Cifuentes OUT

[Manwell Pablo]

33 minutes ago, Tommy Fresh said:

I didn't mention half of those players he's mentioned by the way, just don't pick the ones that according to the original post he referenced as potentially ignoring Marti's instructions.

 

Also if we get 25-30 on a combination of Faes, Winks, Kristiansen, Soumare and Daka then we've done very well

I reiterate, forget selling Daka, no one is going to be stupid enough to match half his wage here, so he will stay here and pick his pay cheque up. 
 

people forget he was signed when we were in Europe and he was signed for 20 million his wage matches that fact.

Edited 9 November 2025 by Manwell Pablo

[Plastik Man]

I think Marti eventually got it right with his substitutions.

 

Bringing on a winger on the left, a proper 10 who can move the ball quickly, create and also add goals. Allowing James to play deeper adding his vertical movement forward into the box. 

 

Straight the way our wingers were getting the ball quicker, receiving the ball in space behind the fullback , and James' run into the box got on the end of one of those crosses.

 

It's a shame about Nelson and Okoli picking up injuries but I don't think they'll be out long.

 

Marti has slowly begun to drop the players who want away. It's meant Skipp starting. Whilst he doesn't offer a great deal, at least he tries. Removing those who don't was more important. 

 

Hopefully Marti will learn from yesterday and now put round pegs into round holes. 

 

James is not a 10 and he's needed alongside Winks to provide more physicality and legs. 

 

Reid or Ramsey as the 10 options. Reid didn't impress on the wing last season, too old and no real pace. But his attitude seems good and he's better suited as a 10 playing in the championship.

 

And no Ayew on the wing where he just slows any attack. We said it last season and it applies now. Stick him on as a sub to lock a game down. He just doesn't offer enough attacking intent.

 

As to why Marti has struggled, it's difficult to know without inside knowledge. How much player influence is there? Or from above? 

 

I initially felt he handled the window well dropping players who wanted out, but reintegrating them when it closed if they were the better option in the first 11. Subsequently, removing those with a lack of fight has felt more important, whether he's done this out of instinct or just clamour from fans? 

 

The way we finished the game yesterday has shown a way forward. We'll soon see if there is any progress or whether it was a false dawn.

[Claudio Fannieri]

58 minutes ago, Manwell Pablo said:

 Daka is unsaleable, you seem to be not factoring in Daka would have to leave. And Patson Daka is on 80k here. 
 

I imagine Soumare is in a similar if not quite as an impossible situation.

It’s is probably closer to £60k given the relegation reduction clauses and I do understand what you are saying but there may be low end team(s) in the prem or interest from abroad willing to take a chance in January for a lowish fee of £3m-£4m and cover his current wage. 
 

 

Edited 9 November 2025 by Claudio Fannieri

[Winstonthedog]

5 minutes ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

It’s is probably closer to £60k given the relegation reduction clauses and I do understand what you are saying but there may be low end team(s) in the prem or interest from abroad willing to take a chance in January for a lowish fee of £3m-£4m and cover his current wage. 
 

 

Hopefully Daka is on some sort of goals scored bonus..... which has saved an absolute fortune 

[when_you're_smiling]

2 hours ago, JimJams said:

Marti has been dealt a bad hand on the striker front.  We haven't got one worth a shite, and that's a big problem.  However we have at least 3 (2.5 if we factor Mavs form) wingers who can beat a man for fun.  Fatawu and Monga are excellent runners of the ball and can take a man on at will, often beating them,  but aren't generally in effective positions once they do that.   Knowing this I think MC should have done more to try and get these 2 or 3 into positions on the pitch where beating their man leads to dangerous situations, but it doesn't.   That's because they're getting the ball after a turnover in which we've passed it around so much we've allowed the opposition to get back and reset, or they're playing too far wide meaning beating a man at best puts you in a crossing position.  We've bizarrely taken to only playing one of them in games which means it's a piece of piss to shift the defence across to double up, sometimes triple up on the man on the ball.

People are getting frustrated with Abduls end product now, but that's partly to do with what I've just mentioned. Once he's gone past a player, he's rarely in the box, he's still well out of it and our solo striker is marked by 2 and the opposite winger hasn't made moves into the box.  So it's a speculative shot which mostly ends up setting off someones car alarm or it's a cross to nothing.  Monga tends to play the safe pass back once he's run out of limited options.

