“There are definitely doubts" - Leicester City told to take clear Marti Cifuentes stance | OneFootball

FLW's Leicester City Fan Pundit has urged the Foxes to ensure they stick by former Queens Park Rangers manager Marti Cifuentes.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Leicester City experienced an uncertain summer in which they had to shed a lot of weight with many high-profile exits, amid suggestions of a point deduction from the EFL at the start of the summer.

The Foxes eventually replaced Ruud van Nistelrooy with Marti Cifuentes on the eve of pre-season and only managed to bring in Asmir Begovic on a free transfer as well as deadline day loan moves for Jordan James, Aaron Ramsey and Julian Carranza.

Despite that, and concerns that the Foxes may be some way off the pace in the Championship this season, Leicester began the campaign reasonably well and seemingly capable of simply grinding enough wins out to be competitive at the very top end of the table.

A fairly average level of performance, though, has begun to catch up with them and results have dipped as they drift into the middle-of-the-table and the pressure mounts on former Queens Park Rangers boss Cifuentes.

Leicester City urged to stick by Marti Cifuentes

Having been placed on gardening leave at QPR towards the back end of last season, Cifuentes’ delayed departure from Loftus Road was eventually confirmed in late-June.

Given what remains a strong squad, albeit one that has to be lacking cohesion, Cifuentes had endured mixed results during the opening few months of his time at the King Power Stadium.

Despite that, FLW’s Leicester Fan Pundit, Louchlainn Martin of Blue Tinted Glasses, believes that Cifuentes remains the right man to move the club forward.

“It has been a poor run of form for Leicester City.

“We really haven’t done well enough over recent weeks in a season that had started okay with a lot of positive signs, it has now tailed off.

“As a Leicester fan, I’m not overly concerned yet. I still have faith that Marti Cifuentes is the man for Leicester City. I think he is the best fit, culturally, for the club at the moment.

“There are some big concerns for a lot of fans about the style of play and the lack of chances created and all of that stuff, as well as some of the team selections.

“Personally, for me, I don’t think that sacking him would be the right thing to do. I think that Leicester have been through too many different managers in the last few years and I think it’s time for continuity.

“Marti Cifuentes didn’t have a single penny to spend on transfer fees in the summer. It was only loan deals and free agents.

“I think that once he has another couple of windows to put his own mark on the squad and get rid of players he doesn’t want, I think that is when we’ll start to see Leicester under Marti Cifuentes.

“There are definitely doubts, I suppose you could call them, but I still trust this man to lead us forward.”

Marti Cifuentes has a limited squad at Leicester City

Having moved on to a club just relegated from the Premier League, Marti Cifuentes would have been forgiven for believing he already had a potentially title-winning squad.

However, some fairly haphazard recruitment at the King Power Stadium means that the City squad is very mixed in terms of its quality and profile; with a variety of different eras and approaches represented, but no consistent idea about their recruitment process.

That has left them with a squad lacking cohesion and incision, often with Cifuentes understandably unsure, even now, as to what his best eleven may well be.

Leicester still have an abundance of quality, most notably with Abdul Fatawu, but there has to be some big decisions made in the January transfer window if they are to be serious contenders in the second-half of the campaign.