Leicestershire

Kate Blakemore
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Off the back of one of our most dismal seasons in years, the curtain-raiser against relegation favourites Sheffield Wednesday felt like a potential banana skin, and that kind of expectation weighs heavy on the shoulders of some. Being 1-0 down at half-time felt very ominous.

Leicester have become the pantomime villains of late on the football stage, and new boss, Marti Cifuentes, has some task on his hands to manage the on-field activities amid the deafening noise off it.

We showed glimpses of our potential after a poor first half, and it was really encouraging to see Cifuentes change it at half-time (rather than the orthodox 60 minutes of his predecessors) with the introduction of Harry Winks, who showed exactly why he was such a lynchpin in the Enzo Maresca era.

The midfield is a problem area with only Winks being a likely starter, following the departure of Wilfred Ndidi.

But with the cloud of PSR and a possible points deduction looming overhead, any spending must be shrewd. Cifuentes will likely have to look to the club's hot young talent, such as Jeremy Monga, Ben Nelson, Will Alvez and Louis Page.

It may be that these three points are on the board only temporarily, before the EFL takes them from us, but it was important to get off on the right foot.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but Cifuentes has a bit of a conundrum on his hands as to which building blocks to use - coupled with the affordability of the ones he wants to buy and the ones he doesn't need.

One thing is for sure, it's never dull in the Leicester City camp.

Listen to more from Kate Blakemore at Leicester Till I Die, external

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester City manager Marti Cifuentes said his side must be "more clinical" after their comeback win against crisis-hit Sheffield Wednesday.

The Foxes tallied 27 shots in total during their Championship campaign opener on Sunday, 13 of them on target, but required a late goal from substitute Wout Faes to down their 10-man visitors.

Faes's 87th-minute winner came via Bilal El Khannouss' delivery from one of Leicester's 13 corners, with the sought-after Moroccan playmaker also assisting centre-back Jannik Vestergaard from a free-kick for the equaliser earlier in the second half.

Admitting his new side were "slow" in their ball movement during a first half which saw them fall behind, Cifuentes said the second period showed more promising signs in terms of both player positioning and pace on the ball.

"From there we created many clear goal chances, and we need to get better at being more clinical on those ones," the Spanish coach added.

Image source, Getty Images

But Cifuentes lauded Leicester's "mental capacity" to come from behind and the "fantastic impact" of his second-half introductions including Faes and Patson Daka, who also came close to finding the back of the net late on.

When asked about both goals being scored by defenders at set-pieces, he told BBC Radio Leicester: "I don't have any big preference on the way we score, as long as we score. It's important that we have different tools to create chances.

"The important thing is that we score, no matter if it's the centre halves or the strikers."

On his appreciation for Leicester's fans following his arrival last month, Cifuentes added: "Hopefully we can build something very strong together.

"We're going to try and work as hard as we can to give them good evenings, good afternoons, good results, good football, and hopefully they will appreciate that.

Leicester are next in action against League One side Huddersfield Town in the first round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, followed by a league trip to Preston North End on Saturday.

"The amount of new managers coming into the league this year, I have never seen anything like it".

Aaron Paul and Jobi McAnuff are joined by special guests Tommy Smith and Alex Bruce to preview the 2025-26 Championship season.

They discuss a range of topics including assessing chances of sides coming down from the Premier League, who the contenders might be for the top six and take a deep dive of each of the sides promoted from League One.

Listen to the full episode of 72+ and more on BBC Sounds.