Leicester not getting carried away
Figures tell damning tale for United
LONDON, Dec 21, (RTRS): Surprise Premier League leaders Leicester City are not ready to delve in title talks and would prefer to keep doing their job on the on the pitch, captain Wes Morgan has said.
The Foxes, who finished 14th last season, guaranteed themselves the top spot going into Christmas after their impressive 3-2 win at Everton on Saturday.
Leicester have lost only one game in the league this season and are five points above second-placed Arsenal, who have a game-in-hand, in a tight table.
“We are not getting carried away at all. We will let the media speculate but we are going to stay grounded and take one game at a time, and see how far we can go,” Morgan told British media.
“I thought we were playing well but didn’t get the rub of the green at times last season. We made some mistakes that would cost us the game.
“This season we have eradicated that and the results are coming.”
Manager Claudio Ranieri insisted his team felt no pressure of being table toppers and called his team to stay calm and focus on the next match, having already exceeded expectations.
“Why should we play under pressure? Why stress? Last season they had stress, not this year. I think they’re enjoying it and they must continue in this way,” Ranieri told British media.
“If we make something special, it’s a miracle. If it doesn’t happen, what we’re doing is already a miracle. They must enjoy playing.”
Leicester next visit ninth-placed
Manchester United’s English striker Wayne Rooney controls the ball during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Norwich
City at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England on Dec 19. (AFP)
Liverpool on Saturday.
Manchester United’s insistence on playing possession football under manager Louis van Gaal means they take far more passes for every shot than any other Premier League team, statistics released on Monday showed.
According to details from leading football data specialists Opta, league leaders Leicester City need only 46 successful passes for a shot on target. That is the fewest in the league while United’s 131 passes is the most.
Damningly, United have managed just seven shots on target in their last four home games — also the worst record in the league — leading to regular chants of “attack, attack, attack” from the Old Trafford crowd.
The total number of shots on target from 17 games is 61, the 15th lowest. Tottenham are top with 110 and Manchester City second with 104.
In the past two months United have played five goalless draws at home, against Manchester City, Middlesbrough, CSKA Moscow, PSV Eindhoven and West Ham.
Not surprisingly, their goals total is unusually low — 22, compared to 43 at the same stage in Alex Ferguson’s last season three years ago.
Under Van Gaal this time last year it was 30, with goals conceded also higher. But Steve Round, who was assistant manager to the Dutchman’s predecessor David Moyes, says the new style is now very much in evidence.