The superlatives run dry when trying to aptly convey just how surprising and wonderful Leicester City’s Premier League triumph was.
For many, it is a piece of news that is still sinking in today. Their story of going from relegation fodder to champions will remain one of the greatest in English football history for a very long time to come and they should be rightly proud of all they have achieved.
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However, their attentions will already be starting to focus on next season and the challenges and experiences that await them. So, let’s examine how they ought to fare in Europe’s elite club competition, the UEFA Champions League.
Counter-attacking style has reaped rewards in UCL
The Champions League is home to the continent’s best teams. Normally, they are chock-full of dazzling talents who know how to make expert use of their individual skill and it is these teams who are regularly singled out at the start of the campaign as the clear favourites.
Alongside them, the teams who finished first in their respective leagues are firmly considered as shoe-ins for a deep surge into the quarter-finals and beyond.
However, Leicester’s presence will skew much of that rhetoric because they are the archetypal shock package and cannot really be considered as guarantees to go anywhere. Equally, they cannot be ruled out of going all the way because, as they have already proven, they do not take much notice of what other people expect from them. They are an exciting enigma.
More pertinently, though, their playing style and tactical identity will be their biggest strength and a quick look at how effective a very similar approach carried out by Atletico Madrid this season has been will give the Foxes great hope for the future. Stick to their guns and there is a good chance that the PL champions will carve out some real success in their midweek battles come the 2016/17 campaign.
As pointed out by Samira Kumar in his exhaustive Inspire! Coach Education article about Leicester’s counter-attacks, he highlighted just how important a particular implement has been in their rise to become champions of England:
The use of [Riyad] Mahrez between lines and [Jamie] Vardy beyond the opposition defensive line in combination allows for diversity in their counter attacks.
Indeed, it is that diversity which makes them so hard to contain. Simply put, there are some fantastic teams out there showing exactly why one does not need much of the ball to win games and, ironically, dominate proceedings.
The number of times Los Colchoneros turned defence into attack in the blink of an eye against Barcelona, Bayern Munich and others offers solid evidence that Leicester could do some damage with their similar brand of football.
Of course, there are ways of stopping this deep-sitting, pressure-soaking, counter-attacking style of play. Foremost in the arsenal of plenty of teams to deactivate a withdrawn opponent is to press high, move the ball quickly and, most importantly, get it out wide in order to cross the ball and create havoc in the 18-yard box.
Nevertheless, only the best of the best can do this effectively and that will give Claudio Ranieri and his men plenty to get excited about between now and the autumn.
Top work-rate means they will be tough to break down for anybody
Excellent counter-attacking ability aside, one of the other key elements of this Leicester side is their never-say-die attitude and incredible work-rate.
It has been said many times over the past few months but the effervescent and evergreen N’Golo Kante is obviously the heartbeat of that endless stream of energy and conviction.
Where PFA Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez and record-breaking Jamie Vardy are the cut-throat, sparkly stars of the side, the France international is the guts and backbone. He has been nothing short of a revelation and his fitness and availability will be key to their European quest in a few months’ time.
As outlined by Squawka (before the Foxes played Chelsea in their final league match), Kante had recorded the most tackles and interceptions in the 2015/16 campaign.
It is vital that the club works as hard as possible to retain his services because while fears are growing among the fans about whether or not he will stay under duress of transfer offers aplenty, it would be nearly impossible to put a price tag on his massive importance to this remarkable team.
An over-arching team industry really helped Ranieri’s troops usurp all the big guns in the league so that although Kante was the face of their unending desire to hassle and harass the opposition into distributing the ball ineffectively, they bought into it as a team – Danny Drinkwater being the second most lauded player in that regard.
Indeed, it wasn’t simply a blind pursuit to work hard in a helter-skelter manner because they became a highly disciplined team in the process, in spite of their seemingly passive relationship with the ball.
In essence, they are part of a new wave of teams looking to show that good football doesn’t necessarily mean monopolising possession.
Summer recruits should play a big part in how the story unravels
Undoubtedly, the notion that a chain is only as strong as the weakest link applies to every football team keen on winning titles. Leicester are not the exception to this rule which is why the summer months will be hugely important to how well they perform next season. With continental match-nights on the cards for next season, they are sure to not only need to retain their best performers but also go in search of a few more experienced recruits.
To hark back to the comparison between the Foxes and Atletico again, it’s clear they could learn yet more from their Spanish counterparts. Diego Simeone has often spouted an ideology of harnessing a really competitive nature, and particularly one that spawns from within. Indeed, he reiterated that stance recently with the following snippet:
Internal competition makes us compete very well against other teams. I think that is the greatest virtue this group has.
With that in mind, it’s vitally important that club owner Khun Vichai makes the necessary funds available so that the club can fortify their ranks for the forthcoming storm.
They will be targeted more at a domestic level as teams will look to topple them from their pinnacle, but teams on the European stage are likely to regard them as underdogs – and that could play to their strength. However, they shouldn’t rely on that and these next few months will be their biggest opportunity to give them a boost ahead of schedule.
Promisingly, vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha recently stated his desire to bring in “three or four” players due to their increased involvement in a variety of competitions.
No doubt, the club would love to see Steve Walsh work his scouting magic again, but with more money to work with he might not need to. As long as their targets bring the same level of desire and courage to the pitch, we should see Leicester hold their own in the group stages at the very least.
