Marti Cifuentes took over a difficult job when joining the King Power Club. Supporters are right to have major expectations for the side given their rather successful history and the continued quality which remains in the squad. Although we have seen few additions, we have gotten a good sense of where they fit in the Spaniard's plans.
Leicester City 0-0 Coventry City: A Brief Overview
Over our last five fixtures - including this result - the Foxes have managed eight points from a possible total of 15. Although not glamorous, the results are not calamitous to any promotion or title aspirations the East Midlands outfit may have.
Nevertheless, against stern opposition (a team which did reach the top five last season) Leicester only accomplished nine shots on target. This is actually an improvement from our victory against Birmingham City, but the case remains that we relied on heroics from Ricardo Pereira and Abdul Fatawu in that match, and in this fixture, the pair were unable to get the goal we needed.
It was only 63 minutes into the tie that Cifuentes decided to bring on starlet Jeremy Monga, six minutes later we finally saw Julian Carranza alongside Hamza Choudhury, and finally Patson Daka in the 88th minute. The substitutions were less impactful than in previous matches, although that is fair considering the most impactful of our subs - Pereira - was a starter.
The Frenchman and Englishman in midfield
Leicester need a composed, progressive, and broadly creative midfield capable of collecting the ball from defence and either passing their way to attack, or taking the responsibility to carry the ball into space. This means Cifuentes was - due to the lack of Bilal El Khannouss or Will Alves and the suspension of Aaron Ramsey - rely upon Jordan James, Boubakary Soumare, and Harry Winks.
After looking through the match, it remains obvious that Winks and Soumare are our current best midfielders offering a balance of progression, retention, and creation. Against Coventry, all three midfielders are natural No.6/No.8 hybrids, so they all got involved closer to our defense. Winks linked up - as usual - really well with our fullbacks and attacking players, while Soumare did a great job of relieving pressure when under a press.
Although this did not ultimately lead to a goal, the success in the pair of them playing is clear: we will end up creating more chances. Winks had 99 touches of the ball, Soumare 74, where someone like Stephy Mavididi only had 41. Part of that was an inability to find the player, but also a struggle to really do much with the ball when found in space. Meanwhile, the Frenchman and Englishman both were effective.
They also disturbed attacking plays in support of our defenders. They made challenges, won challenges, and often got in the way of opposition attackers. It is also worth reminding ourselves that Winks has one of the best passing completion rates versus others and amongst the lower end of losing possession (eight compared to Jordan Ayew's 14 for example). Winks and Soumare should be the starting duo for the EFL Championship season.
Carranza and Patson Daka untrusted?
Jordan Ayew has been a consistent performer for the King Power Club since joining. Nothing about the player screams class, exudes excitement, or invites headlines: he is a reliable cog that just keeps grinding along. However, we know that when confident, the Zambian forward is faster, supports a press better, and offers a similar level of track back. Meanwhile, we do have the new Argentinian waiting for a longer stint.
The goal of Ayew in this system is twofold: firstly, to provide for our wingers and late-arriving midfielders; second, to get into solid positions using his experience to get shots on at goal. In previous matches, this has been broadly successful if not always due to the lack of sheer pace and creativity required to break defensive lines. This is what Abdul Fatawu does so well.
However, both Carranza and Daka were as effective attacking-wise, and arguably just as useful defensively as Ayew was after the pair were brought on. The Argentine was on for 21 minutes, had just six touches of the ball, but did have a shot on target. His main area for improvement is that collective pressing we need to regain possession in dangerous areas: he was dribbled past and felt less able to assist in this regard.
Meanwhile, with only minutes on the pitch, Daka had one touch and one shot which was blocked. Ayew by comparison touched the ball more (obviously) and only managed the same: one shot blocked. None of his crosses or attempted killer passes found their target, appearing off the wavelength of the team, and of course ceding possession while also failing to support a collective press.
Ayew is being trusted due to his years of experience in the game. However, Patson Daka and Julian Carranza were on the pitch less, had less opportunities, and yet achieved similar results. Either Cifuentes does not trust the pair, or the Spaniard has too much love for Jordan Ayew. One of the pair ought to start the next match.
The weakness in the King Power
Leicester City suffer from one fatal weakness: chance creation. The Foxes can gain possession, retain it for spells at a time, and move it carefully or swiftly across the pitch at their choosing. Their team can move around more dynamically to support one another and can create chances by working as a unit. The operative words in those sentences are 'can'.
The issues arise mostly in the final third. Mavididi struggles to explode past defenders, Ayew struggles to run beyond or hold up the ball awaiting support, and our midfielders seem poor at getting into a strong attacking position to take a shot. The culmination is a free-flowing, beautiful move up forward, all to crumble into a lacklustre, wasteful go at goal when inevitably we have wasted any turnover advantage we could have had with a pacy and explosive forward line. Either that or we fail at corners and free-kicks.
In midfield, we will need to wait for Ramsey to become available once again to really understand whether we can have a creative and clinical attacking force from midfield, but Marti Cifuentes could make changes for the next match to help.
Patson Daka ought to be given a run out with Jeremy Monga on his left and Fatawu on his right. This would at least let us see if having too many supportive players rather than more genuine strikers is one of the issues we face. Possibly, we could ditch the AM role and focus on having two strikers, two wingers, and the dynamic duo of Soumare-Winks.