Cifuentes Faces Tough Choices in Leicester’s Attack

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Leicester manager Marti Cifuentes has to address this problem quickly. He continues to search for the best solution up front for Leicester. Cifuentes has altered between Patson Daka and Jordan Ayew as his top forward. You get a very different shape of your attacking line with these two types of players. They are far from similar.

The presence of Patson Daka at this point has been a ride of a few up’s but mostly down’s. He is not at the moment a convincing front attacking option. Jordan Ayew is a hybrid, as Marti Cifuentes has said himself. He combines qualities of an attacking midfielder and a striker. When you decide on the two, you create a completely different attacking build-up. This change poses a major problem for midfielders as the build-up varies significantly.

Looking at the two recent starts for Patson Daka, you notice several positives. However, his lack of scoring goals is starting to frustrate. His assist to Jordan James goal vs. Wrexham was a beauty. Daka stretches the opponent’s defence with his pace. His fast running is evident. However, his distribution is questionable. His low goalscoring ratio is also something to address. At the moment, he is the player to call on. Marti Cifuentes looks more in line with his belief, with the Zambian up front.

Marti Cifuentes also have Julian Carranza to his disposal. The loan man from Feyenoord has not been sharp at all. He has spoiled a number of clear chances.

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Julián Carranza breaks away for the hat trick in Leg 1 #ConcaChampions. pic.twitter.com/xkJjApqsSb
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) February 21, 2024

Luckily Leicester have not used transfer funds on Julian Carranza. Carranza would not have left Feyenoord if he was a player they rated highly. His scoring was at a good level when playing in MLS. However, sadly that league has a very low standard and on level below the middle league’s in Europe. Carranza has a very low convertion rate in Dutch football and it looks to continue in League Championship. You observe his first touch and control on the ball. This makes you question the type of benchmark done when aquiring the Argentinian.

The best option for Marti Cifuentes is to use Stephy Mavididi, Abdul Fatawu and Jeremy Monga up front in a rotation and fluid set up. They would terrorise the opponent as a more free running style should be in play. They can stretch and upset the back line of any team or opponent. We believe Jeremy Monga needs more ball contact. Currently, he is positioned out wide to execute his runs on the flank and inward. Leicester becomes predictable because of this.

Jamie Vardy was a splendid servant for Leicester. However, his involvement stopped Leicester from evolving to the next level of fluid attacking football. Players moving in and out in a much higher tempo than we see today. Marti Cifuentes is a clear 4-3-3 manager. He needs to ensure his players move more in and out of positions. This will help to get his attacking play into better shape.

Building a possession based game is fantastic. However, without more movement in certain areas, you will get stuck. We often see this with Leicester. They tend to make a lot of back passes and too many moves sideways. Jacub Stolarczyk needs to be orientated much faster than he is at the moment, to start distribution faster. To see him start and stop is frustrating, as players are not in their positions fast enough. This is a major problem and one to work on. The roles of those flanks up front looks very strict. The lack of movement without the ball makes this too predictable. Individual flair dominates currently. This will in real make Leicester fragile, instead of fluid attacking football that relies on the pattern in play.

Monga, Mavididi, and Fatawu will be capable of playing up front with great pace and movement. All of them can score goals from all angles. A fluid three men attacking build up will not work with players such as Ayew, Carranza, and Daka. Their style of play is more traditional.

High pace and good control on the ball is a combination we do see Monga, Mavididi and Fatawu manage. We also believe Silko Thomas is one that can operate with that in mind. Marcal should also be looked at as an option.

To go for a fluid top three forward line is a bold move. The more traditional one with a striker and flanks will never kill anyone, but be more safe. Liverpool were fantastic with Mane, Firmino and Salah, so could Leicester be with Monga, Mavididi and Fatawu.

Still early days. Marti Cifuentes often talks about movement. However, he needs to build his structure on more moving and change of positioning up front. Looking at Liverpool and their play with that previous trio required special pressure on the ball. It will challenge midfielders and defenders to press to their limit. This possibly will be a challenge for players such as Winks, James, Soumare and De Cordova-Reid. It will also challenge the back line to go higher in the field. A certain Jannik Vestergaard may become an obstacle. Adapting this style will not be about holding the ball up. Getting that trio up front in the correct shape is key. It will focus on attacking with more players. There will be higher movement in all areas. We do hope to see the best players playing in a fluid set up, to get the best possible outcome. Leicester also need to find players with super pace to cover that backline.

A lot is far from perfect, but it looks as if this is stumbling forward correctly. We are looking at this in a broader perspective. To get to the perfect shape you must be thinking outside the traditional box of solutions.

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