Leicester- European Giants?

[kmitchell96]

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Leicester, newly promoted to the premiership and one of the favourites to get relegated. The reason behind picking them was simple, I wanted to take a low premiership team and turn them into giants.

In this I will give a brief run through of what happened in the first season as I have already sped past that before deciding to do this. I will then go on to do month by month updates about my second season and onwards.

First Season- Pre-Season
In my first season the goal was to "fight bravely against promotion", basically meaning don't finish bottom. I started by adjusting the squad I already had. I didn't sell anybody in order to keep depth in the squad but I added carefully.

I started by signing Neto, a 26 year old CB who filled one of the biggest weaknesses in the squad. He cost £3.5m which was bit expensive but he was the best I could find for that price. I then added Landry N'Guemo on a free transfer, nothing special but strong back up. Then I added Johnny Russell from Derby for £2.5m, looking at potential he was a good signing for that amount and would serve as a decent back up. My only other transfer in the summer was winger Tobias Mikkelsen, signing him for £750k.

I also added Abou Diaby, Harry Kane and Luis Pedro Cavanda on loan. However the only one of these who lasted their full spell was Harry Kane as I terminated the loans early for the other two due to being disappointing on the pitch.

Pre-Season was bumpy; after beating my under 21 squad 5-2 I went on to get these results:

• Dukla Prague (H) L 2-1
• Hearts (A) L 1-0
• Estudiantes (H) L 5-1
• Ebbsfleet (A) W 2-0
• Colchester (A) W 3-1

So 3 wins and 3 losses was a mixed pre-season. My main worry was that the 3 teams I beat were of low quality and I was really disappointed not to have beaten Hearts as I felt they were my best competition.

Top Goalscorer- Nick Powell 3 goals including 2 against under 21's and 1 against Ebbsfleet
Player of Pre-season- Nick Powell; Most man of matches and nobody else was consistent, plus his goals

 

[kmitchell96]

Leicester- European Giants? August

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Coming out of pre-season there were concerns about the squad, I had a team that the best team they could beat was my under 21 side. Beating Hearts would have given me a bit more confidence but it was on to the start of the season now.

August
​

Whatever I had done to upset the fixture list I apologise for. The first time I looked at the fixture list there was one thing I realised, I wasn't playing somebody you would expect to be outside of the top 6/7 until October. But anyway...

I started off with Manchester United (A) which I knew wouldn't be easy and this proved to be true. 15 minutes into the game Mata opened the scoring up which then gave way for Rooney to get a hat trick meaning my first competitive game ended in a 4-0 defeat.

Then I had Everton (H) which I thought would end in a similar fashion to the first game. However it ended up being a 3-0 win with Mahrez scoring in the 12th minute before Cambiasso doubled the lead in the 31st minute. Ulloa then added a third in the 86th minute.

I then had what should have been a very easy fixture against Oldham (A) in the League Cup. Eventually winning 2-1 in a game where I had to hold on to the lead was quite disappointing as I was expecting to dominate the match. Drinkwater opened the scoring in the 4th minute before Oldham equalised in the 16th. Nugent got the winner in the 23rd minute but I never seemed the stronger side in that game.

The final game of August was Liverpool (A). Again, similar to the Man U game I didn't expect anything, but I did expect to at least keep it close. After going down to a Doumbia hat trick within 27 minutes it looked bad but then Coutinho and Balotelli added a 4th and 5th before half time. Mikkelsen scored a consolation in the 62nd minute before Moore saw red after giving away a penalty which Gerrard scored.

All in all it was a disappointing month in some ways. I got more in the league than I expected but I also conceded 10 goals in those 3 games. And in the Oldham game I only managed to scrape a 2-1 victory.

Summary
​

So the results were as follows:

• Manchester United 4-0 Leicester
• Leicester 3-0 Everton Mahrez (1) Cambiasso (1) Ulloa (1)
• Oldham 1-2 Leicester Drinkwater (1) Nugent (1)
• Liverpool 6-1 Leicester Mikkelsen (1)

Player of the month- Nugent- Only player to score and play all 4 games and his lowest rating was 6.5 against Man U
Top Goalscorer-6 players all sat on 1 goal

 

[kmitchell96]

Leicester- European Giants? September

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After the first month of the season there were positives and negatives to look at. I was mainly focusing on the win against Everton which showed not only I can get results in this division but that I was scoring goals from all around the pitch with a winger, defensive midfielder and striker all scoring.

September​

Looking at the fixtures for my second month in the top division things were not going to be easy again. It started with a (H) Arsenal game. The first half went well, I avoided conceding, didn't get any injuries but more importantly Neto had put me 1-0 up. This was then all taken away when in the second half Arsenal pulled it back to 2-1 through Welbeck and Gibbs but also Nick Powell got injured.

