August: Superb Month Lands Redfearn Job
After an outstanding win record of 100% in his first seven games, Neil Redfearn has landed the Leeds United job on a permanent basis, owner Massimo Cellino has confirmed.
Neil Redfearn took control of Leeds first team affairs first in a
2-0 win against Millwall at
The Den in front of a crowd of just over 19,000. Alex Mowatt and Souleymane Doukara bagged the goals that day.
Since being the fan favourite that he is, Redfearn was already very likely to be in the running for the permanent job at Leeds in the first place, but results such as the 5-0 wins over
Brighton & Hove Albion and Premier League side
Leicester City,
Redders as the Leeds faithful nicknamed him has endeared himself further to the Leeds United fans.
Redfearn has been an integral part of the growth of Leeds ever since joining in 2009 as an academy coach after departing his youth team coach role at York City. He has developed players like
Fabian Delph, Tom Lees, Sam Byram, Lewis Cook and Alex Mowatt from academy players up to very capable - sometimes Premier League standard players.
Fixtures
Millwall 0 - 2 Leeds United
Sky Bet Championship
The Den
Att. 19,136
Souleymane Doukara (24)
Alex Mowatt (76)
Leeds United 1 - 0 Mansfield Town
Capital One Cup 1st Rnd
Elland Road
Att. 9,347
Brian Montenegro (79)
Leeds United 1 - 0 Middlesbrough
Sky Bet Championship
Elland Road
Att. 27,513
Stephen Warnock (71)
Leeds United 5 - 0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Sky Bet Championship
Elland Road
Att. 26,060
Adryan (5)
Souleymane Doukara (18, 71, 88)
Gaetano Berardi (28)
Watford 1 - 3 Leeds United
Sky Bet Championship
Vicarage Road
Att. 17,477
Adryan (39)
Mirco Antenucci (pen 45+1)
Souleymane Doukara (46)
Matej Vydra (73)
Leicester City 0 - 5 Leeds United
Capital One Cup 3rd Rnd
King Power Stadium
Att. 26,091
Rodolph Austin (39)
Brian Montengro (50, 77, 84)
Mirco Antenucci (70)
Leeds United 3 - 2 Bolton Wanderers
Sky Bet Championship
Elland Road
Att. 29,958
Mirco Antenucci (pen 31)
Lee Chung-Yong (70, 89)
Sam Byram (87, 90)
League Table
As you can see, we are comfortably leading the way in the Championship by winning all five of our league games possible, gaining fifteen points out of fifteen. We're the joint top scoring team, tied on fourteen goals with second place Wigan as they scored at least three goals in each game, apart from against Cardiff, in which they drew 1-1. Along with that, we are the joint second least conceding team, alongside Norwich, Blackburn, Brentford and Wolves who have all conceded three, but Middlesbrough lead that table by only conceding two.
We are going to try our best to be as consistent as we can in the league, but with a possible cup run on our hands, it may be difficult.
September
Following our 5-0 thrashing of Leicester, we get a teasing third round draw in the Capital One Cup as Chelsea will try and test our class at Stamford Bridge later in late September. The fixture is just three days after we play an intense Yorkshire Derby as we take on Huddersfield Town at Elland Road in front of a possible 30,000+ crowd. Being honest, I don't see any form of challenge beyond Chelsea in September but we can't get ahead of ourselves after seven games unbeaten, we need to take each game as it comes.
Awards
Manager of the Month - Neil Redfearn
It was inevitable that I won the
Manager of the Month award, after leading my side to five straight wins in five. Wigan's
Uwe Rosler came in second place, with three wins and two draws, with Wolves'
Kenny Jackett coming in third place with the exact same statistics.
Player of the Month - Sam Byram
After single-handedly winning us three points in our final game of August against Bolton with two late, late goals Sam really deserved to pick up this award following other outstanding performances throughout the month. Byram picked up an average rating of 8.00 with two goals, three assists and one Man of the Match award this month. Leeds striker
Souleymane Doukara narrowly came in at second place after hitting home five goals in five appearances, along with an assist and a Man of the Match award, he picked up an average rating of 7.66 throughout August. Wigan's
Oriol Riera finished off the competition, coming in third with four goals and three assists in five games, picking up an average rating of 7.60.
Young Player of the Month - Adryan
The skillful Brazilian on loan from Flamengo has been one of many standout players this month. He has wowed the home fans at Elland Road with some very electric skills and pace, something
The Whites have been lacking for years. The 20-year old from Rio de Janeiro bagged two goals and two assists throughout August, with an average rating of 7.80. Middlesbrough's
Ben Gibson came in second place with an average rating of 7.28, with some great solid performances in the back line for
Boro. Nottingham Forest's
Britt Assombalonga rounded off the competition with two goals and one Man of the Match in five games, picking up an average rating of 6.96.