Claudio Ranieri says it is impossible for him to choose from his Leicester City “sons” who should be hailed as the player of the year.
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Leicester’s surge of five wins on the trot has been on the strength of an air-tight defence that carries a club-record 490-minute shutout streak since Craig Gardner scored in the 50th minute for West Bromwich Albion in a 2-2 draw March 1.
“I watch just my team and I want my team to have a strong character, not only when things go right, but also when things go badly. Sometimes there is bad weather and you have to stick together”.
That blistering sequence has given Leicester a seven-point lead over second placed Tottenham and put the title within touching distance just 12 months after the unfashionable club were battling to avoid relegation.
We have to fight with a smile as our job is done.
“The only thing I’m asking the players is that they have to give everything and finish the game without regret that they left everything there”.
“The new television deal and the money will affect the price of the players”, he said.
Bilic was close to signing the midfielder from French side Caen in the summer, but instead brought in the likes of Dimitri Payet, Manuel Lanzini, Michail Antonio and Pedro Obiang. I had watched him in France.
“People recognise we are having a good season, playing good football and praising us”, said Hammers boss Slaven Bilic, who will be without Diafra Sakho for a third match because of injury. Everyone knows you play your best when you’re enjoying games. You’ve seen teams whose league form suffers, but hopefully they won’t fall into that trap. He’s one of them.
England global Jamie Vardy and Algerian star Riyad Mahrez have been big factors in the title charge this term, with the duo scoring a combined total of 37 goals.
“So, he was there but then we got some players before in the same positions and it would simply have been too many players for the same position”.
The French midfielder has shot to stardom this season with his consistently faultless performances in the centre of the Premier League leaders’ midfield.
Morgan – whose side faces West Ham on Sunday – also revealed what makes the approach taken by Ranieri with his players so effective.
His showings have earned him a nomination for the PFA Player of the Year award – where even Sir Alex Ferguson claims that he deserves the award.
“It’s surreal now. You’re in the moment and you ” re just kind of going along with it. When it’s all over, maybe it’ll dawn on me.
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So it was the “old ladies” who tugged at Ranieri’s heart-strings rather than the realisation that, regardless of what Tottenham Hotspur achieve over the final weeks of the season, nine points will secure Leicester’s first-ever championship and complete the most remarkable football story for a century.