My second game was the first of two back to back fixtures against Tottenham, this was a (H) tie in the league. The first half was miserable. Soldado put them 2-0 up within 25 minutes before Chadli scored a 3rd in the 27th minuted. Going into half time 3-0 down away to Tottenham you don't expect to get much. However in the second half things changed. Knockaert scored in the 49th minute before Nugent made it 3-2 in the 66 minute. Then in the 73rd minute Mahrez scored the equalizer for what ended up being a 3-3 draw. A result I was happy with.

The second game against Tottenham was the 3rd round of the League cup (H). Lulic put them 1-0 up in the first half before Soldado scored his 3rd against me in as many days to make it 2-0 in the 80th minute. A comeback looked close when Nugent scored in the 85th minute but that was all.

The final game of the month was a (H) game against Chelsea. After watching my side fall 4-0 to Man U, 6-1 to Liverpool and 2-1 to Tottenham and Arsenal I expected to get thrashed in this game. However it was close, the only goal of the game came in the 17th minute for Chelsea from Hazard which was the only real interesting part of an otherwise dull game.

Summary
​

So the results were as follows:

• Arsenal 2-1 Leicester Neto (1)
• Tottenham 3-3 Leicester Knockaert (1) Nugent (2) Mahrez (2)
• Leicester 1-2 Tottenham Nugent (3)
• Leicester 0-1 Chelsea

Player of the month- Nugent- Tough decision as both Mahrez and Mikkelsen had a couple of good games but so did Nugent as well as adding his 2nd and 3rd goals of the season.
Top Goalscorer- Nugent (3)- Top goalscorer for the month as well as the season he scored against Tottenham twice

 

[hera]

Things did not look good at least till September. I bet you finished 15th in your first season :> I once bought Knockaert back in FM14 and he was pretty good as AM. Looking forward to next updates!

 

[kmitchell96]

Leicester- European Giants? October

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After another tough month in September it was onto my first real winnable month. I proved that I could earn tough points in the first games with the draw against Tottenham and the win against Everton. But this month was all about winning.

October
​

The first fixture of the month was easily winnable. Facing another newly promoted team in QPR (A) was almost a must win game in my eyes. 6 minutes in Knockaert put me 1-0 up, a great start. But this only got better, Liam Moore added in the 25th minute before Knockaert doubled his tally 37 minutes in. Finally to cap of a brilliant first half David Nugent got a 44th minute goal. That is how the game finished with my first away win of the season.

My next game was my first TV game and this was Newcastle (H). 17 minutes in it looked glum when Gouffran put them 1-0 up, a lead which was kept to the half. Then in the 46th minute, Mahrez equalized but I couldn't find another break through so the game finished 1-1.

The final game of the month was Sunderland (A), another game I felt I should have won. However it was completely different. After going down 30 minutes in to Adam Johnson I kept trying to pull it back, and came close until the 66th minute when Liam Moore scored an own goal. Danny Graham then tripled the Sunderland lead in the 86th minute.

Summary​

So the results were as follows:

• QPR 0-4 Leicester Knockaert (3) Moore (1) Nugent (4)
• Leicester 1-1 Newcastle Mahrez (3)
• Sunderland 3-0 Leicester

Player of the month- Schlupp- the left back's lowest rating was 7 in the Sunderland game, also got 8.2 and 8.0
Top Goalscorer- Nugent- Scoring his 4th goal of the season in the QPR game kept him just above Knockaert

 

[kmitchell96]

Things did not look good at least till September. I bet you finished 15th in your first season :> I once bought Knockaert back in FM14 and he was pretty good as AM. Looking forward to next updates!

Felt like it was going to be tough after pre-season especially after seeing the first 2 months of fixtures. But up to the end of October I had got 8 points, can't remember where about in the league I was, think I was about 16th at this point

 

[kmitchell96]

Leicester- European Giants? November

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Coming out of October things were looking better, I had earned my first away win, my second win of the season and got a good point against Newcastle. I had players scoring and defenders were starting to play consistently and from the beginning of September I was keeping games close.

November​

I started off this month with a televised (H) tie against Aston villa. Going into half time things looked good, I had taken a 2 goal lead with goals coming from Mikkelsen and Nugent and kept a clean sheet. But this all changed in the second half. Agbonglahor got himself a hat trick with goals in the 50th, 53rd and 70th minute which put them 3-2 up before Joe cole and Weimann made the final score 5-2 with goals in the 73rd and 88th minute respectively.

