The Leicester City manager gives his thoughts on the 3-1 loss to Sheffield United, the club’s first New Year’s Day defeat since 2008
20:50, 01 Jan 2026Updated 20:54, 01 Jan 2026
Marti Cifuentes after Leicester City’s 3-1 defeat to Sheffield United on New Year’s Day(Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
Marti Cifuentes made an appeal for Leicester City reinforcements after a dismal start to the new year at Sheffield United.
City were well beaten by the Blades, Cifuentes admitting the hosts were better in nearly every aspect of the game and that his side failed to match their energy and made too many mistakes defensively and in possession.
When asked how those mistakes can be eradicated, Cifuentes brought up the transfer window, which is now open.
“We keep training, we keep pushing,” Cifuentes said. “We are in a difficult situation in terms of injuries. The window is opening so hopefully we can get the help that we need at the same time.
“Everybody knows we need to improve and we need to reinforce. We have some injuries and at the same time, as a team, we always want to improve.”
City also need to get more from the players they already have, with Cifuentes calling for a “higher level of accountability”.
He feels there were individual mistakes in the build-up to all of the Blades’ three goals.
Cifuentes said: “It was not a good performance. Congrats to Sheffield United because they were better in many areas of the game. Most of them. It’s a poor performance. We were not at the level.
“There is a reality in the Championship. You need to run, you need to win your duels, we didn’t. Three individual mistakes in the three goals cost us.
“It was very poor. There were a lot of turnovers. We need to show more personality when we’re on the ball.
“We need the players to understand that we need to show a higher level of accountability. We go from a game where the energy was very good and today it was a totally different kind of performance.
“I’ve said we need to improve a lot our consistency. That comes with understanding that this league is relentless. All the time you need to compete at your best.
“The main thing to compete in this league is to be able to run, to win your duels and then to put the ball on the ground and play the way you want to play. If you don’t do the basics, it’s very difficult. Today, Sheffield United were much better than us in this part.”
“You need to match the energy and the level of physicality. We knew that Sheffield United would play exactly the way they did. We prepared well. But we lost all kinds of duels, all around the pitch.
“When we had the ball, we had lots of technical mistakes. Then it’s difficult to build any kind of momentum in the game.
“That’s why the first 60 minutes were bad. I said to the guys that even if they were bad, you need to grind it out and compete.
“In the first half there was a mistake at the set-play, both in the marking and in the six-yard box. The first half was very poor from our side because we should have created much more, we should have had much better sequences on the ball.
“The second and third were individual mistakes. We need to correct them better as a team.
“It’s a disappointing performance. You need to be ready to deliver again and again at 110 per cent without making individual mistakes.
“There is no hiding. It has been constant. For me as a coach as well I need to do better in terms of correcting those mistakes.”
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