Ruud van Nistelrooy explains why Leicester City are at the 'lowest we've felt'
Leicester City are at the “lowest” ebb of Ruud van Nistelrooy’s tenure so far after Crystal Palace dealt them a sixth straight Premier League defeat.
City failed to score in a strong first-half showing at the King Power Stadium and were then punished in the second period, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Marc Guehi scoring for the visitors. Another loss keeps City deep in relegation trouble, and with the mood worsening.
While van Nistelrooy vowed to lift the spirits of his squad, he said he would be doing so from the lowest they have been so far. At home to a bottom-half side, Wednesday was a game City needed to win.
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Asked how he would lift the mood, van Nistrelrooy said: “It’s hard, but we kept spirits up after five losses and we will also do it after today’s loss. There’s hope there, there’s spirit there in the team.
“But today is a big blow. I think it’s the lowest we’ve felt so far in my spell. Today we had high hopes of proving ourselves with points and the performance. That’s why the second half was so disappointing that we couldn’t get points again.”
While City were the better side in the first half, and missed two big chances through Jamie Vardy, they couldn’t sustain their control nor their level of threat in the second period. The drop-off was severe enough that van Nistelrooy said it was hard to argue his side deserved something from the game.
“It’s clear that the result is not good and it reflected in the second half,” he said. “The level dropped too much. If you compare the second half to the first, they were two different halves for us. We weren’t consistent enough over 90 minutes to get a result. On the basis of the second half, we didn’t deserve a lot. That’s what cost us the game.
“Palace stepped up their game in the second half. They were not as sharp and aggressive in the first half as they were in the second. They came out strong. We were pushed back without being in a lot of danger.
“The first goal went in from the first chance they had. That changed the momentum. We got going with the chance of (Boubakary) Soumare and the crossbar and Patson Daka’s chance.
“But the second one, from a set-piece, is difficult to accept because it’s an organised situation. We have to be dealing with that to stay in the game longer, to get a result. We made it difficult for ourselves by conceding the second.”
