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Marti Cifuentes decided to hand Silko Thomas his league debut today away at Sheffield United. This may have been based on Jordan Ayew needing rest. But it took a lot of momentum up front and the midfield was very vulnerable.
Once again it seemed as if Marti Cifuentes had ignored Sheffield United and their manager Chris Wilder. The Blades are a team that plays in a 4-4-2 structure. In a sense this was completely ignored and hit Leicester like a blow.
Sheffield United came out on top. They ran over Leicester. The team that had eliminated Marti looked hammered and completely shell-shocked. Jordan James is young and has played fantastic so far. But today he had nothing to say in the first half. He is attacking and a talented player, but today Chris Wilder did a great job.
Then, Sheffield United defender Japhet Tanganga scored from a corner in the 36th minute. James Justin was never able to maintain his lead and The Blades led 1-0 after this good header.
Beautiful and Bramall Lane.#SHULEI | @BCGame pic.twitter.com/C3ZlNZFNaN
— Leicester City (@LCFC) January 1, 2026
The first half was terrible to watch and far from standard. The pressure on the defense was difficult to absorb. Chris Wilder demonstrated the benefit of great power and willingness. Playing more players in midfield provides an advantage. It is effective against a team without a real plan to counter this type of football.
No changes were made during halftime. The start of the second half was just as terrible as the first. It wasn’t fun watching this at all. It was painful to see a Leicester team outplayed in this way. Then the humiliation becomes complete in the 52nd minute. Former Leicester player Tom Cannon scores from close range. This followed a great build-up with nice passing in and around the Leicester penalty area.
Changes made in the 57th minute. Silko Thomas had no say in this match and that was no surprise. Marti Cifuentes made a big mistake by playing him from the start. Pulling it off made it a negative experience for the youngster. He barely touched the ball. Jordan Ayew enters. The other move, to take out Oliver Skipp and replace him with Hamza Choudhury, was a strange idea. Hamza did his job when he came on. He is a good and correct midfielder in this division. However, there was no purpose in replacing Skipp.
Leicester made two more changes in the 67th minute. Louis Page and Jeremy Monga replace Bobby De-Cordova Reid and Stephy Mavididi. These changes gave the team new momentum. Both Monga and Page are dynamic players. They have the ability to hold the ball and attack opponents. But no major significant change occurred. Sheffield United looked more dangerous when they got the ball. They completed their scoring in the 88th minute with a beautiful goal from Callum O’Hare.
Leicester managed to score in injury time and get one back. Jordan James scored his goal from long range. He saw this disaster of a football match ending positively.
Another huge kick in the teeth. Embarrassing performance. It shows how dinosaur tactical decision-making can trump a super-smart 4-3-3 genius.
The next match is Monday, against West Bromwich at home.
- Positives
- Jordan James scored his eighth goal of the season
- We could see some momentum with the changes made in the second half
- Negatives
- Tactical naivete and a completely wrong approach from the start in an away game, against a 4-4-2 formation
- Poor performance across the pitch
- Bobby De Cordova-Reid was shocking and out of the game
- Starting Silko Thomas in this game was a total miss
- Starting Jordan Ayew would have made a difference
- I don’t use all five subs
Line-up:
Stolarczyk 4, Pereira 3, Thomas 3, Okoli 4, Nelson 4, Skipp 4, James 5, Reid 2, Thomas 2, Mavididi 4, Fatawu 3, Subs: Ayew, Choudhury, Page, Monga
- Leicester City, man of the match
Match statistics (H/A)
- Possession: 56/44
- Shots on target: 5/1
- Corners: 7 / 3
- Errors: 13/10
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