Alan Shearer tells Jamie Vardy to 'stop sulking' if he is to rediscover Leicester form after Chelsea defeat

Vardy has not scored in eight matches for club and country and Shearer believes he is not working as hard as he did in last season's title-winning campaign

Jamie Vardy has been told to 'stop sulking' by Alan Shearer after embarking on an eight-match goal drought (Getty)

Former England striker Alan Shearer believes that Jamie Vardy is trapped in a goal drought because he is “sulking”, and has told the Leicester City forward that he need to stop if he is to rediscover his title-winning form from last season.

Vardy has only scored three goals this season – compared to nine at the same point last term – and with Leicester down in 13th position in the Premier League table, the striker has cut a frustrated figure over the last two months.

It has led Shearer to publicly criticise Vardy’s attitude, and the ex-England captain believes the 29-year-old is not putting in the same effort as he did last season when Leicester upset the odds to win the title.

“Jamie is going through a goal drought and is not going to get out of it by sulking, because that is what he looks like he is doing at the minute,” Shearer was quoted as saying by The Sun.

“He is not doing what he did last season and causing defenders enough problems. He is making it easy for them.

“There is a lack of effort there. You have to work hard to get to the top, but you have to work even harder to stay there.”

Leicester’s latest setback came in the 3-0 defeat by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon, where the defending champions were blown away in the first half through goals from Diego Costa and Eden Hazard before Victor Moses completed the scoring after the break.

The result means Leicester have won just two Premier League matches this season, the same number as they have in the Champions League, and manager Claudio Ranieri’s decision to leave Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani out of the starting line-up at the weekend has left it in no doubt that the Italian is targeting Europe over Leicester’s defence of the title.

“It was an astonishing achievement by Leicester to win the title last season but what a contrast this season,” Shearer said.

“There was a real energy about Claudio Ranieri’s team when they won the Premier League, there is none now.

“Yes they lost their main man in N’Golo Kante, but they did spend and nothing should have taken away their desire.


 N'Golo Kante decided to leave Leicester for Chelsea in the summer 
 (Getty)

“But they are showing none at the moment.”

Kante enjoyed his best performance in a Chelsea shirt against his former side on Saturday, and unlike Vardy, he chose to leave Leicester when the Blues came calling with a £32m offer. Vardy decided to turn down a move to Arsenal after they triggered a £20m release clause in his contract.