Key Factors Behind Leicester’s Recent Struggles in the Championship

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Every team has a bad run of results. Experiencing this in two away games is not the worst. Losing the two clashes with a goal difference is manageable. We have seen league winners do that in the past. Liverpool are on a bad run at the moment, having used money Leicester could dream about.

Marti Cifuentes has been in charge of 12 league games. His stats so far is 4 wins, 5 draws, and 3 defeats. He needs to bring in at least two wins and a draw from the next three games vs. Blackburn, Middlesbrough and Norwich.

The major worry is the amount of players used from start. 21 players have started games. James Justin, Kasey McAteer, and Bilal El Khannouss left. This opened up addtions of Julian Carranza, Jordan James, and Aaron Ramsey. It makes a shift.

Leicester had a good run early on, winning away to Charlton and at home to Birmingham. Skipp and Page both started those games. Okoli and Choudhury were also in the starting eleven. Bouba Soumare had his place. Looking in the backmirror, Marti should have kept those players in the team. Changing pattern and players will always be a risk, because you break up rythm. Most fans do not understand that. They believe in hard work and defending the badge. When a player, like for instance, Luke Thomas, do not perform, a fan would suggest to leave him out, just rest him. No it’s not so simple, he has played every minute. Marti has trusted him. However, he is not returning the trust at the moment. That is a horror for a manager.

These are crucial facts to consider when you are analyzing games. It is crucial to take this on board. The introduction of Aaron Ramsey and Jordan James has upset the structure. Both players have looked strong. However, the opposite has happened to the team and results.

We have also seen that Ricardo Pereira and Jeremy Monga both perform much better when they are coming on as substitutes. They are not as effective when starting games. This should be taken on board. Jeremy Monga should be used carefully. Giving him negative experiences week in and week out is no good for his progress.

🦊 #LCFC | Marti Cifuentes says it's been a "difficult" week for his side in the Championship.

The Foxes could only manage 3⃣ shots on target away at The Den.

🗣️The City boss says that "no game will be easy" at this level. 👇 pic.twitter.com/r8DftcnaY7
— BBC Sport Leicester (@BBCRLSport) October 25, 2025

We do know that Marti Cifuentes has decided to rotate a bit. He has not found a formula that looks like a settled setup. Jannik Vestergaard, Jacub Stolarczyk and Abdul Fatawu looks to have build confidence, being clever in almost every game. Luke Thomas has been given a lot of trust. However, he appears to lack the stability needed to earn that trust.

Fans of all football clubs tends to have short memory or no memory at all. Especially those going vocal without really having done the proper check before expressing negativity and talking fog. They are usually totally lost, changing opinion with the weather.

We do see that Leicester lack a goalscorer when looking at the stats. They lack fantasy up front. We have suggested that Marti Cifuentes starts with Mavididi, Fatawu, and Monga all in the starting line-up up front. Give those three players freedom to rotate. Fatawu needs to get more goalscoring opportunities and can easily be the front man, no problem. All three should have free roles and not be tied up as we did see vs. Millwall and Hull.

Looking at previous managers and their stats in Championship. Enzo Maresca started with 11 wins and 1 loss in his first 12 games in charge. He picked up 33 points in his first 12 games. A much better start than what Marti has experienced. In Nigel Pearson’s second period, he started with 5 draws, 4 wins and 3 defeats. A very similar start to Marti. Prior to Nigel, Svennis had the following, 6 wins, 4 defeats and 2 draws.

We should be patient to see what happens in the next three games coming up. Looking at results, dropping Oliver Skipp and Bouba Soumare looks a wrong decision. From an analytical point of view, this decision is puzzling. Jordan James and Aaron Ramsey have not yet managed to put their mark on results. Harry Winks is also a riddle, not performing with stability.

There are also other observations that makes a bit of a surprise, but stats should never be faulted. We have seen many things from social media. Talk from fans going online shows they appear to be completely wrong in their assumptions. Their ideas of what to do and not to do are as usual misguided.

We need to be patient with Marti Cifuentes at least over January. Doing something else would be far from a good decision. All Leicester fans must behave. They should start acting with some sort of memory. Full support is needed.

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