Marti Cifuentes - Style of Play, Tactics and Analysis

[Aleksz]

Good post and prediction, looks well balanced and a good base to work from before any incomings. Could easily swap Monga and Thomas in too. 

[LVFox]

6 minutes ago, Aleksz said:

Good post and prediction, looks well balanced and a good base to work from before any incomings. Could easily swap Monga and Thomas in too. 

Throw Monga, Thomas, Aluko, McAteer, Hamza, even Daka into that squad and you see how we should be very strong this year.

 

I fancy us for a solid play off position this year solely with that squad (praying we ship out Faes and Soumare).

 

We are a good Attacking Midfielder and Centre Forward away from seriously pushing for top spot (points deduction aside)

 

 

 

[RedSoxUK]

2 minutes ago, Aleksz said:

Good post and prediction, looks well balanced and a good base to work from before any incomings. Could easily swap Monga and Thomas in too. 

If we're generating £40m+ we're not starting Ayew and Alves. We can play Ayew as every other club do, rotation and final 20 mins. And Ayew has not proven enough to start majority of games yet, there's a case Monga has however..

[Legend_in_blue]

A year has passed and I think many have forgotten how poor this league is.  We have far better technical players than other teams in this league.  

 

The only weakness in that first pre season friendly was what happens when we lose the ball on the break.  I wouldn't worry too much.  The vast majority of attackers in this league need 10 chances before scoring.  We may concede a few but, in an attacking sense, we will outscore the opposition regardless.

 

 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

1 hour ago, Legend_in_blue said:

A year has passed and I think many have forgotten how poor this league is.  We have far better technical players than other teams in this league.  

 

The only weakness in that first pre season friendly was what happens when we lose the ball on the break.  I wouldn't worry too much.  The vast majority of attackers in this league need 10 chances before scoring.  We may concede a few but, in an attacking sense, we will outscore the opposition regardless.

 

 

We don't have a centre forward 

[Greg2607]

We do.... just not one we currently trust......

[Paninistickers]

1 hour ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

We don't have a centre forward 

Sort of. 

 

However, most championship managers - probs 18 of 24 of them - would be fairly content to have Ayew and Daka as their only options with emergency cover in Mavididi and McAteer. 

 

It's not ideal. But neither is it terminal. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

Will he play with a Marenka in the passive pressure system, utilising an indifferent counter-defensive pinioning midfield, which blends well with a rotating under-striker advancing cautiously into a number 33 role?

 

Also, what are the merits of fielding a false goalkeeper?

Edited 23 July 2025 by Trav Le Bleu

[Groby_Blue]

1 minute ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Also, what are the merits of fielding a false goalkeeper?

There aren't any. We all saw that every time Ward played. 

[kenny]

40 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

Sort of. 

 

However, most championship managers - probs 18 of 24 of them - would be fairly content to have Ayew and Daka as their only options with emergency cover in Mavididi and McAteer. 

 

It's not ideal. But neither is it terminal. 

And Evans. It's a weak point in the squad but it's not the end of the world especially in a system that doesn't rely on the striker scoring 20 goals.

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, Groby_Blue said:

There aren't any. We all saw that every time Ward played. 

I'd argue that Danny Ward is the epitome of a false goalkeeper.

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Will he play with a Marenka in the passive pressure system, utilising an indifferent counter-defensive pinioning midfield, which blends well with a rotating under-striker advancing cautiously into a number 33 role?

 

Also, what are the merits of fielding a false goalkeeper?

Top is currently doing his best to position Leicester as a false football club, so anything is possible. 

 

We tried the false goalkeeper idea before, with Danny Ward in that position. We were relegated. 

[Greg2607]

39 minutes ago, kenny said:

And Evans. It's a weak point in the squad but it's not the end of the world especially in a system that doesn't rely on the striker scoring 20 goals.

technically, we don't yet know what his system relies on as we've barely seen it in action.... 

 

I do think what @Paninistickers said above is a fair point though.   Lots of Championship Managers would love to have a combination of Ayew, Daka and Evans to choose from as their striking options.  

 

We've been spoilt for so long with Vardy who was without doubt a world class striker.... everything is going to feel poor in comparison. 

 

could be worse, we could still have kelechi as our main option.... and look at what he did last year in the championship. 

Edited 23 July 2025 by Greg2607

[StriderHiryu]

@Trav Le Bleu

 

Joking aside about the false goalkeeper, a number of teams across Europe are experimenting with the GK position. Even Mourihno has said that one day soon he expects a manager will take off his goalkeeper and replace them with an outfield player, win the game and will be called a genius. Man City U21's are playing their GK pushed right up to the halfway line at times!

