A Game Of Two Halves, Says Cifuentes

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A Game Of Two Halves, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes believes his City side lacked a cutting edge in the second period as Portsmouth took a point away from King Power Stadium.

2025-10-19T09:00+01:00

by Sam Jones

Published

19 Oct, 2025

A Game Of Two Halves, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes believes his City side lacked a cutting edge in the second period as Portsmouth took a point away from King Power Stadium.

Sam Jones

2025-10-19T09:00+01:00

A Game Of Two Halves, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes believes his City side lacked a cutting edge in the second period as Portsmouth took a point away from King Power Stadium.

Sam Jones

2025-10-19T09:00+01:00

A Game Of Two Halves, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes believes his City side lacked a cutting edge in the second period as Portsmouth took a point away from King Power Stadium.

Sam Jones

2025-10-19T09:00+01:00

A Game Of Two Halves, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes believes his City side lacked a cutting edge in the second period as Portsmouth took a point away from King Power Stadium.

Sam Jones

2025-10-19T09:00+01:00

Leicester City drew 1-1 with Portsmouth on Saturday evening
Aaron Ramsey scored his first Foxes goal prior to John Swift’s equaliser
Manager Martí Cifuentes gave his take on the point taken away
After starting well, he felt the second half display could have been much better

Saturday night’s 1-1 scoreline leaves us fourth in the Sky Bet Championship table, unbeaten in eight, with three wins across that period. Aaron Ramsey’s first goal for the Club, on his full home debut, had us ahead at the break, but Pompey fought back to claim a share of the spoils with John Swift’s equaliser earning a draw for John Mousinho’s men.

As for Cifuentes, his post-match analysis centred around the differing performances in both halves, with a promising first 45 minutes largely extinguished in the second, with the visitors coming back into the game.

“[It was] definitely a game of two halves,” he assessed after full-time on Filbert Way. “The first one was very good with a lot of good moments and good combinations, a lot of chances.

“We spoke in half-time about needing to score a second and third goal because we know that in the Championship the game is never controlled enough, even though you are being superior.

“The second half was poor. We didn’t understand that the space was in behind and very clearly deep in the pitch. Unfortunately, we tried to do things that were not fit for the second half. We lost momentum.

“We conceded some counters which cost us this goal and then at the end it was 15 minutes of rush. I liked the attitude to try and chase the win until the last second of the game. We saw a lot about the personality of the group, but I think we need to be self-critical about why the second half was not as good as it should have been.”

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Finding it difficult to wrestle back control once the South Coast outfit had levelled up, City’s Manager says it is now about having the right approach to recover in preparation for a game which is less than 72 hours away, against Hull City, the second of three in the space of eight days.

“Portsmouth like to press and play with intensity,” the 43-year-old continued. “They like to defend forward and when you play against a team like this that is losing 1-0 at half-time, that’s why we brought on Pato (Patson Daka) to use the space.

“We spoke about where the spaces were, they were jumping with one of the centre halves creating a three against three in the backline and we should have been more aggressive. Not all the passes will be perfect to go one-on-one with the ‘keeper in those kinds of situations, but it’s definitely a way to put much more pressure on. We didn’t execute it as good as we should have and I take responsibility for that.

“I said just now to the guys that all this disappointment that it feels like a defeat, I like that attitude. We need to turn it quick. We play on Tuesday and it’s very important that we recover well, swallow today’s disappointment and we have a good reaction.

“Tomorrow is going to be about analysing what we could have done better, what we can bring into the next game and then a quick turnaround to try and get the three points against Hull. We need to make sure that we improve our performance.”

The Spaniard also provided updates on Jordan James, substituted in the 72nd minute having played twice for Wales over the international break, and Bobby De Cordova-Reid, who was introduced in the second half after also appearing for his country earlier in the week.

Cifuentes added: “JJ was feeling very tired at the end, that’s why we subbed him, because he was playing really well.

“Bobby, despite that we were managing his minutes, he felt something on the hamstring, so for the last 20 minutes we were playing almost with 10 men. But no excuses. That’s the reality for everyone in the league and we just need to be better.”

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