Which Leicester City Premier League record will last longer: 0-9 or 11-in-a-row?
Newcastle United got dangerously close to matching Leicester City’s Premier League record away win on Sunday. Which got us thinking… which will last longer? The 0-9 or Vardy’s 11th heaven?
Vardy
Becky Taylor
Questions like this provoke an immediate response, then you have chance to think a little more. Even after some pondering time and considering the stats surrounding both, Vardy's record is the one for me.
One-off games provide freak scenarios, which makes it far more plausible that that's the record that will be broken first.
You only have to look at recent seasons to see that the record win has been truly under threat. This season's Premier League provides the biggest gulf in quality I've ever known, so I'd be surprised if that record doesn't go very soon.
What Vardy did is underrated and far more impressive than he (or the team) is given credit for. Ruud van Nistelrooy played in a prolific Manchester United team of superstars, yet he's the only other player ever to reach double figures for consecutive goals. Even the Premier League record goalscorer, Alan Shearer, only managed 7.
I can't pretend I didn't get nervous as Forest’s Taiwo Awoniyi was on a run, but he still fell 5 games short of beating the record (not even close was he?)
Even with the talent in the Premier League it takes far more to score in 12 games in a row than have a one-off day where one team clicks and the other has a nightmare. Vardy rules supreme for years to come.
Vardy
James Knight
With both of these there's a fear that Manchester City and Erling Haaland might just bang them both in the dustbin of history at any moment. But the 11 in a row is harder to break because it relies on consistency over a couple of months rather than one mad day where everything clicks. The pool of players who have any real chance of breaking it is so small, and even then you need some luck.
In an era of rotation at the top clubs, as well as one where the mentality prioritises the collective over the individual, it's really difficult to see someone getting the opportunity to break it. We saw how Pep Guardiola took Haaland off in the Champions League last year when he was on course to break the record for most goals in a game against Leipzig. It's very hard to imagine a situation like Vardy had against Watford when Mahrez gave him the penalty to keep the streak alive, and realistically it needs things like that to keep it going.
The 9-0, on the other hand, feels like a matter of time with the massive inequality in the league now. The fact there have been two more 9-0s since ours (albeit at home, obviously), plus Newcastle's 8-0 yesterday just emphasises that teams at the bottom can run into a complete buzzsaw any day. The only thing that might save it is that you have to really want to win big to keep going. Maybe the likes of Manchester City don't really care about going for double figures, but you know for sure that Newcastle wanted it yesterday, just as we did when we were running up the score.
It'll be a sad day if and when it happens. Obviously we're biased, but by any measure it's far better that we hold these records than any of the disgusting money clubs. Leicester being the only team with a 9-0 away win fits the Premier League's marketing vibe. Little old Leicester in this crazy old league, right guys! Beating a team 9-0 then signing all their players and getting relegated! It could only happen here!
Not quite the same when Mohammed bin Salman nods in the 10th away at Kenilworth Road and then ten years down the line your record books are just page after page of asterisks.
0-9
David Bevan
I’m going to swim against the tide here and suggest that the 0-9 might endure. The difference between our win at Southampton and Newcastle’s win at Sheffield United was that Southampton went down to ten men after ten minutes. That gave us an advantage that is very rare, especially away from home.
Also, as a smaller club, we had an opportunity to do something special whereas clubs in Europe will be thinking about resting players and taking their foot off the gas.
It feels like the Vardy record is more famous, perhaps because it stands alone, the iconic commentary that accompanied it and the fact it came against Manchester United. If a player gets to within three or four, the media hype will grow and there’ll be an intense personal desire from someone like Haaland or Salah to set a new benchmark.
I hope I’m wrong.