My next game saw me face another midlands side in West Brom (A). The first half went poorly with Ideye scoring in the 15th minute, Varela then added in the 39th minute. After the break I looked better with Ulloa grabbing his second of the season in the 62nd minute but I couldn't get an equaliser.

My third televised game came against Hull (H). Nothing happened till the 45+3 minute when Nugent scored to put me 1-0 up going into half time. Then in the second half Knockaert scored in the 48th and 58th minutes to make it 3-0 before hull pulled one back in the 73rd minute through Jelavic. Knockaert then got his hat trick through a 76th minute goal to make it 4-1 at the final whistle.

The final game of the month was possibly the toughest. I faced Stoke (A) and although on paper they aren't a tough team to beat they are always hard to break down. In the 39th minute I was awarded a penalty which was slotted away by Mikkelsen. In the second half Stoke then got a penalty from a Neto foul which Marc Wilson scored to make it 1-1. Just 2 minutes later Ulloa scored in the 66th minute in order to put me back in the lead, and eventually earn me my second win in a row.

Summary​

So the results were as follows:

• Leicester 2-5 Aston Villa Mikkelsen (2) Nugent (5)
• West Brom 2-1 Leicester Ulloa (2)
• Leicester 4-1 Hull Nugent (6) Knockaert (6)
• Stoke 1-2 Leicester Mikkelsen (3) Ulloa (3)

From now on I am going to do top goal scorer for the month and then a full list of goal scorers below.
Top goalscorer of the month- Knockaert earned the prize with his hat trick
Player of the month- Mikkelsen earns this with 2 goals and a low rating of 6.9 against West Brom.

Goalscorers- Nugent (6) Knockaert (6) Mikkelsen (3) Ulloa (3) Mahrez (3) Cambiasso (1) Drinkwater (1) Neto (1) Moore (1)

 

[kmitchell96]

Leicester- European Giants? December

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Coming off of November things were starting to look better. I had a couple of consistent scorers, my wingers were consistently playing well and most importantly I had recorded back to back wins in a couple of games which by the end of the season could be seen as must wins.

December​

December was my first month with more than 4 games as I was lined up to play 6 times in the league. It started with a (H) game against Burnley which was seen as a must win for survival, however I ended up losing the game 2-0 thanks to goals from Boyd in the 41st minutes and Marney in the 67th minute.

Next I was faced with an (A) tie against Swansea, again the game finished in a 2-0 loss with Sigurdson and Bony scoring for Swansea in the first half. The only bright spot from the game was Knockaert who had a rating of 8.6 despite no goals for the side for him to score or assist.

Up next was Crystal Palace (H), another must win and this time I did, Mikkelsen scored in the 12th minute to give me a lead of 1-0 which was kept up until the 63rd minute when Chamakh equalised, only for Ulloa to score the winner in the 79th minute.

Another (H) tie, but not one I expected to win. Facing Man City at home wasn't a game I wanted at the moment, the team confidence was increasing after 3 wins in 5. As expected Man City dominated eventually winning 4-1. Kompany put them 1-0 up in the first half before Mikkelsen equalised in the 57th minute. Goals from Toure and Jovetic as well as another from Kompany sealed the win for City though.

Another (H) game, this time against West Ham. Stewart Downing put them 1-0 up just 4 minutes in which made it seem like I was going for back to back defeats. However Nugent scored in the 13th minute before Song got sent off in the 30th minute. West Ham then saw red again when Reid got sent off after giving away a penalty which Mikkelsen converted to put me 2-1 up. Another goal from Mikkelsen in the 71st minute saw me beat the 9 men Hammers.

The final game of the month was one I thought wasn't winnable. I was (A) to Southampton and I didn't expect to get much but in the 42nd minute a goal from Nugent put me 1-0 up. The game was then down to who could defend better, both teams had chances and both teams hit the post. The 3 points were secured though when Schmeichel made a superb double save in the 90th minute.

Summary
​

Here is a look at the months results:

• Leicester 0-2 Burnley
• Swansea 2-0 Leicester
• Leicester 2-1 Crystal Palace Mikkelsen (4) Ulloa (4)
• Leicester 1-4 Man City Mikkelsen (5)
• Leicester 3-1 West Ham Nugent (7) Mikkelsen (7)
• Southampton 0-1 Leicester Nugent (8)

Top Goalscorer of the month- Mikkelsen scored 4 goals including 2 in the win against West Ham
Player of the month- Mikkelsen wins it for the 2nd month in a row with 4 goals and a couple of assists to go with it

Goalscorers- Nugent (8) Mikkelsen (7) Knockaert (6) Ulloa (4) Mahrez (3) Cambiasso (1) Drinkwater (1) Neto (1) Moore (1)

 

[kmitchell96]

Leicester- European Giants? January

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Coming into January I was on the back of a couple of good wins and I had the chance to improve the squad. I was doing well so my priority was to sign a few backups and then carry on trying to survive.

