adminLeicester City boss Russell Martin has admitted that his side must start playing “ugly” and “horrible” to improve their form after a slow start to the League One campaign.
City have won just two of their opening eight games in the league this season, losing three, and find themselves 17th in the table. After last week’s 3-1 home defeat to Peterborough United, the Foxes are just one point above the relegation zone.
Martin has come under intense pressure in the aftermath of the latest defeat at the King Power Stadium. The City boss was brought to the club to get Leicester back to the Championship, but so far, results have followed a similar pattern to last season.
Plenty has been made of Martin’s style of play since he was appointed at Leicester, with a perception that he refuses to move away from his principles. However, the Leicester boss has conceded that his team must start playing “ugly” at times in games to get results.
“Whether we go home or away, we have to play football,” he said. “We have to fight. We have to run. But then we have a shaky moment, whether it’s home or away, we do not respond in the right way.
“So we have to try and give them some strategies on the pitch that can help them respond properly. And maybe for five or 10 minutes, it’s like just be ugly and just be horrible, fight and put the ball up there. But we spoke about this and we can’t do it.
“So we have to keep reaffirming. And if you don’t do it, you won’t play.”
He added: “At Stockport, we win the game because we did the ugly stuff brilliantly, really well. And we’re going to have to do that in every game. Whether it’s for five minutes, 10 or 15 minutes, whatever it is, first half, second half or late on. You have to weather the storm at some point, you have to suffer in a game of football. And right now, when we have to suffer, we don’t look like a team.
“We look like a group of individuals trying to preserve their own. You can’t deal with big moments like that, so we have a lot of work to do on that front, because if we do get that right, the goals we concede are not anything to do with tactics, it’s individual moments. You have to show so much willingness to fight and do your job for the team. And right now, we’re not quite there.”
Meanwhile, Leicester City fans have raised concerns about the club’s management and recruitment, with some questioning whether another managerial change would solve the team’s problems.
One supporter wrote: “Steve Cooper, Ben Dawson, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Marti Cifuentes, Andy King, Gary Rowett and now Russell Martin. Would another manager make a difference? Enzo Maresca did, and look at the league position his team are in at the moment.
“He did it at Leicester with a team full of those players that got us relegated. It was at a lower level, but he did it nonetheless. Russell Martin has revamped the team, but he can’t pick a player. It’s obvious that Jon Rudkin is surrounding himself with scapegoats, and it’s a pity that Srivaddhanaprabha cannot manage to see this.
“Sadly, he doesn’t because he doesn’t know how to. His father did. Top is steering the King Power ship, Jon Rudkin is the map reader. Top wears the captain’s hat, but he doesn’t know where he is going.”
Another supporter argued that the team’s defensive problems were partly down to individual errors and the demands of Martin’s playing style.
“He is right about the goals we concede to an extent, that they are due to personal errors. His tactics require players to be bold and take risks, which leads to the errors. He is right that we need to play ugly when the opposition are putting us under pressure rather than inviting the pressure.
“Confidence is a big thing in football, and the players must really love facing the atmosphere at the KP when something happens contrary to the fans’ expectations.
“That atmosphere really looks toxic very quickly, with fans descending the stairs in droves before half-time as the goals keep going in against us. I really felt like joining them at the bars, though few seemed to depart until all hope was lost in the second half.
“As a newly signed player or an 18-year-old in my first season of first-team football, that is really going to do my confidence the world of good.
“Turning this corner is as much about the relationship between the fans and players at home matches as it is about the tactics and the perception of the ownership and manager.
“Unless we all get behind the players and manager, particularly at home matches, which should be our fortress, I hate to say it, but we fans are as much to blame as the players and the manager. I re-emphasise that I am not a happy fan at the moment, but I know I have a part to play.”
Abdulhafiz Teslim
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