The latest news and opinion from inside Leicester City as Marti Cifuentes adds to his staff, Darren Motsi continues his rise, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall sets out his hopes, and more
Jordan Blackwell
14:54, 27 Oct 2025Updated 15:04, 27 Oct 2025
New Leicester City consultant analyst Carlos Martinez (centre) with manager Marti Cifuentes and his assistant Xavi Calm
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New Leicester City consultant analyst Carlos Martinez (centre) with manager Marti Cifuentes and his assistant Xavi Calm(Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
If told at the start of the season that, heading into November, Leicester City would be the highest placed of the three relegated sides, pretty much everybody associated with the club would have been satisfied with that.
But despite that being true, the mood is not good at City. One point from their past three games means that, even though they sit above Ipswich and Southampton, there are a lot of questions to be answered.
While Marti Cifuentes and his players work out how to improve on the pitch, here’s what’s going on off it.
Former Barcelona analyst brought in
To try to help City, Cifuentes has brought in a new consultant analyst, one who has quite the CV.
Carlos Martinez is a fellow Catalan and has worked with plenty of clubs prior to his arrival at City.
Starting as a video analyst at Barcelona under Luis Enrique, Martinez then worked with manager Pablo Machin as he took jobs at Girona, Sevilla and Espanyol.
Martinez then linked up with Robert Moreno at Monaco as an analyst, following him to Granada before linking up with Machin again, this time as an assistant manager at Elche.
Martinez has been spotted at the training ground with Cifuentes and his assistant Xavi Calm, while he travelled with the squad to Hull and Millwall this past week, watching on from the stands.
Motsi gets England call as rise continues
Promising City midfielder Darren Motsi will represent England this week after being called into the Under-16s squad.
The 15-year-old will join his team-mates for a round of matches in Turkey, taking on Wales, Portugal and the host nation.
Despite his age, he made his first start for City Under-21s this month, a big stride in his development. He registered an assist too as City lost 4-3 to Charlton. It wasn't a one-off either, as Motsi came off the bench during Saturday’s 3-1 win over Southampton.
It’s been a good week for the Under-21s. After a run of eight games in which they drew one and lost seven, they bounced back by beating Forest Green on penalties in the National League Cup before returning to winning ways in Premier League 2 with victory over the Saints.
Bade Aluko, Logan Briggs and Chris Popov found the net, with the result taking them up to 11th in the table.
Dewsbury-Hall sets out international stance
Talking of England, former City midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has declared that he will not consider a Republic of Ireland call-up because his dream is to represent the Three Lions.
Dewsbury-Hall has been courted by Ireland in recent months, as he’s eligible for the country through his grandparents, but the 27-year-old says England is where his heart is.
“I respect Ireland and I respect the Irish people but I'm English,” he said. “To play for England, for me, would be the biggest achievement of my career.
“I think it would be wrong of me to keep letting things drag on when I've got a clear goal in my head… That's nothing against Ireland or anything, they're unbelievable people. But it would be the proudest moment of my life if I played for England.”
If he made it, Dewsbury-Hall would be the third City academy graduate to represent the Three Lions in recent years, following on from Ben Chilwell and Harvey Barnes.
City need to make more of corners
City had another nine corners on Saturday and it means only Sheffield United have had more this season. But it doesn’t feel like they’re making the most of them at the moment.
According to Opta’s stats, City have scored five goals from set-pieces so far this season, the joint-sixth-best tally in the division, which is not too bad.
There were the two in the opening game against Sheffield Wednesday, while the late leveller at West Brom, and Jordan James and Jannik Vestergaard’s goals against Swansea, all came from half-cleared free-kicks and corners.
However, City rank 14th for expected goals from set-pieces, which is lower than it should be given the number of corners they have.
It's clearly something they are working on. Against Wrexham and Swansea, City produced two inventive corner routines, with passes low and hard, that were unfortunate not to result in a goal, with both efforts blocked.
Teams will cotton on if City try those sorts of moves too often, but it does feel like more inventive routines are required for them to make the most of their corners.
It should be said, though, especially against Portsmouth, their delivery from set-pieces has been underwhelming at times of late.
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