Feature - How Leicester Won The League

By Nick Powell
On 15th November 2014, Claudio Ranieri was sacked as Greece Manager after just four games, as they slumped to a 2nd defeat to the Faroe Islands in as many games. Just under 6 months later, Leicester were in last place in the Premier League table. The rest as they say, is history.

2015/16 has been a season that has been extraordinary for so many reasons. Chelsea found themselves in a relegation battle, albeit a brief one, Villa slumped to one of the all-time lowest points totals in the League's history and don't even get me started on the weird and wonderful Louis Van Gaal.

To put it in to perspective (Powell's Perspective), not a single team is where Phil McNulty, the BBC's chief football writer, predicted them to be in. He predicted Leicester to finish 19th, Chelsea 1st and Villa 15th, now that could be a reflection on his football knowledge, but no-one can argue against the fact this season has been truly bizarre, and Leicester have burst through the middle to be crowned Kings of England at the King Power on Saturday.

So what are the components behind this, how did Leicester emerge from the pile of bodies victorious? What did they and their manager do so right, that the big teams did so wrong? Why did they fall short and Leicester reign supreme? And why didn't Leicester tail off, as it seemed they would and as many predicted, as Arsenal, Tottenham and City all did.

Injuries and Selections...
Leicester were blessed with a distinct lack of injuries and suspensions, which enabled Ranieri to make very few changes to his starting eleven, he's made just 27 changes this season in 36 games compared to 95.4 which was the average before for Champions. The deep squad that the top sides have required with the Champions League and other competitions to focus on has not been needed by Leicester. Going out early in the League and FA Cups, with no Champions' League to worry about, players have been able to keep good form going, and everyone knows their role for every game. It has also been a huge advantage that they haven't lost key players at any time this season, so those games that are must win have been won, the difficult ones have not been lost, so Leicester's momentum has not stopped.

Faltering Rivals...
Chelsea were many pundits' favourites to lift the title for the second straight year this season but they fell at the first hurdle. Losing Courtois, the Eva Caniero incident and a lack of commitment from the individuals meant they had no chance. City fell apart following the announcement of Pelligrini's departure. United have had a rollercoaster of a season. For Liverpool, Klopp's impact came too little too late and Arsenal did an Arsenal. Spurs challenged them but were also too far behind because of the way the fixtures fell. With Spurs always having games in hand, Leicester were far enough ahead when the pressure should have come on that they could keep their heads down and just play with the freedom and spirit they had had for the first 30 games. With 23 points from their last 9 games, it was the finish more than the start that won the title for Leicester.

Those little things that went their way...
While no-one is doubting the achievement of Leicester, they had some slices of luck along the way. For example they have had the highest number of penalties of any team in the league this season, double that of anyone else. They also had more teams hit their posts than any other. I've mentioned their rivals faltering, but to the extent they have is remarkable. They will win the title with the lowest total since 2010, and could have won it with 9 points fewer. The injuries as I mentioned were also a huge bonus to them. Having said that, they had to endure some bad moments too, harsh red cards against Arsenal and West Ham saw them drop points in those games and it's not as if they were gonna win it with no luck at all, not even the Premier League's big boys win with no luck.

Simple but effective, and the bubble never burst...

Leicester had a tactic, to catch teams on the break. Other than Arsenal, who beat them twice, very few teams were able to stop them in this area. The pace of Vardy, solidity and delivery of Kante and skill of Mahrez meant they were so unpredictable however. While the tactic was simple, the players executing it weren't and until their unstoppable finish, Leicester were underestimated time and time again. Compact defending and clinical finishing, there's no better example than against City. City thought their quality would crack Leicester but inside two minutes they were down and Leicester denied them and then nicked two more goals of their own to ease to victory. You could argue that the lack of pressure on them helped them hugely also, they were allowed to sit back and when it came to finishing their chances, they put them away without worrying about the potential consequences of missing them.

The manager, King Claudio...
"Carefree Claudio", Ranieri couldn't have judged the season better from a tactical, man management and media perspective. Tactically, he brought out the best out of each and every player, and got them playing a way which was perfect for the assets he possessed. From the first game, a rampant victory over Sunderland, Leicester played in a hugely positive, exciting way. Perhaps his best tactical achievement was his lack of changes however, just 27 in total. Known previously as the "tinkerman", Ranieri had more of a "laissez-faire" attitude to his line-up this season, and the simplicity was superb. His man-management has to be praised as well, recognising the talent of his players, but not bigging them up too much. The respect and love the players have for him is huge, a complete change from the harsh, and at times brutal nature of his predecessor Nigel Pearson. Little things made the difference, leaving Vardy out of shooting drills to keep him fresh for the weekend or buying pizza after a clean sheet. The latter sounds stupid but before that, they had conceded an average of two goals a game, since then an average of just 0.6 goals a game. Impact or what?

Finally his media presence, a man that was so nice that not even Mourinho attempted mind games on him. No teams wanted to apply pressure on Leicester, and Leicester's boss didn't put any pressure on his players. His happy, kind persona in front of and behind the camera meant a hugely positive and pressure free atmosphere. All the ingredients for an incredible story at a sports team. He was written off by so many, many who thought he was too nice and would make his team too nice to survive in the league. Claudio probably felt he didn't have the toughness for a relegation fight, so he went and won the League instead.

Dilly Ding, Dilly Dong.