Exclusive: Sky pundit makes "panic button" claim amid Marti Cifuentes, Leicester City pressure | OneFootball

The Spaniard has started to feel the heat at the King Power Stadium amid a poor run of form

Sky Sports pundit and EFL expert Lee Hendrie has urged Leicester City to afford Marti Cifuentes the time to turn the club's fortunes around amid a poor run of recent form.

Rather unsurprisingly, the Foxes were among a cluster of sides expected to immediately challenge for promotion from the Championship and into the Premier League at the first time of asking.

That is despite the fact the Spaniard oversaw a major squad reshuffle after taking the reins in the East Midlands in July, having previously been placed on gardening leave by Queens Park Rangers as exit talk intensified at Loftus Road in the final week of last season.

Cifuentes has earned mixed reviews from supporters of the two sides he has taken charge of in the second tier, as well as outsiders, but he is more than aware of the expectation levels which come along when managing a side who won the Premier League title less than 10 years ago, and were in European competitions as recently as the 2021/22 campaign.

With the 43-year-old still in the infancy of his tenure at the King Power Stadium, any initial frustrations showcased by supporters at the beginning of the campaign continued to be voiced towards owner, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and director of football, Jon Rudkin.

Yet, after looking like they were amongst the early-season pace-setters after suffering just one defeat in their opening 11 league encounters, a run of three straight losses has seen the Foxes slip to 14th, with those in the stands certainly making their feelings known towards Cifuentes after a 2-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday lunchtime.

However, speaking exclusively to Football League World, the former Aston Villa midfielder-turned pundit, Hendrie, believes there is still plenty of time for City to address their slump in form and, at least, attain a play-off place.

The recent defeat to Valerien Ismael's side was a first defeat at the King Power for Cifuentes, and extended a recently underwhelming run to just one win since August 30th, which came against Swansea City on October 4th.

Many have offered differing opinions as to why the Foxes are currently performing below the standards expected of them, with several high-profile names still at the club despite a mass summer exodus.

A vast proportion of supporters were seen visibly frustrated with their manager's comments after Saturday's defeat, making Tuesday's clash against second-place Middlesbrough, whose recently-appointed head coach, Rob Edwards, has since emerged as a prime candidate for the Wolves vacancy, a must-win to ease any pressure.

Cifuentes penned a three-year deal in the East Midlands, and as such, Hendrie believes the Foxes hierarchy should stick by him in the long run.

"Leicester are tipped as one of the favourites for promotion this season. They're sitting 14th, one win in nine," he explained.

"They've been against teams you'd expect them to go and get results against, which they haven't done in recent weeks - particularly the last three of Hull, Millwall and Blackburn.

"There's always going to be pressure that's going to mount," Hendrie added.

"We've seen Will Still leave Southampton - who are further down the table - we've seen Sheffield United sack Ruben Selles. These are the teams who are tipped for promotion, even though Leicester have had to get rid of players and haven't had the financial luxury in order to bring players in to a certain extent.

"I think he's (Cifuentes) is a very good manager," the pundit stated. "I'd like to see them stick with him.

"There's lots of draws in that poor run of form. Two wins, and you can find yourselves right back in the thick of it.

"They find themselves on 17 points, and you've got a play-off side on 22 points. You're talking a five-point difference.

"I think, maybe not pushing the panic button, he will get them going again," Hendrie claimed.

As Hendrie alluded to, five of the Foxes' last nine games have resulted in draws, with three of those coming at home against league leaders and free-scoring Coventry City, Wrexham and Portsmouth.

What will be a major concern is that, in recent weeks, Leicester have started to completely lose their defensive structure which was so impressive in the opening weeks of the season, whilst only one of their 15 strikes thus far has come from a natural centre-forward.

It's no surprise that, under Cifuentes, the Blues are dominating the ball in most of their encounters, as they rank third for average possession stats, but clearly are not doing enough in both boxes, which, ultimately, is where their fate has been decided.

Failure to kickstart a run of momentum against Middlesbrough or Norwich City in their upcoming fixtures will certainly increase the pressure on Cifuentes' back, though, meaning he may not be afforded the time Hendrie is calling for.