Claudio Ranieri a really sympathetic face with positive attitude has been Leicesters only 'big' transfer this year. Here are some of his words after the last game they played vs Manchester City.

We played a very good game. It was hard but good. We created a lot of chances and I liked it because I was waiting to see our reaction after the defeat at Anfield.

The league right now is...insane! It feels like nobody wants to win it. Every match is hard but we are like a basement in a house and the rest teams are in a villa with a pool. We need to fight with everyone to reach the top was his words.

When he was asked about Leicester's season far he said : We are a small miracle. I want this to be continued but it is not easy at all. I want my players to fight everyday like today.

This man made me angry when Greece lost to Faroe Islands in national level but he is clearly doing an amazing job at Leicester. I know most footballs fans bandwagon and follow ''famous'' managers but this guy right here is doing something not many managers would be capable. I hope Leicester wins the league they fully deserve it if they keep playing like that untill the end of the season!

Yours thoughts on Claudio? I know he is not a new manager but surely he is not one of the biggest selling names out there.

P.S. Sorry if the thread is not completely correct in terms of grammar, I did my best.

I hope Leicester wins the league they fully deserve it if they keep playing like that until the end of the season!

no! Arsenal need to win BPL so that we can end the god-forsaken 11 year title drought!

Since United have basically no chance at this point, I'm pulling for Leicester. I get where you're coming from Jim, as an Arsenal fan, but as a fan of this sport, it would be amazing if a side that was in the state Leicester was five years ago, or even last Christmas, won the league. It gives teams hope, and it gives me hope as a fan that money can't buy a side out of trouble.

I think it's just one of those things. A lucky streak of players that come into their top form in a single season. That's how Mourinho became 'the special one' with Porto. It happens only once a in a managers career, and to most - it never does. It happened with Banitez when he managed Valencia, and they came to the final of Champions League. Diego Simone with Athletico, also finals of CL. Both of those have won the La Liga once apiece.

If Liecester does win the league, don't be surprised if he is hired by a big club right away. However, I think luck has much more to do with it than does the tactical knowledge and skill of the manager.

It also happened once to Galatasaray and their coach Fatih Terim, when they won UEFA Cup and Super Cup.

It could also be argued that it has happened to Guardiola when Barca won the treble.

@Amerr30 So every team that is not as big as Barca,RM,Bayern blablabla is just lucky when they win something?

1st day on the forum and already downgrading every single team and their achievements besides Real Madrid I suppose.

To make you realize how wrong you are I will just pick Jose and ask you straight away. Jose did it with Porto ok let's say he got lucky and won it, but what about Inter? You mean to tell that specific season anyone with a basic football knowledge that followed football those days would bet that INTER would win the UCL?

That happened with Guardiolas Barca? SERIOUSLY? Well I give up you are the most deluded person I ever witnessed.

@Joze, so was it simply unlucky that all of Chelsea's good players were out of form for half the season?

Every match is hard but we are like a basement in a house and the rest teams are in a villa with a pool."

Claudio Ranieri

I like the imageries this guy uses in his interviews.

@Joze Right he's not the most decorated manager-- never won a top-flight league-- but he's doing something unreal. I never get tired of hearing this: Leicester finished in 14 place last season and now they're title-contenders. It would be nice to see them win the league.

@SunFlash Everything matters of course Mourinho played an important role. I dont want to discuss it further we have 1 billion Mourinho threads already.

P.S. We are still ouf of form.

JozeMourinho:

OIf course it's lucky. Small teams take risks when they buy players. They cannot afford proven quality players like Real Madrid, Barca, Bayern, and etc. Essentially, what you end up doing is try to pick the one race horse that will turn out to be a winner out of hundreds.

When smaller teams win a big competition, it happens because somehow, by sheer luck with their limited finances, they ended up putting together a group of individuals where the majority of players simply explode onto the stage. For a small team, to have just ONE player do that in any given season is considered a good season. Good business. Good managing, and etc To have that happen to more than 3-4 players in a single team, at the same season.. do you have any idea what the chances are of something like that happening?

Now sure, there is skill and observation involved. However, you can have a million experts and they still most likely will not know just where the next talent is going to pop-up.

Here's an example for you. Robinho and Neymar. They showed the exact same promise when they played in Brazil. Yet only one of those two is living up to the hype. That's what I'm talking about. There was nothing else to separate them. Robinho was just as likely to be a success here as Neymar was in their respective times when they played in Brazil.

Believe me.. luck a lot to do with it. If it wasn't, Ranieri would've done this before.

As far as Mourinho is concerned. You're talking about a time when Serie A was still a strong league. When Inter actually had a killer squad. I mean, we’re talking about Zanetti, Stankovic, Sneijder, Eto’, Quaresma, Cambiasso, Balotelli, Muntari, Lucio.. and etc. These were accomplished players at the time.

And no, this is not my first day here.

