Leicester City’s draw at Oxford fit the pattern of their season so far to further emphasise the issue Marti Cifuentes needs to address.
Ten-man City rescued a point at the Kassam Stadium with their second-half turnaround, Cifuentes changing the set-up and personnel to successfully negotiate the man disadvantageand ensure his side recovered from a poor first half.
It was the most extreme example yet of what has been a regular occurrence at City. Their second-half results far outweigh those from the first 45.
Based just on the first halves of fixtures, City would be 20th in the Championship table so far with four points, one more than those in the bottom three. They have been trailing at the break in three of their five games.
But in the second halves of matches, their record is four wins and one draw, putting them top of the table. They’ve conceded just one second-half goal, Milutin Osmajic’s winner for Preston at Deepdale.
It was most evident at Oxford when Ricardo Pereira and Harry Winks swung the momentum of the game, but it’s been a theme of the opening weeks that City’s substitutes have had significant positive impacts.