They'd have more options if we had fullbacks in support offering them an outlet or a decoy for defenders, but we don't have fullbacks that get forward.  Our fullbacks are cowardly really.  They don't get forward in support at all because the onus is on recycling the ball in order not to turn it over and be out of position on the transition.  Which kills your attacking impetus. 

We also don't use the b2b 8's that Enzo used to play off on the inside/underlap that worked to a degree.  You need to use one of these to make the wingers more effective, otherwise you're just hoping one of them pulls a rabbit out of a hat every game, which isn't sustainable.  Less so when you only play one of them.

 

I suppose it just comes down to me thinking he needs to set up to get the best from our best players rather than setting up to mitigate the weaknesses of our more limited players.  Though having said that I don't think he's actually doing the latter either. Anyway I'm bored of typing and you're bored of 

I know where you're coming from but the full back options aren't cowardly, they're just not very good. Every side is targeting them, especially, on our left, and that's just when they're one-on-one.

 

If they were pushed further up the pitch every side's going to collect any crosses that don't find their (almost always not as good in the air) targets from the wingers and lump it into the large gap left by the full back. Who are you trusting to play in CM to cover that? Soumare? Skipp? Choudhury? Otherwise it's the left centre back covering that whole quarter of the pitch and almost certainly out of position as a result.

 

I get why people don't think Marti knows his best side. He probably doesn't. There's just so many issues with positions. You look to fix one but it highlights the gaps elsewhere.

[Claudio Fannieri]

I also think we have to remember we are not one of the big 6 who have the financial and reputational muscle and therefore can have 3, 4 or 5 players frozen out, clubs like us don’t have their luxury, we have to network and develop good relationships with agents and representatives to help for future transfers in etc. 

 

Therefore whilst Marti and the fanbase would be happy not to have to see the likes of Faes, Winks, Soumare, VK and Daka never play for us again, the club can ill afford to freeze the players out and risk souring relationships with agents and it impacting future transfers. There will be lots of side conversations about the club keeping agents clients in the shop window to help grease the wheels of future deals or contract renewals for other players that agent represents. 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

13 minutes ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

I also think we have to remember we are not one of the big 6 who have the financial and reputational muscle and therefore can have 3, 4 or 5 players frozen out, clubs like us don’t have their luxury, we have to network and develop good relationships with agents and representatives to help for future transfers in etc. 

 

Therefore whilst Marti and the fanbase would be happy not to have to see the likes of Faes, Winks, Soumare, VK and Daka never play for us again, the club can ill afford to freeze the players out and risk souring relationships with agents and it impacting future transfers. There will be lots of side conversations about the club keeping agents clients in the shop window to help grease the wheels of future deals or contract renewals for other players that agent represents. 

 

Hmm, not so sure its as black and white as this tbh. 

 

Pearson's success in his second stint (and his first I guess to an extent) was pretty much built on freezing out players he didn't rate and making ti as uncomfortable as possible for them. He put the club's record (or second highest) signing in the reserves in 11/12. Start of 12/13, Beckford and Danns got piecemeal minutes – if they were even in matchday squads – before leaving. These were players that cost the club a good whack, in transfer fees, wages, or both. 

 

It can be done, but the manager has to have some semblence of backbone with both the squad and those at the top. Cifuentes comes across as far too malleable to me.

[Claudio Fannieri]

Just now, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

Hmm, not so sure its as black and white as this tbh. 

 

Pearson's success in his second stint (and his first I guess to an extent) was pretty much built on freezing out players he didn't rate and making ti as uncomfortable as possible for them. He put the club's record (or second highest) signing in the reserves in 11/12. Start of 12/13, Beckford and Danns got piecemeal minutes – if they were even in matchday squads – before leaving. These were players that cost the club a good whack, in transfer fees, wages, or both. 

 

It can be done, but the manager has to have some semblence of backbone with both the squad and those at the top. Cifuentes comes across as far too malleable to me.

That was well over 13 years ago the game has moved on a lot since then especially as to how clubs manage out of favour players. Also PSR has also changed with the book value of players playing a big part now. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

2 hours ago, Plastik Man said:

I think Marti eventually got it right with his substitutions.

