So, we somehow pulled off a minor miracle and stayed in the premier league. You are not going to believe it, but I have always been quietly confident that we can do it, even in (almost) the worst of times. The point that I started to lose belief was when we failed to beat 10-man Hull at home, when you thought you got to beat them, if you can't even do that how are you going to get points. But 2 matches later our winning streak began.
We always knew we have the easiest fixture towards the end of the season; most of the teams are either fellow strugglers or have little to nothing to play for. Nigel Pearson, outside of his bizarre moments (see below), is always a calm and measured person who knows what he is doing. Performance-wise we were never completely outplayed; we were never beaten by more than 2 goals all season, and often performance don't convert to points. These are all reasons that contribute to the confidence that eventually proved justified.
Throughout most of the season (i.e., the losing part), the comments were often that we performed as well as the opponent, just "unlucky". But you can't be that unlucky over 38 weeks; there must be some fundamental problems somewhere. My feeling is that we are just a little bit short but in every department, which together means we lose just a little bit every time. But clearly point-wise you would rather win or draw some games and lose heavily in others, than to lose by a bit every game. It also means we can't seem to do both attack and defence well at the same time. If we commit to attack we often fail to turn dominance into goals, and then we fail to defend; if we decide to sit back then we eventually concede and by then there was not enough time (and players' confidence) to chase the game. That was basically what happened from November to March.
Eventually we somehow stumbled upon the 3-centreback formation and more importantly, with Albrighton playing as right wing-back. Three centrebacks are only possible after the capture of Huth (the other centre backs are just not that good, really), and who would have thought Albrighton should play as right-back? This system gives a better balance and clearer separation between attack and defence.
(I have Albrighton in my fantasy team all season, just to warm the bench because he is cheap - though it would be better if I added him 32 weeks or so later. By the final week I thought I would give all my Leicester players - Schlupp, Albrighton, Vardy - a run-out, just for fun, and they did not disappoint.)
Going back to Nigel Pearson. Unless he was doing those things deliberately, he maybe should seek professional help. Probably the pressure was getting on him and he was lucky to escape punishment for things like grabbing your opponent player's neck. It could have gone a lot worse. He looks like a respectable person and reasonably good at his job, and it would be sad to see him go particularly if it is for non-footballing reasons.
We have not been spending crazy amounts of money and next year we should do the same. I never like the idea of "going all-in" and either stay in the Premier league or go bust. Actually I don't even mind being a yo-yo club for a few years; I think that was the right way to establish yourself (though the competition at the Championship is extremely tough so there is never any guarantee you can go back up easily.) Spend sensibly and keep the stability and hopefully we will survive another year.
