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Marti Cifuentes decided to give Silko Thomas his starting league debut today away at Sheffield United. This was possibly based on the fact that Jordan Ayew needed a rest. But it took away a lot of momentum up front and the midfield area was heavilly exposed.

Again it looked as if Marti Cifuentes had ignored Sheffield United and their manager Chris Wilder. The Blades are a team playing in a 4-4-2 structure. This was in a way totally ignored and hit Leicester as a bing bang.

Sheffield United came out in max power. They ran over Leicester. The team Marti had taken out, looked hammered and totally in shock. Jordan James is young, and has been fantastic so far. But today he had no say in the first half. He is attacking, and a talented player, but today Chris Wilder had done his job, big time.

Then in the 36th minute, Sheffield United defender Japhet Tanganga scores from a corner. James Justin never managed to keep his marking and The Blades were 1-0 up after this good header.

The first half was terrible to watch and far from standard. The pressure on the defence was difficult to cope with. Chris Wilder demonstrated the advantage of high power and willingness. Playing more players in midfield provides an advantage. It is effective against a team without a real plan to counter this kind of football.

No changes made at half time. The start in the second half was as awful as the first. It was not fun to look at this at all. To see a Leicester team being outplayed like this was painful to watch. Then in the 52nd minute the humiliation becomes complete. Former Leicester player Tom Cannon scores from close range. This followed a great build up with nice passes in and around the Leicester penalty area.

Changes made in the 57th minute. Silko Thomas had no say in this game and that was no surprise. Marti Cifuentes made a big mistake by playing him from the start. Pulling him off made it a negative experience for the youngster. He hardly touched the ball. Jordan Ayew comes in. The other move, to take off Oliver Skipp and replace him with Hamza Choudhury, was a strange idea. Hamza did his job when coming on. He is a good and proper midfielder in this division. However, to replace Skipp had no purpose.

Leicester made two more changes in the 67th minute. Louis Page and Jeremy Monga comes on for Bobby De-Cordova Reid and Stephy Mavididi. These changes gave the team new momentum. Both Monga and Page are dynamic players. They have the ability to hold on to the ball and attack opponents. But no major significant change occurred. Sheffield United looked more dangerous when they got the ball. They finished their scoring in the 88th minute with a nice goal from Callum O’Hare.

Leicester managed to score and get one back in stoppage time. Jordan James scored his goal from long range. He did see this disaster of a football game end with a positive.

Another massive kick in the teeth. Embarrassing performance. It shows how tacictical decision making by a dinosaur, can outplay a super clever 4-3-3 genius.

The next game coming up is on Monday, playing West Bromwich at home.

  • Positives
    • Jordan James scoring his 8th goal of the season
    • Being able to see some momentum with changes done in the second half
  • Negatives
    • Tactical naivity, and a totally wrong approach from start in a game away, against a 4-4-2 set up
    • Poor performances all over the field
    • Bobby De Cordova-Reid was shocking and not in the game
    • Starting Silko Thomas in this game was a total miss
    • Starting Jordan Ayew would have made a difference
    • Not using all five subs

Line Up:
Stolarczyk 4, Pereira 3, Thomas 3, Okoli 4, Nelson 4, Skipp 4, James 5, Reid 2, Thomas 2, Mavididi 4, Fatawu 3, Subs: Ayew, Choudhury, Page, Monga

  • Leicester City, Man of the Match

Match Stats (H/A)

  • Possession: 56 / 44
  • Shots on Target: 5 / 1
  • Corners: 7 / 3
  • Fouls: 13 / 10

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