 

Bringing on a winger on the left, a proper 10 who can move the ball quickly, create and also add goals. Allowing James to play deeper adding his vertical movement forward into the box. 

 

Straight the way our wingers were getting the ball quicker, receiving the ball in space behind the fullback , and James' run into the box got on the end of one of those crosses.

 

It's a shame about Nelson and Okoli picking up injuries but I don't think they'll be out long.

 

Marti has slowly begun to drop the players who want away. It's meant Skipp starting. Whilst he doesn't offer a great deal, at least he tries. Removing those who don't was more important. 

 

Hopefully Marti will learn from yesterday and now put round pegs into round holes. 

 

James is not a 10 and he's needed alongside Winks to provide more physicality and legs. 

 

Reid or Ramsey as the 10 options. Reid didn't impress on the wing last season, too old and no real pace. But his attitude seems good and he's better suited as a 10 playing in the championship.

 

And no Ayew on the wing where he just slows any attack. We said it last season and it applies now. Stick him on as a sub to lock a game down. He just doesn't offer enough attacking intent.

 

As to why Marti has struggled, it's difficult to know without inside knowledge. How much player influence is there? Or from above? 

 

I initially felt he handled the window well dropping players who wanted out, but reintegrating them when it closed if they were the better option in the first 11. Subsequently, removing those with a lack of fight has felt more important, whether he's done this out of instinct or just clamour from fans? 

 

The way we finished the game yesterday has shown a way forward. We'll soon see if there is any progress or whether it was a false dawn.

I'm not sure he does tbh. 

 

He looks absolutely shot and doesn't know where to be or what to do. He just gets in the way.

 

He might 'want' to try, but he's so out of form and lacking confidence, he doesn't even look like he's giving it everything.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

5 minutes ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

That was well over 13 years ago the game has moved on a lot since then especially as to how clubs manage out of favour players. Also PSR has also changed with the book value of players playing a big part now. 

 

Your initial point was about relationships with players and agents, the landscape of which hasn't particularly changed int he past decade. 

 

I also think given the cost of that collective group in 11-13 Pearson would've faced some resistance in leaving them out in the cold. It was a while ago and PSR has been introduced in the meantime but but it doesn't mean it was a luxury we could afford back then. The players he wanted out cost the club a lot of cash.

[Claudio Fannieri]

3 minutes ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

Your initial point was about relationships with players and agents, the landscape of which hasn't particularly changed int he past decade. 

 

I also think given the cost of that collective group in 11-13 Pearson would've faced some resistance in leaving them out in the cold. It was a while ago and PSR has been introduced in the meantime but but it doesn't mean it was a luxury we could afford back then. The players he wanted out cost the club a lot of cash.

We also had a different DoF at the time, whose network and ability to shift on players was possibly better than the current incumbent. 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

1 minute ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

We also had a different DoF at the time, whose network and ability to shift on players was possibly better than the current incumbent. 

 

But this is a different point entirely  

[jayfox26]

6 hours ago, Donwebbio said:

Even if we made a change and got in, by chance, a progressive young manager who got increased performance and an uptick in results. Isn't that just papering over the cracks? Isn't that just pretending that things are good at the top of the club and we just need a good manager to complete the vision?

 

It would be a matter of time before that progressive manager realised that he doesn't have a DoF who would do anything but sign players on recommendation from agents for inflated fees and inflated wages with disregard for character or attitude of player. It would be a matter of time before realising that the club is in a huge financial hole caused by mismanagement of funds and that there is a culture of failure emanating from the very top of the organisation. It would be a matter of time before he jumps ship to a better prospect. Exactly what happened with Enzo. Another new manager is just delaying the day when Aiya-twat runs out of road and sells up.

We're all aware the issues at the top need sorting but without real protests and fan pressure, it's not going to happen. That doesn't mean we should accept the manager under performing. 

[Claudio Fannieri]

Just now, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

But this is a different point entirely  

It’s the point that the club and the game has moved on and the reliance on maintaining relationships with agents and representatives is so important and financially it is a very different landscape. 
 

When Pearson came back he was dealing with players like Matt Mills and Jermaine Beckford who cost £4m - £5m not £20m and the wages whilst high for the time and division were nothing like £50k per week. The landscape is very different, however what is constant in both scenarios is Top 

[Guest]

Reading some of the defences of him, we'd surely have been better off not getting anyone in to replace Ruud and saving the money because it doesn't sound like he actually has any responsibilities. Doesn't decide who's in the squad, doesn't decide who starts, doesn't decide what style of football we play. What are we paying him for?

