Peterborough United striker is his own worst critic and he's determined to right the wrongs of last season
Peterborough United striker Harry Leonard is not resting on his laurels despite a decent first season at London Road.
The 22 year-old was a late transfer window arrival last summer from Championship club Blackburn Rovers. It was reported Posh shelled out £800k to make the move happen.
Leonard didn’t join a successful team, as it happened, as a bad start and an even worse finish to the campaign left Posh languishing in 18th place in League One for the second season in a row.
But Leonard's standards remained high. He bagged 16 League One goals in that struggling side so it’s not unreasonable to expect a 20-goal campaign if the form of others around him improves.
Leonard doesn’t blame anyone else for the team’s shortcomings though. He is his own worst critic.
"I am very tough on myself,” Leonard stated in a Posh Plus interview. “I’m not happy if I haven’t delivered my best performance or helped the team to the best of my ability, but I try to look forward rather than back at all times.
"I like to think others see me as a leader on the pitch. After all I’m the first line of our press and if I haven’t closed the goalkeeper down or put pressure on defenders then it affects everyone else all the way back to Alex Bass. My job is to be at it every day and in every game, but also to score the goals. Goals win games so it’s the most important job in football
“There are games when the service isn’t great and I might get one chance in the last minute when the score is 0-0. I need to score then as it’s my job.
"I try and contribute in other ways as well. I like to think I can use my body well and that I’m not bad in the air which is vital when Bassy is kicking it long. I have to disrupt defenders even if I don’t win the header, and I played against some right big lads last season.
"I went eight games without scoring when I first got here, but I felt my general play was really good.
“I was as big a culprit as anyone at the end of last season when we delivered an unacceptable run of results, but we are determined to put things right by starting really well.
"The manager has been demanding a lot from us in pre-season and so he should. The players should all be demanding a lot from each other as well. It’s vital we all move in one direction. We need to be fitter and stronger than everyone else which is why we’ve been training so hard in such hot weather.
“We are a club that could be fighting near the top of the table and we want to be right up there this season.”