Unfortunately, Leicester City had to settle for a dramatically late own goal in order to salvage a point away at West Bromwich Albion's The Hawthorns ground on Friday night. Scoring in general and, to some extent, creating clear-cut chances is definitely now an unavoidable issue for the King Power team. Even though the East Midlanders have actually managed a tally of nine Championship finishes this term. A fact that makes them, satisfactorily at best, the sixth highest scoring side in the division.
Though for any club aiming for automatic promotion, and who invariably took the EFL by storm on the previous two occasions of entry, this isn't satisfactory. I'm not entirely blaming LCFC's most recent managerial appointment, Marti Cifuentes, for a misfiring front line. Well, not yet anyway: the former Queens Park Rangers boss took over someone else's squad and had minimal loans to strengthen at the eleventh hour. So he's done OK!
Nevertheless, the Catalan's starting lineup choices will now certainly come under increasing scrutiny by the Blue Army fan base - myself absolutely included! To that end, I think I may have stumbled on the actual thought process of Cifuentes for new striker Julian Carranza remaining on the substitute's bench. Clichés fitness and match sharpness might perhaps be veils for negative elements that require addressing spotted by management. Is this the reason why the gaffer won't start Carranza?
Potential justification for Marti Cifuentes leaving Julian Carranza out at Leicester City?
First of all, Cifuentes appears to admire and rate Jordan Ayew. I must say that the former is in the minority on Filbert Way in that regard.
I'm not an Ayew hater, although he is more akin to backup than a leader as I see it. Cifuentes has ameliorated the forward's tracking back, however.
Yet comments prior to the Baggies clash may reveal the true cause for Carranza's snub:
"He’s doing well in training,” manager Marti Cifuentes said of the striker. “I think it was not the easiest pre-season for him, and arriving here on the last day of the window is an extra challenge because the competition is already there and he arrives into a team that is more or less set. But he has done really well to adapt. The international break was important for him to get along with his team-mates. The fact his English is excellent helps him with adapting and getting into the team. My experience is that the Championship is a bit ruthless, especially with players coming from abroad, and especially for strikers or attacking players because of the refereeing and the tempo. Everything is perhaps different than other leagues.Marti Cifuentes
“The centre-halves in the Championship are usually dominant in the air, they’re big guys, so it’s about how to handle this kind of physicality. The refereeing is different to other parts of Europe and other parts of the world."