Know Your Opponent: A Q&A with Fosse Posse

With two matches to go, Tottenham Hotspur’s season is more or less over. The clubs has officially sent the Lane off with an undefeated record, locked up second place, and are looking towards next season. Today, Spurs take a trip to the King Power Stadium to take on Leicester City, who will finish somewhere in the mid-table after their title season last year. For the final KYO of the season, I sat down with Shane over at Fosse Posse to talk about the Foxes’ season, life after Raineri, and who will be leaving this summer.

CFC: It's been a wild season for the Foxes, hasn't it?

FP: It sure has. All the ups and downs you’d expect for a season after a club like Leicester City wins the Premier League. We’re still in the top division though and made it to the Quarterfinals of the Champions League so all in all, I’m at peace with where we landed.

Is there any remorse in firing the manager who took you to the Premier League title just nine months after that accomplishment?

I don’t think so, especially when you consider the performance after he moved on. Claudio has been immortalized in the history of the club and that won’t ever change but we could simply not allow relegation after a year after winning the title and that was where things were headed.

3-1 Liverpool, 3-2 West Ham, 2-0 Sevilla... which is your favorite of Shakespeare's works? Also, what's the overall view of him? Long term solution or stop-gap?

The 2-0 against Sevilla was a masterclass if you ask me. With our backs against the wall in a tournament no one really expected us to be in, a 2-0 result against the then third-place team in La Liga was astounding. Probably the highlight of the season for me. As for Shakespeare, I think he’s more suited to be an assistant and the owners have always had a penchant for bringing in a big name (Sven-Goran Eriksson, Ranieri) so I’d expect something similar.

How many years of contention and Champions League would you trade the title for?

I wouldn’t trade the title win for anything.

Finish this sentence for me: Riyad Mahrez will be playing for [Insert club here] after [transfer fee here] is paid to Leicester this summer. Also, he'd look pretty good in lily-white, don't you think?

Honestly, it could be Tottenham…though I think he’s more suited for French football. Come full circle. Perhaps Marseille or Lyon? We’ll see.

Building upon that, how will you (possibly fail to) replace Mahrez next season when he leaves?

I think the biggest job of the summer will be to hold onto Demarai Gray. A natural replacement for Mahrez and one of the most exciting up-and-coming players in English football, Gray has been fantastic and is only getting better.

How bad will the exodus be this summer, besides Mahrez?

Could see a number of players leave but the only ones I am worried about are Mahrez (despite his off year) and Kasper Schmeichel. If it weren’t for Schmeichel, we’d have been relegated this season. No question. If he goes to Manchester United, which I don’t think he should, it’d be a massive blow.

This is about as dead rubber of a match as it gets. How does Leicester line up on Thursday?

Full strength. The club want to go out strong and have their last two matches at the King Power Stadium so with a party atmosphere in the background, the club will come right at Tottenham with a strong a lineup as they can field. Not to mention, results in their last two matches could see the Foxes jump to as high as 8th.

Prediction?

I’m going 1-1 but an exciting match that pleased both sets of fans.