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

12 minutes ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

It’s the point that the club and the game has moved on and the reliance on maintaining relationships with agents and representatives is so important and financially it is a very different landscape. 
 

When Pearson came back he was dealing with players like Matt Mills and Jermaine Beckford who cost £4m - £5m not £20m and the wages whilst high for the time and division were nothing like £50k per week. The landscape is very different, however what is constant in both scenarios is Top 

 

I think you're putting too much stock in the agent relationship point as being a thing that's vastly different than it was a decade ago. 

 

And exactly? You've just said that the wages and fees for the time were high. It was borderline the same problem. 

 

I think we'll go on and on here but I don't disagree that Rudkin and Top are tossers, I just don't think bombing out shite players is the impossible task we make it, and I don't think freezing out jokers like Faes or Soumare would be a net negative for the club.

[Plastik Man]

1 hour ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

I'm not sure he does tbh. 

 

He looks absolutely shot and doesn't know where to be or what to do. He just gets in the way.

 

He might 'want' to try, but he's so out of form and lacking confidence, he doesn't even look like he's giving it everything.

I think he tries, though he does look quite tragic as he just has so little to offer.  If it wasn't for his outrageous footballer's salary I would feel a little sorry for him!

 

I wouldn't start him myself, but I mentioned him more to emphasise his attitude compared to those who really dont give a shit,  and will definitely be off as soon as anyone makes an offer.

 

Maybe I'm grasping for a narrative that explains Cifuente's actions and gives us hope of things getting better!

[Claudio Fannieri]

59 minutes ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

I think you're putting too much stock in the agent relationship point as being a thing that's vastly different than it was a decade ago. 

 

And exactly? You've just said that the wages and fees for the time were high. It was borderline the same problem. 

 

I think we'll go on and on here but I don't disagree that Rudkin and Top are tossers, I just don't think bombing out shite players is the impossible task we make it, and I don't think freezing out jokers like Faes or Soumare would be a net negative for the club.

I also quoted £4m/£5m in fees against £20m and wages of £50k per week is different to then. 
 

I think we have to agree to disagree, an owner and a business with assets costing over £2.5m per year in wages each will have to have pretty deep pockets and be happy to watch those assets rotting away in a stand, which I don’t believe we as a club can afford to do and neither do I think Top has the mentality to do that. We are on our arse financially and as club from a culture and standards perspective so in my opinion the landscape is very different from when Pearson was here, and yes I believe because of the lack of football operational experience we are far more reliant on relationships with agents. This has been alluded to previously by others with a decent appreciation of how we now operate. 

[Chrysalis]

23 hours ago, Philkeavo said:

Does the result change anyone’s views?

Nope owner/DoF out first, then manager after.

[Dan]

23 hours ago, Philkeavo said:

Does the result change anyone’s views?

No. Think it's the first game other than the Wednesday game where we've won and actually been quite obviously the better side, but I do think yesterday was more about Norwich than us. What I would say is seeing the state of them probably goes a way to me thinking as bad as we are we're not quite relegation bad.

 

Norwich the worst side we've played all season. They were truly terrible at the back.

[Plastik Man]

5 hours ago, Winstonthedog said:

Hopefully Daka is on some sort of goals scored bonus..... which has saved an absolute fortune 

In that case we may even have made a profit!

[Tielemans63]

Someone at Foxes of Leicester  is on the wind-up 

 

Edited 9 November 2025 by Tielemans63

[DoveValleyFox]

1 hour ago, Plastik Man said:

In that case we may even have made a profit!

Get money back like you used to with pop bottles. 

 

Send him back to Austria because he's got no goals left in him.

[Pliskin]

34 minutes ago, Tielemans63 said:

Someone at Foxes of Leicester  is on the wind-up 

 

We’re that ridiculous I can genuinely see us asking if Brendan if he fancies a return. 

[Chelmofox]

5 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

We’re that ridiculous I can genuinely see us asking if Brendan if he fancies a return. 

Oh can guarantee Top will be thinking about it. He loved the old chapped lips an' all.