What touchline moment revealed as Leicester City braced for ugly scenes after supporters make point

Talking points from Leicester City’s 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough, looking at the late equaliser, the performance as a whole, home attendances, the pre-match huddle, and more

It could be argued that Stephy Mavididi shouldn’t have been turned so easily. It could be argued that Caleb Okoli should have jumped higher to beat Luke Ayling to the header. It could be argued that Asmir Begovic should have come to claim the cross, given it hung in the air for so long.

But whichever of those moments is deemed to be the most significant in Middlesbrough’s 96th-minute equaliser, they pale in comparison to the most pressing concern, which is that Leicester City sat back and let a side with 10 men dominate.

In the six minutes between Alfie Jones’ red card and Ayling’s equaliser, City had just four touches inside the Boro half.

Perhaps because of the dismal form they’re in, they lacked the nerve and composure to keep the ball out of Boro’s possession. But also, they lacked ideas on how to play on the counter.

The second half as a whole was a desperately poor advert for the Championship. City showed very little attacking intent or cohesion and mustered just two shots, both from distance, across the whole 45 minutes.

Boro, for their domination of possession and territory, created very little too, their only big chance prior to the goal coming through a Jannik Vestergaard mistake. City, in fairness, did defend their box well for the majority of the half.

But it does not reflect well on the players’ ability, confidence nor composure that they were unable to see the game out, nor does it reflect well on Marti Cifuentes.

One of his mantras upon his arrival at City was that, when his team were 1-0 up, they would keep pushing to make it 2-0, 3-0, 4-0. His side looked like doing anything but that on Tuesday night, and it ultimately cost them.

Cifuentes gets ‘foundations’ but little on top

Cifuentes was much more positive about the performance than he had been following the defeats to Millwall and Blackburn, the manager stressing that his team delivered “the foundation” of a good display.

He said: “In terms of attitude, in terms of character, in terms of passion and commitment, it was excellent.

“I’m a big believer that if we keep doing what we did today in terms of character, in terms of commitment with each other, I’m sure we can get a lot of points in this league.”

That Cifuentes zoned in on those qualities perhaps suggests he doesn’t feel he’s seen them of late. Certainly, there was a sense in the previous two matches that City weren’t fighting hard enough to get back into the game, leading to questions from the stands over effort and commitment.

And Cifuentes is not exaggerating. Those characteristics were present on Tuesday night. But it’s debatable as to whether personality alone is enough to win matches. Because City really didn’t play very well.

Although it may not have been totally clear, there was a tweak to the system. It was a positive step by Cifuentes that he’s not sitting by idly amid the poor showings and is actively looking for solutions.

When on the ball, City dropped into a back three of Okoli, Vestergaard and Ben Nelson, with Abdul Fatawu and Luke Thomas operating as wing-backs, the latter able to get forward much more than he usually does. Then, Jordan Ayew and Jordan James were the two attacking midfielders behind Julian Carranza.

However, it may not have been evident that there was a change, because when out of possession, City returned to a back four, with Thomas at left-back and Okoli at right-back. And they were out of possession for the majority of the match.

City had just 38 per cent of the ball, by some distance their lowest share of the season so far, while they completed just 73 per cent of their passes, again their lowest rate of the campaign.

Possession is not the be all and end all, but control of the game is something Cifuentes aspires for and City did not have that.

They had just six shots, nearly three times fewer than Boro, and created just 0.03 expected goals from open play, albeit the quality of Luke Thomas’s free-kicks did allow them to fashion some set-piece opportunities.

The tweak to the set-up may not have helped City in terms of their ball progression, while the lack of quality was also an issue.

But City also had problems with players not making the correct runs to help out their team-mates. Cifuentes fumed in the first half when Carranza chose not to run to the channel to provide an outlet for Ayew.

So yes, in terms of effort, it was better. Yes, they are the foundations of a decent performance. But you won’t get many wins, if any, if you don’t have the quality on top.

What pre-match huddle tries to prove

In the aftermath of the Blackburn defeat, Cifuentes said togetherness was the key to getting through troubling times and that he had proof of that from some of his previous jobs.

There was a very public show of togetherness from City before kick-off as the usual pre-match huddle was moved to the touchline so that the starting 11 could be joined by the staff and the substitutes.

Cifuentes did not say, when asked, who had instigated the huddle and while to some it may have looked like a united front, to others it may have seemed inauthentic.

But treating it at face value – and arguably some of the attributes seen in the game suggested it was a sincere show of unity – then it at least seems there’s no suggestions of disharmony in the group, which would clearly be a huge dent to City’s and Cifuentes’ hopes of refinding their form.

However, it still felt like an act that was trying to offer proof that there is togetherness in the ranks, perhaps because the previous performances had suggested it wasn’t there.

Maybe it was meant as a message to supporters, to encourage them to get behind the team following the toxicity of the previous game.

Whatever the feeling or meaning behind it, the hope would be that from here on in, City’s displays offer proof enough that there is unity within the squad.

Home attendances falling amid another dismal run

That’s five home games in a row without a victory for City. The last time they went on that kind of run in the Championship was in late 2011 and early 2012.

Having already sat through the worst run of home form in the history of top-flight English football earlier this year, this is hardly what City supporters deserve.

Unsurprisingly, it looks like attendances are starting to be hit too. The number of away fans makes a big difference, and neither Blackburn nor Boro packed out their ends, but this is the first time in more than a decade that City’s attendance has been below 29,000 for two home league games in a row.

There were just over 28,000 spectators there on Tuesday, but those official figures include season-ticket holders who may have not turned up. The stands looked decidedly more empty than is typical.

The numbers have some way to drop yet until they’re back at the levels from before City’s Premier League run, when average attendances were around 24,000. But if they don’t improve their home record, it feels like more and more fans will stay away.

Pressure piles on Norwich fixture

Talking of poor home records, there’s nobody worse in English football on their own patch than Norwich right now.

The Canaries have lost all seven games they’ve played at Carrow Road this season. They’ve not even scored in their last three.

Failing to hang on against Middlesbrough already puts more pressure on the squad and Cifuentes to get victory at Norwich so that they don’t go into the November international break on the back of a six-match winless run.

But Norwich’s home record makes it feel like a really significant match. It will be a terrible look if they become the first away side to fail to win at Carrow Road this season.

It feels like there’s the potential for things to turn ugly again if don’t they come back from Norfolk with three points.

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