the turn of the year, Marti Cifuentes’ side were at the bottom of the table for distance covered by Championship clubs, while they were bottom-but-two for sprints
Leicester City manager Marti Cifuentes has had his say on the club’s running stats
Leicester City manager Marti Cifuentes has had his say on the club’s running stats(Image:
Marti Cifuentes has dismissed concerns over the effort levels of his Leicester City squad after stats showed they had covered the least ground in the Championship this season.
At the turn of the year, City had the lowest figure for distance covered and lowest-but-two for sprints, leading to raised eyebrows from the club’s supporters.
But Cifuentes has sought to calm those concerns. He said that the stats can be interpreted in a number of ways and that there are reasonable explanations, with counter-attacking teams having to run harder, and with possession sides, as City seek to be, less likely to be chasing around the pitch.
Cifuentes said after the defeat to Sheffield United on New Year’s Day that “the main thing to compete in this league is to be able to run, to win your duels”, criticising his side for not matching the energy of the Blades.
But now he says running numbers are a reference and not something to live and die by.
Asked if he had an explanation for City’s low distance covered figures, Cifuentes said: “Football is a simple sport but it’s also complex in that there are many factors at play.
“I’m aware of that. That’s a reference and depending on how you want to play, it can be a more positive or more negative stat, that’s for sure.
“Usually depending on how you want to attack and how you want to defend, you need to cover more or less distance.
“If you want to be a counter-attacking team, probably you will be defending deeper and then you will be covering a lot of distance by attacking all this space.
“If you’re a team in possession, usually, you tend to run a bit less than the opposition. Usually. You can still cover a lot of distance while in possession by having a lot of sprints in behind or of rotation on the ball depending on the tempo, depending on whether your style is positional.
“I’m aware about the stats and we share with our players about the things we are doing well, what are things we need to do much better.”
When asked to clarify if it was something he was not satisfied with, Cifuentes said: “Stats, you can always look at them in different ways. Definitely there are some that I like more than others, that’s for sure.
“We analyse the stats in a way that makes sense for what we want to achieve. What we’ve said to the guys, it’s something we’ve addressed on that.”
City should at least have the energy to cover plenty of ground when they travel to league leaders Coventry this weekend, with this their first match in six where they’ve had a full week to prepare.
Be the first to comment