@Amerr30 Its sheer luck? So all the work and the effort are considered 'sheer luck'? You think Leicester is just lucky or they actually worked hard and earned something from their efforts? You think football is a game of gamble? Why do you think players and managers are getting payed? Just to get lucky? You think a team can achieve glory by winning something without determination and by aiming to improve through training? Sir Alex Ferguson was lucky for so many years when he created a legacy for ManUTD? This is absolutely absurd.

How on earth you ended up speaking for Neymar and Robinho when we are speaking of teams I have no idea, seems like a lack of arguments.

I suggest you do a small research about Inters UCL matches before that glorious treble of theirs. The year before they finished 2nd below a greek team and got knocked out at the round of 16, the year before that? Round of 16 again. Their squad is fantastic but it was not proven at UCL.

Yes I know its not your first day here, you popped a while ago and created a lot of drama at forums 1 week later you left, you popped up once at the Real Madrid vs Barcelona derby trashtalked Barcelona and predicted a 3-0 calling Barcelona underdogs that after all it ended 0-4 and now here you are again :). Welcome back lad.

As I understand Amerr means that the circumstances are lucky but the efforts of the players are not just luck. Well, the circumstances are lucky. As Amerr stated a small team can't afford to chance on the player purchases because of limited finances. Who would have thought that Vardy would lead the scorers when he was bought for £700k 3 years ago? Now, obviously there are a lot of hard work and good tactics behind it all. Leicester has proven again and again that they're top of the league for a reason by beating or drawing top teams. But then again teams like Chelsea and united aren't themselves this year. Liverpool started badly as well. And City.. well I don't know about City because they're absolutely superb the one day just to loose the other day. Anyhow, that's also a factor that can be considered lucky for Leicesters part. And honestly, if Leicester wins the league, which I really hope they do, what do you think the odds on them repeating their effort would be? 75 times the money easily.

Anyhow, not taking anything away from Leicester because it's truly an amazing effort they've achieved so far, thanks to hard work and good tactics. It has been a remarkable 12 months for City, who headed into 2015 at the very bottom bottom and facing near certain relegation just to win 7 of the 9 last games last season under Nigel Pearson and then continued the good form from the start of this season. Thus, Leicester didn't just arrive in a sudden temporary good form, but has been good since the end of last season, which certainly would imply that there's more than luck into this.

For awareness purposes.

Yes, there is skill and circumstance that goes into success. But the pins falling your way certainly helps. No one on the planet thought Leicester would be top at any point this season, or that Vardy would be breaking records while Mahrez's transfer value is now rumoured to be over 25 million pounds.

If Leicester were so awful at the start of last season, how did they suddenly turn it around? No one knows, there probably isn't even a single answer. Confidence does a lot for a team. Sure, they finished strongly to last season. Yes, they had a good start to this season. Are all experts/pundits/managers or even Leicester themselves sold on the fact they will win? Absolutely not. In many cases, people are simply waiting for their good fortune to run out, or end. It's the same way people were so convinced Chelsea would turn it around for such a long time.

Two quotes:

"Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good"

"Form is temporary. Class is permanent."

Leicester weren't so awful as you think, they kept improving and heres the results of the hard work you put into the training as an athlete.
Vardy worked hard to play the football he is playing right now, he is not just lucky but surely some luck was included in all of that.
Although there is not even 1 bandwagon fan of a giant club in this world that can tell me a smaller team won by sheer luck. Yes they were lucky but they also spitted blood for it and they earned it.

There is also a famous quote: I hated every minute of training but I said to myself DON'T QUIT. Suffer now and live the rest of your days as a CHAMPION.

@josemourinho

IT was said by Muhammad Ali .

I believe there is different kinds of luck . Sometimes everything team is doing great but just can't put the ball into net . I think it has to do with will power , strong believe that team will win , hard work and dedication to win the match so during course of the match luck presents itself .

This is going little of topic but if you ever any of you interested : Read the book by John Murphy " Power of your subconscious mind "

One of the things that Jose loved to use is his phycological methods that would turn average player into bastion of a player . Ofcourse there are other manager who know how to use . Key is when players and manager feel the power and energy , strong believe to win they great whatever good circumstance for themselves . It is not only being a good player . I hope i made sense but if you read a books about your mind energy you will find a lot of interesting stuff that great athletes or in general succesful people apply daily in their life , consciously and subconsciously .

I hope Leicester wins the league and I hope they strongly believe they can do it because media are creating doubts that may affect players morale and ambition and settling down for top 4 only but even then that may suddenly change into top 10 only if they allow themselves to loose their faith . However , I see City winning it . It will be a miracle and end of Pelegrini if Leicester wins the title !

@JozeMourinho: I find it fascinating that somebody can miss the entire point of a post so completely, a point that was made rather clearly. It seems other people understood it just fine.

I have not at any one point said that it does not take skill, determination, and hard-work to top one of the best 3 leagues on the planet. The fact is, every single team in the majority of leagues out there have all those qualities. What the majority of teams do not have however is the talent and skill to pair all those qualities with.

