The Fosse Way

Leicester City and Marti Cifuentes had a week of fallout to regroup, reassess and decide how to come back from the Sheffield United game. There were glimpses from that second half of some fight but a lot of fans had walked out or lost enthusiasm given the epic mountain we’d left ourselves to overcome.

With another three game week and tensions inside the King Power at what feels like an all time low (for recent times) between fans and the club, two of those games being away from home probably feels like a welcome break. An away end can still chant and channel fury, but it’s less pressured. 

Rumours of Cifuentes’ job being at risk haven’t materialised, every fan has their own opinion on whether that’s a financial issue or another sign of the powers above having checked out. The alternative view is that regardless of the manager, the squad have the most to answer for.

Player unrest has been a theme at some stage over the last few seasons, so speculation that the players aren’t listening to Cifuentes has been easy to make. Perhaps there is more to it, Harry Winks was dragged off at half-time last weekend and didn’t appear in the matchday squad for Derby. We didn’t know why until after the game when John Percy confirmed the suspicions, ‘issues in training and preparation before the game last week’. It is Christmas party season after all. 

Fan reaction to Cifuentes’ lineup ahead of the Derby match was mostly positive. The players who helped inspire the second half comeback last weekend were rewarded with starts, Jordan Ayew as the striker and Bobby De Cordova-Reid into the ten role.

Oliver Skipp taking Winks’ spot to partner Jordan James in the middle and two academy players immediately restored to the starting lineup following injuries in Ben Nelson and Jakub Stolarczyk, who came in for Wout Faes and Asmir Begovic.

Early celebrations were in order when we made it to the five minute mark without conceding. Welcome progress, as was taking the lead first three minutes later. It was a beautifully worked goal down the right, before Abdul Fatawu cut in to James who fed the ball first time to De Cordova-Reid to slot home.

Skipp became the unlikely goalscorer from a James corner to make it 2-0 with just 15 minutes on the clock and by the time that was doubled, we were 3-0 up, James finally getting one for himself. Leicester looked in control and more importantly, dangerous going forward. The intensity and speed of the attacks hurt Derby and we looked like an entirely different side to the one who started against Sheffield United.

There haven’t been many games, home or away, that have been truly enjoyable this season. The travelling away fans deserved this, in fine form vocally. And a win against Derby, at their place, is always sweet. It keeps up our record of recent success over our rivals, that’s now 11 wins from 12 meetings and we haven’t lost at Pride Park since 2013. 

He can pass, he can score

If you’re going to make the type of statement Jordan James did this week, as lovely as it was to hear some passion and commitment, it needed to be backed up with a performance to quash the memories of a similar statement two years ago from James Maddison. Fortunately, James and Leicester City delivered.

With a goal, an assist and he took the corner that led to the second goal, he was the easy and right choice for Man of the match. It’s been a theme for a lot of games now, everything positive and generating forward momentum seems to include or start with James. 

It’s hard not to get attached to a loan player like James. He’s bringing quality and energy we don’t have elsewhere in the squad and going some way to helping fill in the goals we’re missing out on by not having prolific strikers. The part that most endears him to the Foxes fan though is how invested he seems to be. We haven’t felt that from some of the players we’ve owned for years. 

James’ goal delivered on what he told us he loved to do, arriving into the box at the last possible minute to score. The ball in from Luke Thomas was beautiful, and James didn’t hesitate, wheeling away in celebration to salute the Leicester fans.

Allowed to play in his favoured eight position, we reaped the benefits. His link up play with both Fatawu and De Cordova-Reid was excellent and he helped get stuck in with the defensive efforts in the second half too.

There’s things for James to improve, we’ve picked out his tackling on a few occasions as a weak point. He’s enthusiastic and it’s the moments when he most shows his age, the tackles sometimes poorly timed and rash, leading to unnecessary yellow cards. 

Today he escaped a booking after finding himself in a scuffle, one Derby player objecting to a tackle he committed. But it was also the type of heated affair that you expect from a Midlands derby and the fans will have enjoyed him causing some grief. 

If he can work on that and keep doing everything else, he’ll have a captain’s armband sooner than later. We just have to hope we can rustle up the cash Rennes want for a chance of seeing that happen with us. 