Signings​

Martin Odegaard- Paid £2.1 million for a 2.5* with 5* potential, on £20k a week until 2018
Danny Ings- Highly rated Burnley strikwe, signed as a backup for £800k on £38k a week until 2018
Jerry Akaminko- 3.5* CB, at least strong backup. Signed for £175k, on £30k a week until 2018

Only released 1 player on a free, 22 year old striker Jacob Blyth. 0.5* with 1* potential, not worth keeping.

January​

It started off with a repeat of first game of the season. I had Man U (H) to start off the new year. Nugent scored twice in order to keep me in it in the first half but braces from Van Persie and Mata as well as a goal from Carrick saw me lose 5-2.

Next I had Sheffield Wednesday (H) in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Knockaert scored in the 7th minute and Kane in the 37th before another from Knockaert made it 3-0. Wednesday then pulled one back through Stobbs in the 45th minute but the game finished 3-1.

Next was Everton (A), the team I got my first competitive win against but this wasn't going to be the same. I went 1-0 down a minute in and then by half time I was 4-0 down. In the second half Mikkelsen pulled one back but Lukaku got his second and McGeady got one to finish the game at 6-1.

Then Liverpool (H), was next. Nugent opened the scoring up just 2 minutes in before Gerrard equalised in the 25th minute. Wes Morgan then scored in the 87th minute to win the game 2-1.

Next was a (H) tie in the FA Cup in the 4th round against Leyton Orient. I went 1-0 down 26 minutes in and it stayed like that until the 76th minute when Nick Powell equalised, this is how it finished setting up a replay for February.

Arsenal (A) was the next fixture and I went down 2 minutes in. Nugent equalised in the 11th minute but I went into half time 4-1 down. Walcott got his hat trick in the 46th minute and Nugent got a 2nd in the 76th minute as the game finished 5-2.

The final game was Tottenham (H) and Mikkelsen put me 1-0 up 17 minutes in but they equalised in the 29th minute as the game finished 1-1.

Summary​

The results were as follows:

• Leicester 2-5 Man U Nugent (10)
• Leicester 3-1 Sheffield Wednesday Knockaert (8) Kane (1)
• Everton 6-1 Leicester Mikkelsen (8)
• Leicester 2-1 Liverpool Nugent (11) Morgan (1)
• Leicester 1-1 Leyton Orient Powell (1)
• Arsenal 5-2 Leicester Nugent (13)
• Leicester 1-1 Tottenham Mikkelsen (9)

Top Goalscorer of the Month- Nugent scored 5 goals including 2 braces in 5-2 losses
Player of the Month- Morgan had a great month despite the team conceding 20 goals with 1 rating below 7

Goalscorers- Nugent (13) Mikkelsen (9) Knockaert (8) Ulloa (4) Mahrez (3) Cambiasso (1) Drinkwater (1) Neto (1) Moore (1) Kane (1) Morgan (1) Powell (1)

 

[kmitchell96]

Leicester- European Giants? February

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January was another mixed month, a couple of good results and I continued to score goals extending a run of 11 games with at least 1 goal. A big problem was still the amount of goals I was conceding. I don't know what the problem was, players weren't getting bad ratings, often around 7.0 and Schmeichel was one of the top rated keepers in the league.

February​

This month would see me play 6 games, another busy fixture list. The first was the replay against Leyton Orient (A) in the FA Cup 4th round. This time things went better. It started off poorly with me being 1-0 down to a McAnuff goal in the 27th minute, things then turned around though when Lowry got sent off in the 33rd minute. From then on I dominated the game, Kane scored in the 41st minute which sent me into half time at 1-1. After the break Mikkelsen scored in the 49th minute, Knockaert added in the 58th and Mikklesen doubled his tally in the 73rd minute with a penalty. Orient got a penalty in the 87th minute which they converted but Ulloa scored in the 90th minute to finish the game 5-2.

Next was Chelsea (A) and this wasn't as tight as the first time I played them (1-0 in September). Remy put them 1-0 up 18 minutes in before Schurrle made it 2-0 in the 33rd minute. Hazard then scored a penalty in the 55th minute to end the game. Harry Kane did score a consolation goal in the 82nd minute to finish the game 3-1.

Next was a very important game (H) against QPR. Mikkelsen scored a key goal just 29 minutes in only for Kranjcar to equalise in the 35th minute. Nugent then scored in the 44th minute which would be the final goal of the game thanks to a solid defensive performance from Neto and Morgan in the centre of defence.

