Ruud van Nistelrooy vows to ‘keep fighting’ as Leicester’s losing streak continues
Leicester were beaten by West Ham on Thursday making it a run of 11 defeats from 12 matches and raising questions over the manager’s position
Ruud van Nistelrooy shrugged off any suggestion he could be sacked after Leicester slumped to another dismal defeat at West Ham.
The Foxes looked like they were waving the white flag in the battle to avoid relegation from the Premier League during an abject first half.
An early goal from Tomas Soucek and Jannik Vestergaard’s own goal before half-time ultimately gave West Ham a 2-0 victory that was far more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.
Van Nistelrooy’s hapless side have now lost 11 of their last 12 matches, the last four by an aggregate score of 12-0.
But, when asked if he expected to still be in charge for their next match, at Chelsea a week on Sunday, the Dutchman snapped: “What do you want me to say? I keep working. I keep going.”
Leicester could have been just two points from safety with a win, but never looked remotely like taking advantage of all the other protagonists in the relegation scrap losing this week.
West Ham opened the scoring after 20 minutes with their first attack of the match, when Aaron Cresswell found himself on the edge of Leicester’s penalty area.
Vestergaard could have easily got a block on Cresswell’s hopeful shot from 20 yards but instead he waved it through and Mohammed Kudus prodded the ball goalwards. Although Mads Hermansen made an instinctive save, Leicester’s defenders stood and watched as Soucek accepted a gift of a goal on his 30th birthday by tucking in the rebound.
The defending for the second was even worse as Leicester failed to clear a corner, Jarrod Bowen scurried along the byline and his shot was turned in by Vestergaard.
Leicester improved after the break, undoubtedly, but West Ham had virtually declared by the hour.
Van Nistelrooy added: “I saw two different halves. A first half where we tried not to lose, and another half where we tried to win.
“That’s the situation we’re in, the confidence in the run of form is low and then you end up in a mindset of trying not to lose.
“Thank God in the second half they shrugged that off and tried to win but the damage was already done. They are giving me everything. The confidence, and the lack of it, showed.
“We know the situation, we know the table, we know how quick football can turn around. We are going to get up again.
"We are still in this fight, mathematically we are there and we keep fighting as long as we can. It must be clear that the fight was only one half today and that is not enough."
West Ham, who shocked Arsenal 1-0 on Saturday, made it back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since March, signs that new boss Graham Potter is starting to make his mark.
“Really pleased for the players,” said Potter. “They’ve been working hard, so it’s nice to get the reward of the points.
“The clean sheet was important as well. It’s something we’ve tried to improve. It wasn’t champagne football. But, overall, delighted for the players.”