 

I saw this at the end of last season and wished I could have seen the game. Sounds amazingly fun to watch if nothing else!

https://www.soccerodd.com/news/paderborn-goalkeeper-plays-as-right-winger-in-frantic-final-push

[kenny]

30 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

technically, we don't yet know what his system relies on as we've barely seen it in action.... 

 

I do think what @Paninistickers said above is a fair point though.   Lots of Championship Managers would love to have a combination of Ayew, Daka and Evans to choose from as their striking options.  

 

We've been spoilt for so long with Vardy who was without doubt a world class striker.... everything is going to feel poor in comparison. 

 

could be worse, we could still have kelechi as our main option.... and look at what he did last year in the championship. 

Im cheating, I listened to @StriderHiryu anilysis last night.

 

That being said, Enzo's system relied upon the 8's and the wingers to score the goals rather than the striker. We tended to look better with Daka's pressing that Vardy's goal threat in the Champ last time.

[Legend_in_blue]

2 hours ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

We don't have a centre forward 

 

Do we need one right at this moment in time?  We can rotate Ayew, Daka and Evans and see where that takes us into January.

 

As far as the competition goes, noone in this division scored 20+ goals last season so I doubt we'd go looking around the championship for a replacement.  We'd have to look abroad.

 

If Marti can get us mastering this system of his, we can rotate the forward line and have players move in and out of position.  At this level, the players are good enough to do that. 

 

How many teams play a similar system in this division?  This is where I think you'll see a back to the wall job more often than not and us looking to break down ultra defensive teams.  Very few, if any teams, will come at us knowing the attacking players we have.

 

 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

14 minutes ago, Legend_in_blue said:

 

Do we need one right at this moment in time?  We can rotate Ayew, Daka and Evans and see where that takes us into January.

 

As far as the competition goes, noone in this division scored 20+ goals last season so I doubt we'd go looking around the championship for a replacement.  We'd have to look abroad.

 

If Marti can get us mastering this system of his, we can rotate the forward line and have players move in and out of position.  At this level, the players are good enough to do that. 

 

How many teams play a similar system in this division?  This is where I think you'll see a back to the wall job more often than not and us looking to break down ultra defensive teams.  Very few, if any teams, will come at us knowing the attacking players we have.

 

 

Do we need a centre forward? I would say probably yes.

[Bourbon Fox]

1 hour ago, Legend_in_blue said:

Very few, if any teams, will come at us 

 

And if they do want to come, I'm sure Wout Faes will beat them off

[Legend_in_blue]

1 hour ago, Bourbon Fox said:

And if they do want to come, I'm sure Wout Faes will beat them off

As bad as he is, at this level he's decent enough.

[Chelmofox]

2 hours ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Do we need a centre forward? I would say probably yes.

My issue is that unless we unearth an Ivan Tony style gem, anyone we get is going to fall into the 'probably ok for the championship' category. Strikers seem to be a problem everywhere, and anyone remotely decent costs good money. Unearthing a gem is a gamble.

 

Even if we opted for someone like Josh Seargent, might be ok for now but proven not good enough. 

 

With the system we are going to play, im not sure anyone is going to be better than rotating Daka / Ayew and giving Evans minutes.

[kingfox]

10 hours ago, Aleksz said:

Good post and prediction, looks well balanced and a good base to work from before any incomings. Could easily swap Monga and Thomas in too. 

Think that just indicates if we can raise some funds, Striker, Attacking Midfield and Central Midfield is where the money should go. 
 

Any other signings can be ironed out with frees or loans. 

[ParkerPen]

I dont want to see Skwinks

[Tommy G]

1 hour ago, Chelmofox said:

My issue is that unless we unearth an Ivan Tony style gem, anyone we get is going to fall into the 'probably ok for the championship' category. Strikers seem to be a problem everywhere, and anyone remotely decent costs good money. Unearthing a gem is a gamble.

 

Even if we opted for someone like Josh Seargent, might be ok for now but proven not good enough. 

 

With the system we are going to play, im not sure anyone is going to be better than rotating Daka / Ayew and giving Evans minutes.

Some very good points here - we’ve been blessed with 10 good years of JV - not having a decent striker hasn’t been a problem for a long time, we’re about to feel like Wet Ham have for the past decade. 

[lcfc_forever]

This is a must listen:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0lrv9rc?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile 
 

Marti discusses his approach and philosophy with Owynn from BBC RL, he comes across brilliantly. Big focus on developing younger players - clearly wants a smaller squad so he can work with them more and suggests there will be lots of transfer activity over the coming weeks. 

 

I thought of you @Ric Flair when listening to this, it’s exactly what you’ve called for. 

Edited 23 July 2025 by lcfc_forever

[Bourbon Fox]

2 hours ago, Legend_in_blue said:

As bad as he is, at this level he's decent enough.

It was a joke about wanking