Next was a tough result to take in the FA Cup 5th round. As a Walsall fan there is one team you do not want to lose to. The game was Wolves (A) and they went 1-0 up in 11 minutes through Dicko, Nugent did equalise just 17 minutes in. Neto then got sent off for a silly challenge in the 41st minute which opened up the gates for Wolves. They didn't manage to score until Doherty scored in the 81st minute only for Dicko to then add a second in the 86th minute.

Another (A) game this time against Newcastle. It didn't start well with Sissoko scoring just 7 minutes in which then made Newcastle continue to push forward which stopped me from going forward and they exploited my defensive weaknesses. A Schmeichel own goal in the 34th minute summed up the game, miserable. They then got a 3rd in the 87th minute through Cisse. The worst thing about this was that it ended a run of 15 games in which I had scored dating back to 13/12/2014 (this game was played on 21/2/2015).

Next was Sunderland (H) and it didn't start off well with Neto scoring an own goal just 6 minutes in but shortly after in the 12th minute Mikkelsen equalised, only for Eric Dier to put Sunderland ahead in the 14th minute. Knockaert then scored in the 36th minute which was a key moment as it was scored on a counter attack when Sunderland were pressing for a 3rd. After the Sunderland attack was slowed down nothing happened until the 67th minute when Nugent scored to make it 3-2 which is how the game would finish.

Summary​

So the results were as follows:

• Leyton Orient 2-5 Leicester Kane (2) Mikklesen (11) Knockaert (9) Ulloa (5)
• Chelsea 3-1 Leicester Kane (3)
• Leicester 2-1 QPR Mikkelsen (12) Nugent (14)
• Wolves 3-1 Leicester Nugent (15)
• Newcastle 3-0 Leicester
• Leicester 3-2 Sunderland Mikkelsen (13) Knockaert (10) Nugent (16)

Top Goalscorer of the month- Mikkelsen scored 4 goals this month and was key to every win
Player of the month- Knockaert had to win the award after being my man of the match in every game this month

Goalscorers- Nugent (16) Mikkelsen (13) Knockaert (10) Ulloa (5) Kane (3) Mahrez (3) Cambiasso (1) Drinkwater (1) Neto (1) Moore (1) Morgan (1) Powell (1)

 

[kmitchell96]

Leicester- European Giants? March

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Coming off of a month where I was knocked out of the FA Cup there were still positives in that I had made it to the 5th round (was expected to get to the 4th) and that I had won 3 out of 6 games. This month was only made up of 3 games which were all winnable games.

March​

It started off with Aston Villa (A) but a Cleverly brace, a Weimann goal and a Richardson goal made it a tough start to the month, I ended the game losing 4-0. The most disappointing part of the game was the fact I didn't have a player rated above 6.8 or a defender above 6.4.

Next was another Midlands team, this time it was West Brom (H). Lescott put them 1-0 up in the 32nd minute before Danny Drinkwater got an equaliser in the 39th minute. Berahino scored in the 68th minute though to give West Brom the 2-1 victory.

The final game of the month was Hull (A). This was one of my worst games this season. I ended up losing 6-2 with Ings and Mikkelsen scoring for me in the 60th and 69th minutes respectively. But Hull had 5 players score, the other goal was an own goal from early season wonder Mahrez. They also won a penalty for their 4th goal which was converted by Ben Arfa.

Summary​

The results were as follows:

• Aston Villa 4-0 Leicester
• Leicester 1-2 West Brom Drinkwater (2)
• Hull 6-2 Leicester Ings (1) Mikklesen (14)

Top Goalscorer of the month- Only 3 goals this month from 3 players; Drinkwater, Ings and Mikkelsen
Player of the month- Nobody deserved it but it goes to Mikkelsen for having the highest rating of the month, 8.2

Goalscorers- Nugent (16) Mikkelsen (14) Knockaert (10) Ulloa (5) Kane (3) Mahrez (3) Drinkwater (2) Cambiasso (1) Neto (1) Moore (1) Morgan (1) Powell (1) Ings (1)

 

[kmitchell96]

Leicester- European Giants? End of season run

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For the rest of my first season I am just going to go through the final two months of what happened, in the next post I will then do a season review/preview and then I will go through the season I am currently on quickly up until the point I am at in order to be able to give better updates.

The final 5 games did not go well. I started with a 3-1 (H) loss to Stoke in which Knockaert managed to score his 11th goal of the season. Then came my final points of the season in a 2-0 (A) win against Burnley, Ings scored the first with his 2nd of the season since signing him and then Odegaard got his first since his £2.1m move in January. The final game of April was a (H) 2-0 loss against Swansea.