Skipp to the redemption arc

Death, taxes and one Leicester player resurrecting their career per season seems to be the rules. Oliver Skipp was pretty much set up to fail the minute the club sanctioned a £20+ million transfer fee for him. A series of bit part appearances and substitute cameos didn’t help, and in a couple of games at the start of this season, he looked utterly hopeless.

Today was his best outing in a Leicester shirt so far, building on a scarily convincing turn at fullback against Southampton and having popping into a centre back role against Sheffield United. Perhaps the faster style of play deployed today suits him more, maybe James is an ideal partner for him rather than Winks or Soumare. This was a convincing and dominant outing from him.

Skipp got onto the end of the loose ball from James’ corner to put Leicester 2-0 up, his first goal for the Foxes and another boost of confidence for him. He spoke well after the game about his versatility and the performance today. Perhaps he was a little hard done by not to be in with a shout for Man of the Match himself.

In a second half that needed us to show the type of mentality that’s been non-existent, Skipp was willing to do anything, be anywhere and throw himself into everything. Refreshingly, while we slipped into similar patterns and gave up control, the entire team defended like a team who’ve actually met and trained together.

Derby might have thrown their version of the kitchen sink at us, but they only got one goal for their efforts. A bit of luck for Leicester but a lot of grit. It wasn’t always pretty but we’d have thrown away the three points in another week. 

Skipp wasn’t the only one who rehabilitated their image somewhat in this game. This was the best we’ve seen Luke Thomas play in quite some time. He got an assist and would have had two if the Jordan Ayew goal hadn’t been deemed marginally offside. Thomas’ shortcomings have always been more in his defensive efforts, on the attack he’s often been capable of putting in a nice cross or even the occasional goal. 

He wasn’t tested as much defensively by Derby which will have helped, but it was a stronger display from our left back. We’re still in dire need of a second left back for cover but if he can rebuild some confidence, it can’t hurt us. 

A swan song from Cifuentes or a new approach?

Leicester fans don’t often agree en masse, but only a few would try to claim that Cifuentes has had it easy and been supported by the club in terms of transfers. What has frustrated fans has been his over reliance on some of the same names and faces that have long been problematic. Did this line up and bench selection show a willingness to finally change the mould?

The bench felt particularly refreshing. Jake Evans back on it, Louis Page and Aluko back from suspension. With a couple of injuries, perhaps it’s more a case of what we’ve got but while it might be what pundits would look at as proven quality, those players haven’t exactly delivered results. 

With another very calm and poised performance from Ben Nelson, his immediate return to the starting lineup was much needed and it’s great that Cifuentes kept the faith. We can’t change the fact that we could have been playing with Nelson from gameweek one, but better late than never. 

Stolarczyk played his part, making some great steps and throwing himself into harm’s way to prevent shots and goals on several occasions. Considering he’s only just come back from an injury achieved in similar fashion, it was a fearless display. Begovic may not have been directly at fault for the goals shipped on his watch, but things do feel calmer with Stolarczyk between the posts. 

By the time the match concluded, we had seven academy players on the pitch. We haven’t seen enough of Silko Thomas yet, but Cifuentes clearly has a lot of trust in him. Fans are just happy to see these players given a chance over the older players we should be offloading.

Is Marti responding to the various rumours his time is limited with the changes and throwing caution, and loyalty to senior players, to the wind or is it still part of learning and shaping the team based on what’s he got rather than what he wishes. 

This Leicester performance felt more dynamic, energetic and far more committed. The first half felt more controlled, but how Leicester coped with Derby’s renewed efforts in the second half was impressive. There wasn’t a 45 minute collapse that we’ve grown accustomed to and the work rate from every player on the pitch was superb.

Jannik Vestergaard has had his critics in the last few weeks, but put in a big shift. He was showing some leadership in the team huddle pre-match and backing it up by throwing himself in front of a shot. 

Whether the players have had private conversations and decided to play for one another, or whether they still believe in Cifuentes, it doesn’t really matter right now. The reaction at the end suggested the core involved are still with him. But this was a much needed win and a much improved performance.

We’ve still yet to see a perfect 90 minute game but there’s no doubting the team effort today. It’s something to build on rather than everybody having to go back to the drawing board yet again.

It’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room; if we can pull a performance like this together today…what happened against Sheffield United? Or Southampton? Bristol City offers a quick game and another chance to show that this can be repeated. Cifuentes looks to have found his ideal eleven, let’s hope he can stick with it for Wednesday night.