Has anything surprised you about Leicester City over the past week?
I’ll start with the defence - biggest surprise for me has been the improvement in Danny Ward as well as the fact that Daniel Amartey has looked like a competent centre-back in the past couple of games. With Evans potentially available for Saturday I’m not sure putting him straight back in is the right thing to do, and that’s credit to Big Dan.
The other thing I’ll pick out is Youri Tielemans - he seems a different player with the captain’s armband on. Although unlikely he’ll be here next season nobody can argue that he isn’t fully committed to the cause. His organisation, leadership and quality has been a huge part of the last two results and he really does look back to his best.
Chloe Dexter
All of it. The entire thing. Two emphatic wins, Danny Ward and Daniel Amartey notching back-to-back clean sheets and in general, a complete change in mood around the entire club. To say I didn’t see this coming would be an incredible understatement.
I think it is hugely important that credit is given where credit is due. Danny Ward has quite rightly received plaudits for his performances, a couple of big saves and massively improved distribution getting particular attention. But I think the most surprising element for me has been Brendan Rodgers.
For all intents and purposes he looked down and out a couple of games before. Bereft of ideas, low in confidence and a general mood of consignment to his fate heading into two absolutely crucial games.
But, to his massive credit, he made some big decisions and displayed that tactical nous that had served us so well for three preceding seasons. His use of Youri Tielemans to negate, and beat, the Leeds United pressing game was a masterstroke, and switching into a 4-2-3-1 against Wolves effectively ended the game as a contest. There are still improvements to be made, but Rodgers is still fighting it seems.
Jamie Thorpe
I'll be honest and say that I was not somebody who expected us to pick up seven points from the last nine, but I am always happy to be left looking daft if it means Leicester are winning and actually playing better!
It has been a little surprising just how clinical we have managed to be in the last two games in front of goal. So many of our issues going forward in previous games seemed to boil down to nice forward play and attacking moves but no penetration in the final third. We may not have created so many chances against Leeds or Wolves but when we did, we took them. I appreciate the Football Manager style stats from the Wolves game even more so.
To keep three clean sheets in a row is no small thing either. Particularly in a period without Evans which had almost everybody groaning and predicting a continuation of shipping goals. Yet the team has banded together and defended more cohesively. Perhaps balancing the team more has helped, and admittedly we've faced opponents who have looked goal shy, but the confidence that must be breeding could be the catalyst to long term change we needed.
Helen Thompson
I'd like to say it hasn't surprised me given we all know what this squad is capable of, but given the start to the season we've had to get successive clean sheets and two wins is huge for us.
I think it's important not to get carried away as we've only beaten the bottom three, but getting our first away win and now being five points behind Liverpool things are starting to look up for us.
We've also scored the most away goals in the division and I'm delighted for Danny Ward and the back four who have managed to get four clean sheets in the last five games. I think a lot of credit also has to go to Brendan, set-piece coach Lars Knudsen and the arrival of Wout Faes for tightening things up.
We know we will cause lots of teams problems going forward and we've said all along we just need to sort the defending out, so long may that continue. Hopefully we can pick up four points from our next three games before the World Cup and things will continue to look more positive.
Only Man City next...
Jordan Halford
Am I surprised? I'm going to have to say no, I'm not. We all know that Brendan (and us fans) didn't get what we wanted in the summer transfer-wise, but there's no way this squad is a bottom-of-the-league one. Therefore, it's about time our ‘elite-level’ manager got them defending and playing like something resembling a Premier League outfit.
Ultimately, we've beaten the three teams below us. While this is very welcome (nice to enjoy a weekend for a change), there's a long way to go. The Wolves game especially could have been a very different result considering how many shots we let them have. But hey, it's lovely to win again!
Looking ahead, Manchester City next is not ideal when we've finally got some momentum, although we have troubled them in the past. Everton and West Ham, both away from home, are the games to see if we've genuinely progressed.
Iain Wright
I was away for a few days and missed the Leeds and Wolves games so it didn’t surprise me that Leicester would pick these two as the ones to finally show up this season.
To switch on Frank Lampard mode… No but seriously… I had a sneaky feeling we’d beat Leeds but I certainly didn’t see the Wolves result coming. It doesn’t matter how poorly Wolves had started the Premier League - we all know how bad our away form has been for the past 18 months or so.
When you’re not able to follow the games other than a shifty little check of the score under a restaurant table, you get a real sense of your expectations. I felt weirdly confident during the Leeds game. Once we went in front, I trusted the players to see it out based on what I’d seen against Palace. I didn’t think we’d win at Molineux though, never mind score from our first four shots without conceding from the 20-odd they had. Forget the stats though. Just soaking in a couple of victories has felt glorious.
David Bevan