May wasn't any better but it was more interesting. At this point I needed two points to survive in games against West Ham and Man City. Not easy games as West Ham ended up finishing mid table and Man City finished 6th. The West Ham game (A) finished in a 6-5 loss. Nugent got 2 taking his tally 18, Mikkelsen scored his 15th of the season, Powell his 2nd and De Laet got his 1st but it wasn't enough to salvage a win against two hat tricks from Sakho and Zarate. The final game went no better with me losing 6-2 against Man city, it sounds better than it was with me scoring both goals in the 88th and 91st minutes when I was already 6-0 down, both came from Kane who ended the season with 5 goals.

The player of the "two months" award went to Nugent who even though the rest of the players seemed to have given in at this point he continued to carry on his form through the final stretch, it just wasn't enough.

The final table ended with me being relegated on the final day, what made it even worse is that it came down to goal difference in which QPR stayed up on -17, mine was a much worse -42.

Ah well onwards to the next season and the next post will be coming soon and it will be a review of the first and preview of the second season as well as preseason updates.

Thanks for following so far.

 

[kmitchell96]

First Season Review- Second Season Preview

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Review
So the first season ended with relegation, disappointing but not the end of the world. I had survived my first season without getting sacked and showed that I had a good squad with potential. The worst thing about the first season was my defence, I conceded way too many goals and that in the end was what sent me down. But I also scored goals and had 3 double figure scorers (Nugent 18, Mikkelsen 15, Knockaert 11).

The signing of the season had to be Mikkelsen, out of all the signings he played the biggest impact and was the only player signed who played consistently well. In the end he managed to get 15 goals, all from the wing and 4 assists with an average rating of 7.06 in the league. Not bad for £750k.

The other signings did well but none of them had the same impact. Neto was part of a leaky defence. Akaminko, my only other defensive signing, only managed 3 games from January. Johnny Russell, only managed an assist and average rating of 6.58 over 13 games, highly disappointing even for a player signed as a prospect. N'guemo, free transfer and average rating of 6.8 with 1 assist, again over 13 games (identical to Russell). Ings and Odegaard started well but didn't play enough to be able to know if they were worth while signings. Harry Kane, the only loan signing of the season worth mentioning did well with 5 goals and 5 assists in 15 appearances (5 starts).

The player of the season is harder to choose than signing of the season, do I give it to Nugent, Mikkelsen or Knockaert? I would say none of them and give the award to Schemeichel, after all he did have an average rating of 6.95 in the league, just a pity it was next to the fact he conceded 100 goals in the league (110 in total through 44 games). So the award goes to Knockaert, an average rating of 7.25 in the league as well as 12 goals and 21 assists through 43 appearances (40 starts) pushes him ahead of second place Mikkelsen who just misses out. Nugent scored goals but only had an average rating of 6.85.

Preview
My first season in the championship had to go better than my first season in the top division. My goal was to win the league, I wasn't given any other options, at all. With a good budget and an already strong squad for this level I had a good chance of that and was confident of doing this.
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Transfers
The first thing to do was sell players, and I only had offers for 1 player at the beginning of the season. Knockaert, I ended up selling the key man to Fulham for £9m which I thought was more than enough, the fans didn't like it but the club lost money in the premiership and I needed more money for transfers.

I also sold Vardy and Hamer for a combined fee of £625k. Not much but neither player was needed so I got rid of the wasted wages and brought in a little bit extra to buy players. I also released 24 players, most of them were youth players but there were a couple of first team players like Konchesky who just weren't needed, again I freed up wages.

All in all it was a cheap transfer window, originally I was only given £1m for transfers, this went up to about £5m once I had sold Knockaert. The first transfer was signing striker Dennis Stracqualursi on a free transfer, 2.5* rating and potential he was a good cheap backup. Next was the £1m signing of Patrick Bamford for Chelsea, rated 2* 4* he was definitely one for the future but again, a good backup.

More free transfers in GK Colin Coosemans, LB Brad Smith, AM Gael Kakuta, ST Marcello Trotta and ST Kwame Thomas. A shock free signing was 19 year old Amadou Bakayoko from Walsall, I took the "risk" of signing a young striker with 4* potential from my favourite club.

I also took an attempt of replicating the bargain buy of Mikkelsen by signing 29 year old winger Nicolas Bertolo for £175k. Rated at 2.5* when scouted I took the chance, when he arrived he was rated at 4* with 4* potential, not bad for less than £200k.

My only other signing was James Husband from Middlesborough for £3.5m. Already a strong championship LB/RB and potential to be a strong premiership defender is all I needed to know to be urged to buy the 21 year old.

I also extended the loan of Harry Kane for another year.

