Cifuentes getting closer to best starting line-up

TWENTY-FIVE players have been used by Marti Cifuentes in the Championship so far this season and after nine games he may now be closing in on his best 11.

- By JORDAN BLACKWELL

The Leicester City manager would likely say he does not have a best 11 as such.

Different players have different profiles, and so the ideal lineup changes depending on the opponents' strengths and weaknesses.

But a clearer picture is emerging of what Cifuentes wants his team to do, and the players who are best at delivering those qualities.

It's been a tricky couple of months for the Spaniard. He didn't get the luxuries that Enzo Maresca did.

By the start of the season two years ago, City's squad was pretty much settled.

The players wanting to leave were out of the door and the required signings were in, with the likes of Mads Hermansen, Callum Doyle, Harry Winks and Stephy Mavididi all starting the first game of the campaign.

It was only Abdul Fatawu who arrived a few weeks later, just before the deadline.

For Cifuentes, the start of the season arrived with City's squad up in the air, the manager having to call upon players who would eventually leave, while also leaving out those with doubts around their futures.

Since the summer transfer window has closed and every player knows where they stand until at least January, the players sidelined at the start of the season have since become more prominent. Now, Cifuentes' best team is emerging.

Here's a look at every position, what Cifuentes wants, and who the best person to deliver that is.

Jakub Stolarczyk is indisputably the number one and it feels like it will take a really rotten run of form to change that.

There was a moment where Fran Vieites' arrival questioned Stolarczyk's standing in the team, especially as he played in a European semifinal last season.

But with the former Real Betis man not even making the bench so far, any doubts over City's first-choice goalkeeper have dissipated.

Ricardo Pereira is the captain and one of the best technicians and tacticians in the squad. He starts when he's fit.