It's been a fantastic few weeks here at Leicester, I have gotten to know the team and they have gotten to know me. They have been training hard which is a big plus and the determination to do well this season is second to none. I don't think any other group of players in this league can equal the passion and fight that ours put into their game.
I made four signings before the start of pre-season. I think they can really help us out this season. Each individual has some brilliant technical ability and I think one or two of the more experienced ones are really strong mentally.
The first signing to be made has come in on loan from Liverpool and will be second in line to Anthony Knockeart in attacking midfield. Young 20 year old Alex Teixeira from Portugal is the man and he will be supporting a strike force which includes his Liverpool u21s team mate from Germany, Samed Yesil.
I have seen the pair play many times and I think having two players that know each others strengths can only make us stronger. They both link up so well and I can't wait to get them out onto the field on a Championship match day.
The next two that will come into the club includes two full backs on either side of the field. The first being Ciro Capuano an experienced left back from Catania who has come in for just 100K. Wages are surprisingly low at just 10K p/w. He'll most likely start ahead of Paul Konchesky who lets face it, isn't the best full back going.
The right back coming in, comes in on a free and is from Spain and goes by the name of Manuel Ruz who has been brought in on a free. The 27 year old will add to the bare position of right back and will be back up to Ritchie De Laet.
Anyway, on to our pre season. Overall, it was a huge success. The team gelled with the new signings and performed out of their skin. We now need to take the form into our league games and hope we can really get off to a great start.
As you can see it was a fantastic start, and it included some brilliant goals too. I wasn't here for the first three games but for the last three we were really good and the team worked so well together, we improved massively after my arrival with a huge win against Bradford and a dominating performance against Cesena. We start our Championship campaign at Middlesbrough and I am sure we can do extremely well!
This month just gone has been considerably the greatest month of my life. Who can say they have become manager of a club like Leicester and brought this type of form straight off the bat? Well, not many. I am so proud of the boys, they have worked their socks off and I cannot praise them enough for the fantastic start we have had.
We were a bit unfortunate against Middlesbrough as we dominating pretty much the entire game but when it came down to our finishing, we just weren't up to scratch. our defending however was very good, a few shakes here and there which could ultimately have lead to a loss, but in football, you have to accept that, that is going to happen.
We followed this brilliant performance up with another two brilliant performances, except this time we could finish! We came up against Fleetwood in the Capital One Cup and my did we show the m how to party. Goals from Chris Wood, Matty james and Andy King saw us through to the next round with a 3-0 win. We then battered probably the most hated Championship side, Leeds. An early goal from Kevin Philips saw us very much on route to another two goals. The first being a stunner from Knockeart powering a volley into the bottom right corner from 18 yards and the second coming early in the second half through Chris Woods header. Knockeart finished them off in the 85th minute and made sure that despite their goal, they would not come back.
Then, we would go knocking for the points at Derby, we stood firm for most of the game and played some brilliant attacking football, Knockeart even gave us the lead early in the first half, the second minute to be precise. But it was all up hill when Derby midfielder Sammon lobbed Schmeichel from 30 yards out. We couldn't break them down again, and we left with a point.
It didn't carry on like that though, our next three games were against Birmingham, Southend in the Capital one cup and last placed Charlton. We got three first half goals against Birmingham, two of which came from 40 year old Kevin Philips. Birmingham then had us on the ropes as they pulled it back to 3-2, but sure enough we held on.
We scored early in the Southend game, before the first minute would you believe. But it only took them 5 minutes to strike back and equalize. We kept cool heads though, and saw the job out with two fantastic from Philips and Chris Wood, and we put ourselves into the third round of the Capital one cup.
I was excited for this next game, mainly because I believed the beautiful attacking football we had shown off to the Championship would only come back to see us out with three points, but also because our main man David Nugent was back from injury, and he wasted no time at all! Liam Moored headed home the first goal of the game, but from there it was the Nugent show. Two miraculous shots from the striker both hit the back of the net, and put Charlton further into the mud. We left once again with three points putting ourselves in a commanding position for a play off spot.
September - The end of Our Run, and the start of one
When I came to Leicester, I never expected to be in such a strong position two months in. We started so well in our first month and we have managed to keep a good run of form going despite a sour loss to Wigan. We came off the back of last month with a five wins and two draws, which would hopefully help us in our hardest month yet. Wigan, Blackburn, Blackpool and Stoke all extremely difficult teams to beat.
We came to Wigan with the right attitude, and we played far better than them. We had 10 shots to their 5 overall we has 65% possession, but exactly like the Middlesbrough game, we couldn't finish our dinner, and resulted this time in a loss, due to a poor mistake made by our keeper Schmeichel.
We didn't let it get to us though. Like before we held our heads high and performed out of our whits to beat Blackburn at home. A fantastic performance rounded off by one goal from Liam Moore and another from Chris wood sealed the three points in a very important game.
Blackpool would again prove to be a hard test, but we fought for the win and defended admirably against their strong attack which seemed to increase in strength more and more as the game progressed, but even late on when Drinkwater was sent off, we held on to our lead and gained the three points.
Our next game would be our third in the Capital one Cup. Against one of the most defensively annoying teams in English football. Stoke, away. I sent the lads out with a completely different tactic to what we have been playing the rest of the season, a 4-1-3-2 counter attack tactic, which they learned in an instant. Despite losing out to a second half Palacios goal, the lads once again were the better team, and the fact they played so well shows their willingness to learn. We should have had a late penalty as well, but I am not too concerned. We outplayed a Premiership side, and that I can only praise the boys for.
The last game of the month cam against Barnsley, and as expect, we took the three points from them at the King power, but not by as much as we would have liked. Liam Moore got the only goal of the game, and it could have been more had barnsley not injured Dean Hammond and Capuano. We had no subs and were down to nine men which was the only way that Barnsley could get anything forward. But as always, we saw it out and the three points came home.
Overall, this month has been fantastic, Taylor fletcher, and Joao Teixeira I am very pleased with. Especially Joao. Knockeart was injured in training for one month before the Wigan game , and he filled his boots performing very well. But my player of the month has to go to Liam Moore. He scored one against Blackburn, and the winner against Barnsley, only to go on and defend like Sergio Ramos in each and every game.
Another impressive month, 3rd place is very good going but seen as you are only one point 1st place, hopefully you can make the top spot yours soon!
Btw I really do love that Player of the Month graphic.