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Pre-season
Pre-season went really well. I all 5 games including a 3-0 win against Sheffield United but overall I ended up winning pre-season in a scoreline of 24-0! It would have been more interesting but I realised just 3 weeks before the season was set to kick off that I had only been given 2 games so I had to fit in preseason fixtures at the last second meaning games against Barwell (4-0), Loughborough Uni (9-0) and Coalville (5-0) had to be played as well as Stevenage (3-0).

 

[kmitchell96]

The season so far- August to December

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In this post I will be taking you through the first half of my season so far from August through to New Year. In the next post I will then do New year through to where I am in the game currently. From then on I will be able to give more detailed game reports and more accurate player of the month and I will also improve the posts.

August

Competition	Opponent	H or A	Result	Scorers
Championship	Sheffield Wednesday	H	3-0 W	Drinkwater (1), Kane (1), Kakuta (1)
Championship	Birmingham	A	3-2 W	Mikkelsen (1), Neto (1), Odegaard (1)
Championship	Rotherham	H	3-1 W	Neto (2), De Laet (1), Mikkelsen (2)
Championship	Ipswich	A	4-0 W	Kakuta (4), Drinkwater (2)
League Cup 2nd Round	Reading	A	3-2 L aet	Mikkelsen (3), Kakuta (5)
Championship	Yeovil	H	2-0 W	Kakuta (6), Mikkelsen (4)

So a good month despite being knocked out of the league cup, but not too disappointed. My wingers were in great form with them netting 10 goals between them both (Mikkelsen and Kakuta). Odegaard earned player of the month after coming in at just 16 years old and playing well in the 4 games he played in whilst also scoring his second goal of the club.

September
Only 5 games this month:

Competition	Opponent	H or A	Result	Scorers
Championship	Reading	A	4-1 W	Kane (4), Kakuta (7)
Championship	Charlton	H	2-0 W	Cambiasso (1), Mikkelsen (5)
Championship	Blackburn	A	3-2 W	OG, Kakuta (8), Drinkwater (3)
Championship	Millwall	H	2-0 L	-
Championship	Bradford	A	2-0 W	Mikkelsen (6), Bertolo (1)

Disappointing loss to Millwall which stopped me from getting an unbeaten month. Good win against reading after losing to them in the league cup just a week before. Kakuta continued his goalscoring record and Mikkelsen continued to prove he was worth the £750k paid for him over a season ago. Player of the month goes to Mikkelsen who had a low rating of 6.8 this month whilst also scoring goals number 5 and 6 of the season.

October

Competition	Opponent	H or A	Result	Scorers
Championship	Derby	H	0-0	-
Championship	Middlesbrough	A	3-2 L	Kane (5), Mikkelsen (7)
Championship	Huddersfield	H	2-1 L	Odegaard (2)
Championship	Cardiff	A	2-1 W	Drinkwater (4), Mahrez (1)
Championship	Nottingham Forest (TV)	H	1-1	Mikkelsen (8)

A disappointing month overall getting just 1 win from a possible 5. The loss to Huddersfield was especially disappointing. Jerry Akaminko got sent of in the 45 minute against Middlesborough which was key to the result as it was 1-1 at half time. Player of the month goes to Mikkelsen again after scoring 2 goals in the month and he was the only player with more than 1 rating of 7+ on the month.

November

Competition	Opponent	H or A	Result	Scorers
Championship	Bristol City	H	2-0 W	Kakuta (9), Bamford (1)
Championship	Brighton	A	1-1	Drinkwater (5)
Championship	Wolves	H	1-0 W	Mikkelsen (9)
Championship	Burnley	A	2-2	Odegaard (3), Neto (3)

A good month, loved beating Wolves as a Walsall fan. Neto scored an own goal in the Burnley game but he also scored the winning penalty in the 93rd minute so it balanced out. An average month, didn't lose but won 2 home games and drew 2 away games, can't complain. Player of the month goes to Liam Moore, didn't play well against Burnley but in the rest of the games he was the highest rated player.

December
The final month of this post.

Competition	Opponent	H or A	Result	Scorers
Championship	Crystal Palace	H	4-1 L	Mikkelsen (10)
Championship	Leeds	A	0-0	-
Championship	Watford	H	3-3	Mikkelsen (11), Kakuta (10), Ings (1)
Championship	Bournemouth	H	3-2 W	Bertolo (2), Kane (6), Mikkelsen (12)
Championship	Watford	A	2-0 W	Drinkwater (6), Ings (2)
Championship	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2-1 W	Mikkelsen (13), Akaminko (1)

Very mixed month. Played awfully in the loss to Palace and deserved to lose the game. Should have beaten Leeds who ended the game with 9 men. Lucky to draw the first game with Watford after Drinkwater got sent off in the first half. Good win against Bournemouth who ended up with 10 men. Drinkwater had his ban overturned for the second game against Watford and he scored. The only real easy win of the month was against Sheffield Wednesday. Mikkelsen gets player of the month, again! Too many goals and didn't have a bad game, even against Palace he had a rating of 7.

