Here is the third of our end of season reviews from our members who make up our team of match reporters, today the views of Paul Weston who had a track record of only reporting on home wins last season, perhaps we should allocate 19 games next season…
At the start of the season, what would you have regarded as a successful return to the Premiership? Survival
Were your expectations raised following the 5 – 3 victory over Man Utd ? It was a quite wonderful victory and inevitably everyone got carried away- including me for a short time!
With Villa at home being the only victory in the first 3 months of 2015, did you think we would stay in the division going into April? Yes I admit that I had mentally prepared myself for relegation as it seemed that nothing would go our way, however well we played.
What do you feel were the main reasons we went on such a long run without a win? Defensive errors were ruthlessly punished and we missed so many chances. There were times when I questioned our formation- especially in away games. We started to lose the very characteristics which earned us promotion from the Championship.
By contrast, the end of season run was an incredible set of results, what do you feel were the main reasons for the sudden success? We made things happen and started games on the front foot. The defence became stronger, we attacked at pace and our wing back formation at home brought the crowd to life immediately.
Was there any point during the season where you felt a change of manager would have been the best way forwards? No- although I think Nigel has not enjoyed being in the Premiership spotlight at times and has made some ill-judged comments but he, like his players, will learn from the first season in the Premiership.
What was your personal highlight of the season? It just has to be the victory over Man Utd, followed closely by the away victory over West Brom and Jamie Vardy’s winning goal.
Esteban Cambiasso won all the official player of the season awards, would he have been your choice and who else impressed you this season? Cambiasso would have my vote, closely followed by Huth and Albrighton, who in my opinion both made a significant difference in the latter part of the season for different reasons.
A number of experienced heads were added to last season’s squad, which of this seasons signings did you think made the most significant impact? See above
A number of players made significant strides forwards with their career, which player do you think made the most progress last season and why? Albrighton and Schlupp showed that they could both defend and attack. Schlupp in particular is still prone to lapses and gets over excited but has still improved significantly.
Were there any players that failed to live up to your expectations? Drinkwater, Lawrence, Knockeart, Wood. I think David Nugent also had a period in the season where he lost confidence. What happened to Liam Moore too? I also think Mahrez had a long period in the middle of the season where he had very little impact. Hopefully he has also learned from this year.
What changes to the squad do you think are necessary to improve on this year’s Premiership Campaign? The left back problem has been solved so it looks like we could do with a midfield general if Cambiasso leaves, central defender and, ideally, someone who can take chances better than any of our strikers. Perhaps Kramaric is the answer but I am not sure that Pearson knows where to play him in our formation.
If you could advise Nigel Pearson on new signings, who would your suggestions be for additions to the squad? I think Nigel’s network is much better than mine. The signing of Fuchs seems a canny addition.
What do you feel is most significant element of our game we will need to improve next season? Our play from dead balls, especially corners, has been unimaginative. Scoring from a higher proportion of our chances would help too. Our strikers are not ruthless enough.
The King Power stadium, which has always compared unfavourably to Filbert Street for atmosphere suddenly came to life this season, with a number of visiting sets of supporters stating our ground had the most noise in the division, what do you think were the reasons for this? The clakkers! And we also started the home games well which lifted the crowd right from the beginning.
Any other observation you would like to make I just hope that next season will not be a let-down after The Great Escape! We need to start building and stay in the Premiership and, with the owners support, Nigel Pearson and an improving squad, we have a great chance.
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation
The Trust dedicates this series of end of season reviews to one of our match reporting team who has contributed since we first launched them. Mike King sadly passed away a couple of days before the final day of the season.