All in all, the general agreement seems to be that Leicester City were the stronger side in their M69 derby against Coventry City. The West Midlands club made the short trip to face the Fearless Foxes on Saturday lunchtime.
Once again, the early Championship kick-off (the Premier League suffers from the same issue) failed to deliver as many decisive moments, composure or ruthless finishes as you’d see in other matches.
Unfortunately, because of LCFC’s draw (pardon another bad pun) in the league, we can expect plenty more televised fixtures and awkward or unlucky start times.
While the home crowd appeared satisfied with the number of chances their team created, not to mention the efforts on display, the comments I’ve come across and members of the Blue Army I’ve spoken to suggest something is still lacking or off in manager Marti Cifuentes’ lineup.
The former Queens Park Rangers boss has himself highlighted where his men must sharpen up. Let’s see what the gaffer had to say after missing out on two points.
Manager Marti Cifuentes highlights where Leicester City must sharpen up:
A draw from a clash with a rival, who happen to be a solid side as well, is never a poor result. Although Cifuentes was mildly frustrated; that is technically the reaction you’d expect from an ambitious manager.
However, the Catalan also commended his squad for progressing and providing him with some “answers”. Yet Cifuentes also pointed to consistency as a quality the team can target.
“I’m a bit disappointed not to get the three points, especially at home. But we got some answers and definitely, in terms of the performance, steps forward in many areas.” – [Cifuentes, via BBC]
The 43-year-old would also like his players to bypass the high press with greater effectiveness. Again, a clinical edge was missing he says, as I mentioned earlier.
“They are a good team, but perhaps we just missed this last edge in the last third.”
Cifuentes was ultimately satisfied with the creativity, but not the decisive moments. I would assume that Julian Carranza will soon start in an attempt to solve problems in attack.
“We had the situations [to score] and I’d be much more worried if we weren’t creating those, but in football if you don’t score the chances you don’t get much.”