Cifuentes: Some Positives To Build On

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Cifuentes: Some Positives To Build On

Martí Cifuentes saw several aspects he is keen to improve on further in Leicester City’s two final pre-season friendlies of our Austria camp.

2025-07-26T08:00+01:00

by Sam Jones

Published

26 Jul, 2025

Cifuentes: Some Positives To Build On

Martí Cifuentes saw several aspects he is keen to improve on further in Leicester City’s two final pre-season friendlies of our Austria camp.

Sam Jones

2025-07-26T08:00+01:00

Cifuentes: Some Positives To Build On

Martí Cifuentes saw several aspects he is keen to improve on further in Leicester City’s two final pre-season friendlies of our Austria camp.

Sam Jones

2025-07-26T08:00+01:00

Cifuentes: Some Positives To Build On

Martí Cifuentes saw several aspects he is keen to improve on further in Leicester City’s two final pre-season friendlies of our Austria camp.

Sam Jones

2025-07-26T08:00+01:00

Cifuentes: Some Positives To Build On

Martí Cifuentes saw several aspects he is keen to improve on further in Leicester City’s two final pre-season friendlies of our Austria camp.

Sam Jones

2025-07-26T08:00+01:00

Our Manager reflects on the penultimate two games of pre-season on Friday
The Foxes beat FC Karpaty Lviv and were then defeated by FC Köln in Austria
The friendlies conclude our training camp, with plenty of learning to take away
Martí Cifuentes assessed what he saw from both matches and the whole trip

A busy few hours of action saw the Foxes beat FC Karpaty Lviv 2-1 at Friedberg Stadion on Friday morning into early afternoon, courtesy of Patson Daka’s double, prior to a 3-1 reverse to FC Köln at Merkur Arena, with Kasey McAteer on the scoresheet, as the whole squad got more minutes under their belts prior to returning to Seagrave, at the end of nine-day camp in central Europe.

“As it should be in pre-season, there’s some positives that we take with us to build on and some other things that we definitely need to improve,” the Spaniard commented post-match, following game two in Graz.

“I feel like overall it has been a very good camp for me to learn more about the guys and the team.

“I think it’s good that the feeling after the last game is not the best, especially the first half, because it’s going to help us to be stronger in the coming weeks. I definitely think that Köln were better than us today.

“It’s very clear, they created more chances than us, they beat our high press more than we would like and fair play to them. Having said that, we need to make sure that we are much better in the future.

“Of course, we played against two teams today who are very special in the way they were building up around the ‘keeper, so that was challenging after only 10 days on how we press high and how we move from the ‘keeper.

“But I think the reaction in the second half - despite the result and that we were not good enough to make the comeback – [showed] we improved from what I saw in the first 45 minutes. This morning was the same.”

Further reflecting on both fixtures, with contrasting results, Cifuentes outlined the benefits of continuing to improve the players’ fitness, while also getting the squad into a position to be ready for the start of the Sky Bet Championship season, which begins on 10 August.

The 43-year-old continued: “I was quite straight with the whole group that in our pre-season it will be direct competition to see who will be in the XI starting against Sheffield Wednesday and that’s the way it must be.

“It must be a healthy competition between all the players. I think today has been a step forward in the right direction in that sense. In the first game, I wanted to share minutes to give an opportunity to everyone.

“In the second game, we were speaking about as many players as possible getting 90 minutes, which will be very valuable, not only in terms of approaching the next couple of weeks but as well for me learning who we are as a team.

“I highlighted mentality and for me it will be a very important one. Mentally, we are all the time ready to compete no matter what and we are ready to win games even in the last minutes.”

Plenty has been outlined to the players during his short time at the Club to date, but he admitted it will be progressive development to get to the finished product, with Fiorentina still to come back at King Power Stadium next Sunday – another chance to iron out his methods in a pre-season environment.

He added: “I have an idea on how we want to be as a team in two weeks, but definitely this process will have up and downs and that’s part of it. A lot of young players got an opportunity today and they are showing that they are helping us and we are going to help them to develop.

“To create the kind of identity I want to create, I want us to be better in possession, to have higher positions to create even more chances. But it’s work and in two weeks I’m sure we’re going to be in a better place.

“Football and time, it’s very relative. We need to make sure everyone works hard to improve every day.”

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