Leicestershire

Chris Forryan
Fan writer

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Rex Features

If a week in politics is a long time, a week in football can be an eternity.

There was a general feeling of well-being at Leicester City at the start of the season despite all the troubles the club found itself in.

Pre-season under Andy King had looked good with better performances on show, and the players remembering how to pass the ball. We also rediscovered that there were two halves to a football pitch, with the team under Ruud Van Nistelrooy hardly venturing over the halfway line.

New boss Marti Cifuentes arrived with a welcome that even the second coming might not generate, and we went on to beat a top-six Italian side facing European competition this season.

After starting out with an OK performance against a team in more trouble than ourselves, it's all kind of gone wrong. The four-, five- and six-nil predictions that were flying around against Sheffield Wednesday failed to materialise, and we had to come from behind to get the three points.

A midweek Carabao Cup exit to League One Huddersfield followed, then a 2-1 loss at the weekend against Preston North End - a team that were everything we are not, including being a team rather than a group of individuals.

I wonder how those fans that were predicting an easy season for us - even getting promotion with a points deduction - are feeling now?

Reality stings a bit, doesn't it? It is, of course, early doors, but the squad is still full of overpriced, overpaid players who we are unlikely to shift, as basically they are not up to it.

In Marti we trust, but it looks like a long hard season.

Listen to more from Chris Forryan at Leicester Till I Die, external

After becoming the Championship's youngest scorer at the weekend, Leicester City teenager Jeremy Monga is being tracked by Barcelona and Real Madrid. (The 72), external

Meanwhile, Harry Winks is being linked with a move back to the Premier League - with Sunderland the latest club reportedly interested in the midfielder. (Sunderland Echo), external

Image source, Getty Images

It might be very early doors but there are worries for Leicester City.

After scraping past 10-man Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day, Leicester then got knocked out of the League Cup on penalties by third-tier Huddersfield Town, despite having named a strong starting XI.

They were then deservedly beaten by a team who survived by just a point on the final day of last season, in Preston.

There was over an hour without a shot on target, highlighting that Marti Cifuentes has plenty of work to do on that training ground to convince people that Leicester can bounce back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Full credit though to Preston, who will want to forget the last miserable campaign.

They scored two cracking goals and with the addition of exciting young Tottenham loanee Alfie Devine in their ranks, could this finally be the year, Preston fans?

Leicester boss Marti Cifuentes praised record-breaking teenager Jeremy Monga after the Foxes 2-1 defeat to Preston.

"He deserves the credit, he is a talented boy and we are trying to take care of him because he is very humble and that is very important for me because the way he works on the pitch is excellent," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"He wants to learn, he is eager to improve and he has a lot of talent so I'm happy that he scored his first goal and I'm sure he's going to stay humble as well and I'm not happy only about the goal but the whole performance.

"He is showing character and personality and we're going to try to help him to be the player we think he can be."

Regarding the game, Cifuentes was disappointed in his team's performance as they tasted defeat for the first time in the Championship this season.

"It's not a good performance and it's not a good result and obviously we are disappointed. I know what we can expect with Preston, they are very clear in terms of identity, and the two goals that we conceded were poor," he said.

"Our positioning especially in the first half was not as good as it could have been we didn't cope with the long balls and in behind, we could have done better.

"We improved in the second half got the goal to change the momentum and when we got the draw we got some chances but conceded a goal that we should have coped better with. The tracking back could have been better but it's a good goal from them good quality on the cross and a good finish."