After Leicester City’s 2-0 home loss to Crystal Palace on Wednesday left them struggling close to the bottom of the Premier League, manager Ruud van Nistelrooy acknowledged the team had suffered a serious blow with their sixth straight league loss.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Marc Guehi’s goals in the second half gave Palace a 2-0 victory as they easily defeated Leicester, who had taken the lead early on.
The home team was completely outplayed after halftime after wasting opportunities to lead at the half.
“It’s hard. We kept spirits up after five losses and we will also do it after today’s loss,” said Van Nistelrooy.
“There’s hope there, there’s spirit there in the team. But today is a big blow. I think it’s the lowest we’ve felt so far in my spell.”
Steve Cooper, who was fired in November, was replaced by Van Nistelrooy, who has lost six of his nine games as manager in all competitions, with two victories and a tie.
“It’s a worry when you concede the amount of goals we do at the moment, it’s hard to win games,” he added.
“It’s something we addressed. I addressed it from the first day I came in but we haven’t got that right.”
Van Nistelrooy bemoaned a lack of consistency.
“In spells we’re doing it very well.
“There’s a split second where we allow an opponent to dribble through the middle and give the assist for the first goal, then we’re not sharp enough on a set-piece.
”You put a lot of effort in and you start the game with great expectations and hope and belief and spirit. But again we came short and that’s a big blow,” he added.
Leicester are second bottom in the standings, with 14 points from 21 games.
