LEICESTER CITY BOSS Claudio Ranieri conceded that “everything is wrong” after the Premier League champions suffered a 2-0 loss to Everton on Boxing Day.
The Foxes slumped to just their second home league defeat of the year following second-half strikes from Kevin Mirallas and Romelu Lukaku.
It left Ranieri’s men hovering just above the relegation zone in 16th, in stark contrast to where they spent the first five months of 2016, riding high on the way to a remarkable title triumph.
And the Italian manager reflected on a dramatic reversal in fortunes.
“What a year. Everything was right for the first six months and now everything is wrong. We have to fight,” he said.
“It was a difficult match, we knew that, but we were in control, the match was equal. Suddenly from a long kick from their keeper and we reacted a little late they were able to score.
“After that we were a little nervous and they controlled the match much better.
“Nothing is right, nothing is easy, but we must continue to work hard and be very attentive in the little detail. We have to react as soon as possible.
“We have to work and react that is our medicine. We will try to do our best again.
“We have to stay together. We wanted to give a good present to our fans, but it wasn’t possible and we will try with the next match [against West Ham on Saturday].”
Meanwhile, Ronald Koeman lauded Everton’s display as a complete team performance, highlighting the importance of playing with confidence after their last-gasp defeat to rivals Liverpool last time out.
“We know it is a difficult situation playing Leicester away. We played well. In the second half we were better than the first,” the Dutchman told BBC Sport after his side climbed to seventh.
“Our ball possession was not of a high quality, but it was much better after we went 1-0 up. You could see the difference – it is a question of confidence. We were confident. They did not create and we had the best chances to score more goals.
“You need to kill the game. We did it finally with Romelu. It was a good team performance.
“We fought and defended well, made it difficult and were dangerous on the counter-attack and a clean sheet is very important.”
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