At the start of the season, nobody could've predicted that Vardy and Mehrez have such skill and talent. Sure, you can hope that they do. In fact, I'm sure somebody out there hopes that every single one of the players in the top leagues have the skill and talent to be one of the best players in the league. That a season will come and they will explode onto the stage and showcase their array of talents to the World. However, it just does not happen.

The fact is that Leicester is very very lucky to have this happened to them, in the same season, not once but twice. Even some other players in their team have taken up the mantle and are playing wonderful football. THAT is why Leicester is lucky. Not for any other reason. And to solely credit their manager with this is simply short-sighted. It is what statisticians would call an 'anomaly', an 'outlier'. They are playing the type of football that big teams pay BIG money for, yet these two players specifically were bought for dirt cheap.

Every small team out there hopes that the players they buy for cheap will one day become super-stars. It is the only way they can gain success and recognition because they cannot afford proven quality players like the big three that I mentioned. That is why, whenever a small team is successful, it is down to luck in a very big way.

Of course, some of the credit befalls onto the manager but not that much of it. Unless he is able to repeat this feat, which I assure you, he will not.

Do you know what happens next to Liecester? Big teams come and rip the teams apart. They do so by buying up their talent. No way does Leicester have the muscle to hold on to the talent. And even if they could, the players (once established quality) want to play for teams who are fighting for the biggest of trophies. It's just the way it goes.

Again, it is not lucky to be number one in one of the best three leagues in the World. It takes all those qualities you mentioned, along with skill and talent. However, for a small team like Liecester, to end up with such talent and skill in their squad considering their financial resources.. is simply lucky.

The same thing happens almost every single time a small team has success.

Porto, Galatasaray, and etc, they all got picked apart the following season and the success happened to be a one time thing.

I don't know if I could have made myself any clearer.

@Marcus2011 I know mate :)

@Amerr30 So you basically you agree with me that Leicester worked hard for it and they deserve it, just this time you bothered to correct yourself and didn't said its SHEER LUCK for a team that doesn't spend billions to gain glory.

When a teams buy cheap players or expensive they keep trying to improve them through training, they already have a basic idea of what their players are capable of thanks to the scouts each team have. I think you are confusing FIFA with REAL football here.

I don't know if you should bother typing walls of pointless words when they only thing you basically change is admitting that Leicester is not just lucky.

@Joze: Again, I never said what you're implying I said. You simply misunderstood my point. Just because of that happened, does not mean I changed my point of view or what I said. It is simply your misunderstanding. Read what what KBTF said. He understood my post.

It is SHEER LUCK that they have the players that they have. Because of the players that they do have at this very moment in time, they are the number on table. So following in that line logic, one can conclude that it is sheer luck they are number one.

Do you need me to draw a diagram so you can visualize what I said?

Sheer luck they bought the players they have right now? They just bought them? They didn't scout them? They didn't bother to train and improve their game? All those questions have 1 answer SHEER LUCK? Clueless and deluded.

Just because they didn't follow our clubs famous tactics of SPEND SPEND SPEND SPEND on already proven players its luck? Is it so hard for you to realize that football SUCCESS EXISTED BEFORE THE 80M transfers?

I find it hard to believe you're still missing the point. Looks pretty clear to me.

Buying two players for next to nothing and having them turn out to be two of the best players in the prem = luck

The work, skill, and dedication that got them there = not luck

How do you know that X player will work in X system? How do you know X manager's style will bring out unforeseen qualities in X player? How do you know that X system will work in X league?

You can't. You can make educated guesses, but you simply can't know for sure. So when a team gets all the unforeseeable conclusions going for them, we deem it lucky. When they don't, we deem it unlucky.

If you can't understand what we're talking about after that, there really is no hope for you.

You realize I acknowledge that luck plays an important role but I disagree with the term SHEER LUCK? Since when a game like football is treated like Poker? So managers are compared by WHO IS THE LUCKIER? Mourinho got sacked because he run out of luck? Rooney doesn't play like a LION anymore because he run out of luck? There is really no hope for me ? Coming from a guy who called Chris Smalling world class and 1 week later conceded 3 by Wolfsburg.

@Sunflash @JozeMourinho @Amerr30 Calm down guys, I think we can all agree than even tough, yes, Leicester is a good team, they had to be lucky to get to the point they are today. We can also agree they took advantage of their luck with their own two hand (or two feet, or 22 feet since there's eleven player on a team...) and manage to beat team we didn't expect them to beat. At the end of the day, they show they were lucky and skilled. I believe there's no need to be insulting and to make a debate out of it.

Back on the main topic, Claudio Ranieri seem like a fantastic human being. The way he talk is refreshing and he did very well with his team. He might have losed some easy win in the past with good team but his making up for it with his current run with leicester. Sometime, all it take is a good combination of thing and I feel like he fit Leicester quite nicely, I hope they keep on doing good in the future.