Leicester City’s stalemate at Oxford was secured through grit, with Marti Cifuentes applauding his squad’s determination to push the contest to the hosts despite being a man down.
City looked destined for defeat at the interval, trailing Oxford and reduced to 10 men after debutant Aaron Ramsey’s reckless challenge.
But Cifuentes responded, reshaping the setup and introducing impact players Ricardo Pereira and Harry Winks.
That shift enabled City to dictate play at the start of the second half, even with their numerical disadvantage, culminating in a slick sequence that produced Ricardo’s equaliser.
“I will never be satisfied with only one point because that’s not my nature,” Cifuentes said. “I want my team to win football games. But it was a difficult scenario after 20-ish minutes, so I’m very pleased after a poor first half the reaction we showed in the second half.
“It’s definitely a late tackle (from Ramsey). I will not judge here if it’s a red or a yellow card because that doesn’t matter.
“It was not a good start of the game for us. We conceded a poor first goal and while we had the capacity to score a goal to get into the game again, it never felt like we were getting the flow.
“After that, it was important to try to get into the half-time at 1-1 to make some adjustments. Unfortunately we conceded a goal. We knew Oxford are very good at set-plays.
“Then again I think it’s important to highlight the personality, bravery and courage the players had to ask for the ball, to not just sit deep and wait for what could happen and I feel the second goal was a reflection of that.
To regain control of the match, Cifuentes shifted to a 4-3-2, with right-back Ricardo stepping into midfield in possession to give City a strong quartet in the heart of the pitch.
Cifuentes said: “We felt that during the last 20 minutes of the first half that we were too flat and too low with this 4-4-1. It was the natural thing to do because Aaron was playing as a 10.
“We thought the way we wanted to be as a team was to have more of the ball. So we put in Ricardo as we know he is very good at combinations and breaking lines and this progressive capacity with the ball. It’s the same with Winksy.
“We just put Hamza (Choudhury) and Skippy (Oliver Skipp) in front to cover more ground on the sides and then played with two strikers. I’m very pleased with the way Winks and Ricardo affected the game, but also the other guys.
“JJ (Jordan James) gave us good energy when he came in, the same with Pato (Daka), the same with Bobby (De Cordova-Reid), it’s good news he’s back. Overall, I’m satisfied with the way the team reacted in the second half.”