The daunting task Ruud van Nistelrooy has on his hands at Leicester was laid bare as Brentford waltzed their way to three points thanks to a Kevin Schade masterclass.

After being named as Steve Cooper’s successor on Friday evening, the Dutchman was watching on from the stands and had the perfect start when Facundo Buonanotte opened the scoring in west London.

But Yoane Wissa grabbed his eighth goal of the season before Schade sparkled with three strikes to inflict more misery on Leicester.

A victory for Thomas Frank’s men helped them back to winning ways following last week’s goalless draw at Everton, with four goals on Saturday putting their season tally to 26 after 13 matches.

After a quality showing in their 2-1 defeat by Chelsea last week, Leicester’s Mads Hermansen continued his impressive shot-stopping here with a terrific tipped save to deny the unmarked Schade’s header in the opening minutes.

The save set the tone for a first half where the visitors were under pressure, but they kept tight at the back and scored on the counter with their first chance of note in the 21st minute.

After the pacey Jamie Vardy was released in behind, the Leicester captain showed great strength to hold off Ethan Pinnock with a shoulder barge, before his ball across the six-yard box to Buonanotte was tapped home for 1-0.

But a similar move down the other end saw the hosts find a quick-fire leveller after the restart. Schade continued to be involved and he utilised his explosive speed to stride away from James Justin down the left flank.

After he spotted the surging run of Wissa, he picked out the striker with a precise low cross for an easy poacher’s goal into the empty net to equalise.

But Brentford were not done there as they continued their ruthless finishing to storm into a lead. Despite their goal, Leicester had been lethargic as they invited runners in the form of Bryan Mbeumo to exploit left-back Luke Thomas.

Once the winger used his creativity to jink inside and win a yard of space, his fizzed pass into the box bobbled into the path of Schade who crashed his effort past Hermansen and into the bottom corner for 2-1.

Schade put the match to bed for Brentford with a composed finish in first-half added time. The German attacker, who had not scored before this match, received a splitting pass by Mikkel Damsgaard which allowed him to produce a deft chip over Hermansen for his third goal contribution.

The 23-year-old was not done there. In the 59th minute, having been played in one-on-one with the goalkeeper by Nathan Collins, Schade claimed his hat-trick with a side-footed finish.