Cifuentes: A Difficult One

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Cifuentes: A Difficult One

Martí Cifuentes acknowledged that it was a first half to forget for the Foxes as we fell to a 4-1 defeat away to Queens Park Rangers.

2025-12-21T08:45+00:00

by Sam Jones

Published

21 Dec, 2025

Cifuentes: A Difficult One

Martí Cifuentes acknowledged that it was a first half to forget for the Foxes as we fell to a 4-1 defeat away to Queens Park Rangers.

Sam Jones

2025-12-21T08:45+00:00

Cifuentes: A Difficult One

Martí Cifuentes acknowledged that it was a first half to forget for the Foxes as we fell to a 4-1 defeat away to Queens Park Rangers.

Sam Jones

2025-12-21T08:45+00:00

Cifuentes: A Difficult One

Martí Cifuentes acknowledged that it was a first half to forget for the Foxes as we fell to a 4-1 defeat away to Queens Park Rangers.

Sam Jones

2025-12-21T08:45+00:00

Cifuentes: A Difficult One

Martí Cifuentes acknowledged that it was a first half to forget for the Foxes as we fell to a 4-1 defeat away to Queens Park Rangers.

Sam Jones

2025-12-21T08:45+00:00

We were beaten 4-1 by Queens Park Rangers on Saturday
The hosts scored four times in the first half at MATRADE Loftus Road
Silko Thomas netted a late consolation for Martí Cifuentes’ men
The Foxes Manager gave his account of a difficult day on the road

All four of the hosts’ goals came during the opening 45 for Julien Stéphan’s side, which started with Koki Saito’s strike inside two minutes at MATRADE Loftus Road. Richard Kone doubled the lead, quickly followed by Karamoko Dembélé adding a third. Amadou Mbengue then scored from a tight angle in first-half stoppage time.

Providing his assessment of Saturday’s reverse in the capital, City’s Manager pointed to the first half an hour as where the game got away from us, despite arriving in west London with the confidence of a win over Ipswich Town last weekend, previously extending our now-ended unbeaten run to three matches.

“It’s a difficult one to swallow,” the 43-year-old admitted, speaking post-match. “Especially because we were playing away with a lot of hopes after a good performance and unfortunately, the first half is unacceptable for us and for our fans, so I’m very disappointed for them.

“We knew that it would be a tough match in terms of them being a team who plays aggressive. I know how it is on this pitch and we didn’t cope with the way we conceded the three goals.

“They had accuracy and the capacity to score four goals in the five situations they got in the first half so credit to them, but the standards weren’t great at all.”

Positives were hard to pick out, though substitute Silko Thomas did put his name on the scoresheet late on; his first senior goal for the Club a mere consolation, converted after Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s penalty hit the post. Aaron Ramsey and Jeremy Monga also emerged from the bench, meanwhile, following time out with injuries.

“It’s nice to see that the young guys keep getting minutes and keep doing well,” the Spaniard continued. “Jez (Monga) did really well in the minutes he played so it’s fantastic news for the team that he is back.

“And then Aaron played a lot of minutes and it’s going to be good for him to get the rhythm into the next games. I’m happy for Silko because he worked hard and showed that he’s someone we can count on.”

With six days to the next fixture, at home to Watford on Boxing Day, there is now time to try and put things right back on home soil, with City dropping to 13th in the Sky Bet Championship table prior to Christmas.

The Manager added: “It’s frustrating because we were talking in the week about it being important to understand the things that we did well in the last few weeks, especially to pick up the seven points from nine, we should repeat. We cannot expect that, just because we did well, the next one is going to be the same. We need to push all the time and that was the disappointing part.

“We need to change things; there are no excuses. Definitely, it’s not easy when you start a game and you concede in minute two. We know how important it is in this division to take the lead, but at the same time, this cannot be an excuse.

“That cannot influence the game as it did in this first half. We need to keep being us, trying to lead the games despite what the result is and keep doing the right things.

“We need to make sure that we have a strong answer. Today, first half, is below the standards, so we have to push that and understand that we need to work really hard during the week to get where we want to be and I’m sure the team will react on Boxing Day with our fans.”

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