And there I was, wondering if Leicester had lost the plot. When they sacked Nigel Pearson, the man that eventually saved them from relegation with the tweaking of tactics, I was ludicrous.
Then Claudio Ranieri got appointed. Tinkerman? Finishing second-best at Chelsea and Monaco, even with the resources at his disposal, what luck was he going to have at Leicester? This was a man that as Greek manager lost to the Faroe Islands!
But Leicester have quietly gone about their business, and they look stronger and fitter than ever before. If anything, we’ve been blinded by the past failures of Ranieri. For his Greece shortcomings, Valencia and Inter, he had success at Roma, Monaco -- bringing them up to Ligue 1 and finishing second to PSG and Juventus -- rebuilding the team after the huge Serie A match-fixing scandal. He laid the foundations for a successful past decade for Chelsea, signing Petr Čech, Claude Makélélé, Damien Duff and Frank Lampard.It was under him that Chelsea transformed from a European possibility to a European powerhouse. And his reputation for constantly changing tactics and line-ups pays off when he can make the right changes, like he did at Roma.
With the same acumen, he has strengthened Leicester’s squad. Signing Christian Fuchs on a free and capturing Robert Huth has added invaluable top-flight experience to their back line. Gökhan Inler adds experience and reassurance to a central midfield that arguably was Leicester’s weakest department. Shinji Okazaki adds presence up front, while Riyad Mahrez has continued to be a revelation since joining the club in 2014.
Fitness levels have risen, too. Leicester City has managed to come from behind to salvage a point or more at Southampton and at Stoke. Bringing on Nathan Dyer was a case in point, as that added more thrust to the Leicester attack, hitting Aston Villa on the break and turning the game on its head as Leicester won 3-2.
But no one represents the rebirth of fortunes better than Jamie Vardy. Just as the Foxes climbed out from the Championship and back to the big league after 10 years in oblivion, Vardy’s rise from playing non-league football in 2012 to an England call-up has been meteoric. If you told me that at the start of the season that he was going to be leading the race for the Golden Boot after 10 games, I would have thought you were mad. But his determination to chase down the loose ball represents the same energy that has carried the Foxes far this year, and his England call-up has been well-deserved.
Granted, it is still early days in the Premier League. They will face tougher teams this season (they haven't played four of last season’s top six), and will get outclassed on occasions (they lost to Arsenal 5-2), but 19 points, including one against both Spurs and Southampton, shows just how far they’ve come. I’ve definitely changed my mind about Leicester going down.
With any more luck, that famous 5-3 result against Manchester United, the highlight of last season, will become more common than just a fluke.
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