The Leicester City caretaker boss gives his thoughts after he watched his side throw away a three-goal lead in half an hour to lose at home to Southampton on Tuesday
Andy King said he’d shown anger towards the Leicester City players after their 4-3 loss to Southampton(Image: PA)
Interim boss Andy King apologised for his side’s collapse as Leicester City’s desperate season reached a new low.
City threw away a 3-0 half-time lead to lose at home to Southampton, with Shea Charles bending in the winner for the Saints in the 96th minute.
The result was met with a cascade of boos with fans showing more anger than ever at the players.
King believed the City supporters were justified in their reaction and said he too showed his anger towards the squad.
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“I’ve spoken with the players while I feel a sense of anger,” King said at full-time. “They sometimes need to know that.
“But I don’t want to speak too much outside of the changing room until I’ve had time to reflect on it and watched it back.
“I want to apologise for the last half an hour. It cannot happen. We need to learn from that. We have to be better. It’s an apology from me for that last half an hour.
“They (the squad) are fully aware of my thoughts on it. It was right for them to hear it at that time.
“They have to know that they have to be better. We’ve got a tough 14 games ahead of us. We can’t be throwing away three-goal leads.
“100 per cent (the fans reaction was justified). I felt the same. I can understand their frustration. Let’s be naive about what’s just happened there.
“They’re well within their rights to voice their opinion the way they did. I have no problem with that at all. They’re fully justified with that reaction.”
King was at a loss to explain City’s collapse, and whether it was nerves, complacency, or something else.
But he did deny that the decision to bring centre-back Jamaal Lascelles for winger Stephy Mavididi and go to a more defensive shape was a factor.
He said: “I can’t (explain the second half). I need to reflect when I’m in a calmer state of mind.
“We haven’t kept a clean sheet for a long, long time, so the minute the first one goes in you do start to worry a little bit.
“But the goals are so preventable. We can watch it back and analyse it but we’ve got to be better in those moments.
“I don’t think so (bringing Lascelles on was the wrong decision). I think we were already back. We were defending a lot of crosses. So we needed to bring him on to try to shore things up with an aerial presence in the back-line.
“We conceded goals when he was on the pitch so you could say it wasn’t the right decision, but if we lose the game and he doesn’t come on the pitch, everyone would say we should have put an extra defender on. So no, I think it was the right decision in that moment.”
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