 

[diablodunka]

Very Nice read, a great deal of detail too. I will definitely be following, keep up the good work mate!

 

[kmitchell96]

Very Nice read, a great deal of detail too. I will definitely be following, keep up the good work mate!

Glad you like it. Normally include more detail just trying to catch up to where I am in the game so I can include more detail in every post and improve the posts. Only got a couple of months to catch up on (which should be up in the next half an hour or so) and then I am caught up and ready to start doing it properly.

 

[lewie100]

At least this is realistic! Thank you for not buying the Balantas, Fierros, e.c. And that you don't have an uber tactic that madly wins the league with Burnley in the 1st season.

 

[kmitchell96]

The season so far- January and February

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In this post I will catch up on the final two months of the game up to the point I am at and from after this I will be giving full details of games from where I am.

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Transfer Window
In terms of outgoing transfers there were only two sales. Leonardo Ulloa was sold to Middlesbrough for £185k after he had only played 1 game for me all season in which he got a 6.3 rating. Wes Morgan was also sold for £61k to Birmingham since he didn't make a single appearance for me all season he was seen as a waste of wages.

My only incoming transfer was a free transfer for Marc Crosas, a 28 year old CM/CDM worth £5.75m. It was a risk free transfer as I had over £50k left in wage budget and he only wanted £21.5k. He is rated 3.5* in both potential and current ability and would slot right in either as a back up or possibly a starter. The one drawback was that he wasn't fit due to being a free agent all season.

The reason I didn't sign anybody else is because the board felt that I didn't need to sign any players to win the league, it annoyed me but I went with it and did what I could and also tried to work on a couple of contracts.

January

Competition	Opponent	H or A	Result	Scorers
FA Cup 3rd Round	Birmingham	H	2-1 W	OG, Bertolo (3)
Championship	Birmingham	H	1-0 W	Bertolo (4)
Championship	Rotherham	A	2-1 W	Akaminko (2), Mikkelsen (14)
Championship	Ipswich	H	2-0 W	Mikkelsen (15), Kane (7)
FA Cup 4th Round	Southampton	H	1-1	Mikkelsen (16)
Championship	Yeovil	A	0-0	-

So another strong month, coming in at the end of the month with an unbeaten streak of 11 games dating back to Crystal Palace on the 5th December. Player of the month goes to Bertolo who came in as a strong replacement for Gael Kakuta who was injured at the end of December. He scored twice and otherwise had strong performances in every game. The best result of the month for me was Southampton, drawing to a higher division team was good but making it even better was that I hit the post 3 times, strong performance.

February

Competition	Opponent	H or A	Result	Scorers
FA Cup 4th Round Replay	Southampton	A	1-1 W (7-6P)	Bertolo (5)
Championship	Reading	H	1-0 W	Russell (1)
Championship	Charlton	A	2-0 W	Bertolo (7)
FA Cup 5th Round	Swansea	H	3-1 W	Ings (4), Bertolo (8)
Championship	Blackburn	H	4-1 W	Ings (6), Bertolo (9), Mikkelsen (17)
Championship	Millwall	A	1-0 W	Ings (7)
Championship	Bradford	H	3-0 W	Mikkelsen (18), Odegaard (4), Akaminko (3)
Championship	Derby	A	3-2 L	Bertolo (10), Drinkwater (7)

So the long streak had come to an end in the final game of February. 18 games unbeaten was a fantastic run but it had to come to an end at some point. Bertolo has to get player of the month after scoring 6 goals this month taking his tally to 10 and being a key player all month inlcudingin the wins against Southampton and Swansea. Ings also had a fantastic month scoring 5 goals inlcuding 2 in the wins against Swansea and Blackburn. Getting to the 6th round of the FA Cup is a fantastic achievement with the draw facing me against Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday get Chelsea, with me set to play in April at Wembley.

 

[kmitchell96]

I am going to sum everything up quickly, the answer is no. Leicester can not be European giants. The last 3 months of the season were frustrating. I had at least 3 starters out in every game leading me to drop to 3rd place, you would think I would keep my job, which I did until the first leg of the play offs- I lost 1-0 to Watford away and was sacked. I will now be stopping this post but continuing the career. Thanks for following but it wasn't meant to be, however I did make several brilliant signings.