Ruud van Nistelrooy: 'We Are Still in This Fight’

Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester City are bleeding out, but the boss won’t wave the white flag. Thursday’s 2-0 flop at West Ham left them five points adrift of safety, a gutless first half sealing their fate. “We are going to get up again,” Van Nistelrooy vowed post-match, jaw tight. “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.”

The stats scream trouble. Leicester have lost 11 of their last 12 Premier League games, a collapse that makes their 2014-15 great escape look like a fairy tale. Van Nistelrooy’s hauled seven points from 14 games since taking over in November—three shy of Steve Cooper’s 10 in 12 before the sack. No team’s shipped more own-goals this season (three, tied with West Ham and Wolves), and they’ve blanked in their last four, a rut not seen since 2017’s six-game drought.

“If you play like this in the first half you are not going to score,” Van Nistelrooy said, blunt as a brick. “We were not even close to scoring. In the second half we were much closer to score. At least you give yourself an opportunity.” Too little, too late.

Time’s not gone yet—11 games, 33 points on the table—but the road’s brutal: Chelsea and Manchester City away, United and Newcastle at home. Defender Wout Faes still sees a pulse. “Of course, there has to be belief,” the Belgian said. “Weekend after weekend the games count down. I don’t think we have to think too much about going forward. We just have to think game by game and we have to start winning very soon because the games are counting down.”

Pundits aren’t buying it. Neil Lennon, ex-Leicester midfielder, torched them on TNT Sports: “I hate to say it about any group of players but it is really hard to make a case for them on what we have seen. West Ham didn’t have to be anywhere near their best to win the game comfortably. There was zero quality, zero belief and the game just seemed to pass them by.” Joe Cole, former Chelsea striker, buried the knife: “I think they are gone. I think them and Southampton are gone. How do you get these players to show some kind of spark from now to the end of the season?”

Van Nistelrooy’s got a carcass on his hands—five points isn’t death, but Leicester’s fight looks DOA.

WRITTEN BY

George Howson

George Howson is a Futbol Chronicle contributor and accredited journalist with over 20 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, George has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing deep knowledge and first-hand insight to every match report and analysis he writes.