small and a lot of positive variance in the signings which were made to boot over a tiny sample size as we have discussed before for the tiny fees) will be massively diminished this season.  Even if you find these players you won't be paying the bargain basement fees for them this season because you are in the Champions League.  When you are one of the favs to go down like you were last season it is a lot easy to 'nick' a player on the cheap.

There are just so many second season issues/factors which go against Leicester in this spot.  It is hard to find anything that will actually go in your favour next season.

I don't want to trade Leicester this year, but where would you pitch their points quote?  I think it's such a hard one to price up for all the reasons we have discussed.  It's one of the few instances where a 1.5 point spread feels too small for a season points quote if I were a bookie.

I would happily lay Leicester for a top 6 finish at top price 2/1 for decent money.  That is the bet i would be most keen to smash into.  Leicester bottom half finish 3/1.  Laying vardy top 4 goalscorer around the 4/1 mark i would imagine.  I will be opposing Leicester on most markets.  Expecting to get a decent price Stoke top Midlands etc.  WH/Soton/Everton/Stoke v Leics match bets.  You don't get spots like this very often in sport that are so hard to price up so you have to get involved as potentially there are ricks everywhere.

With the quote i just don't see a spot where Leicester get anywhere close to 70 points this season.  I don't actually see that much downside in selling.  I think the quote is too high but i understand why because they will still see buyers at that price because it is '25 points lower than last season's total'.

Only Spurs and Arsenal out of the top 6 are probably fully exposed.  The other 4 teams are open to any amount of improvement on last season for obvious reasons (including 2 of them not having any European scheduling/rest issues as well - this was one of Leicester's biggest competitive advantages last season).  When was the last time so many of the big 6 were open to so much improvement in the same season?

[arbboy]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/07/16/leicester-city-resigned-to-losing-head-of-recruitment-steve-wals/

Anyone going to be left?

[TightEnd]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/07/16/leicester-city-resigned-to-losing-head-of-recruitment-steve-wals/

Anyone going to be left?

this looks like it is happening today and is a big blow, more than any player going

going to be director of football at his boyhood club two miles away from where he lives. Has been travelling liverpool-leicester and back almost daily for 5 years, plus scouting trips at weekends.

impact unlikely to be felt too much this year but as the lists and data compiled become less relevant as time goes on then we'll need to see how he is replaced

--

on brighter matters, Mahrez played last nigt at Oxford and in their 45 minutes each both Demarai Gray and Ahmed usa looked superb

Musa is very quick, slated for the hole behind Vardy and we should be hugely dangerous on the counter if we can win the ball without Kante (of course he often won it unexpectedly so we could counter without the opponent being in defensive alignements)

--

next up Celtic, PSG and Barcelona in the champions cup ahead of the community shield. 12,000 miles to travel for those three games, in glasgow, LA and stockholm

[TightEnd]

Click to see full-size image.

[pleno1]

Mahrez looked amazing. Leicster looked awful defensively though.

[TightEnd]

Mahrez looked amazing. Leicster looked awful defensively though.

lol, no they didn't. All the Ranieri type narrow defending and closing the gaps was put in place and looked to be solid

Chilwell at left back is going to be a superstar. about to sign a new contract

trying different combinations at centre back yesterday, and morgan and huth were not together

Drinkwater patrolled in front of the back four fine. clearly going to miss Kante, but Amartey looked very good there second half

all systems go really, but roll on the end of the transfer window

team flies off to LA tomorrow to play PSG on Sunday

[pleno1]

Did you watch the whole game? They were very very shaky at the back.

If you were so great how come you drew 1-1 with a team that got beat off a Gibraltarian team the week earlier in a competitive match?!

I watched the whole game, in my completely unbiased view Mahrez was by far the best player on the pitch, as a team You looked very shaky defensively. It's only pre season though.