Leicester City boss’ desire admission as spineless outfit stare down relegation barrel after Portsmouth loss
Pompey fans were stunned by the lack of fight shown by Leicester City, as they fell at Fratton Park - with some honest words from boss Gary Rowett after a tepid effort.
Leicester City boss Gary Rowett acknowledged his side lacked desire and toughness as they face Championship relegation after an insipid Pompey showing.
The Foxes fell to a desperate 1-0 reverse in Saturday’s relegation showdown at Fratton Park, making it just a single league win in 17.
Rowett: ‘We showed a lack of quality, composure and toughness’
Timid Leicester played with none of the required intensity the occasion demanded in a perplexing showing, only mounting pressure late on after going behind.
That led to some understandably angry scenes among away fans after the game, with Rowett seeing his side’s shortcomings.
When asked if his side lacked fight, Rowett told Leicestershire Live: ‘That’s been something labelled on the team over the course of the season. It’s an easy way to blanket the team.
‘I think we showed a lack of quality, a lack of composure, a lack of toughness in the one moment where we concede the set-piece. I understand but it’s not a wrestling match.
‘Maybe the sense of urgency late on where you’ve got overlap or you’ve got to run forward with a real sense of desire, maybe we lacked that.
‘I think we’ve lacked quality in the right areas. We’ve had triple the number of shots on target over the opposition in the last five games yet we’ve come on the wrong side of lots of results because we can’t finish our chances.
‘Disappointed, not just with the result but with moments in the game. It’s been rinse and repeat what I’ve said after the past five games.
‘We knew it would be a physical game. You saw with Portsmouth’s performance against Ipswich. They make it very difficult.
‘I thought we dealt with that okay. I didn’t think there was much in the game. We settle with 20 minutes to go in the first half and start playing and getting into some good positions. But we don’t find the quality.
‘It’s been a story for me that it’s a set-piece goal we’ve conceded. It’s a soft goal. We have then three or four chances at the other end and we don’t manage to take them.
‘That’s been the same for the past five games. We’ve created a lot of chances. We didn’t create quite as many today. But we have created a lot of chances and can’t find a way to score them.’
Leicester are now staring down the barrel of back-to-back relegations, as they sit 10 points behind Pompey and eight points from safety. That means relegation could be confirmed, as they entertain Hull City on Tuesday night.
Rowett added: ‘The main focus is Tuesday and being as professional as we can be and try to give some fans some positivity.
‘I can say we’ve got belief. We need to show that in our performances and our results. I said to the players we’ve got to start hoping we get a little fortune from somewhere else. But I don’t like saying that as a manager. I’m not interested in what other teams do, I’m interested in what we do.
‘We have to be professional. As a player, if I had three games to go and I was already relegated, ‘I’d still want to win all three of those games. I don’t care. It’s about pride and your own personal standards.
‘For me, we turn up Tuesday and we have to do everything we can to win the game. It’s easy saying it. We’ve had two or three opportunities to show that extra bit of drive and we haven’t quite find it. We have to see if we can find it Tuesday.’