Ruud van Nistelrooy sends nine-word message to his Leicester side after 4-0 Newcastle thrashing brought flying Foxes start back down to earth

Ruud van Nistelrooy sends nine-word message to his Leicester side after 4-0 Newcastle thrashing brought flying Foxes start back down to earth

Ruud van Nistelrooy delivered a nine-word message to his Leicester City players after their 4-0 thrashing by Newcastle, which brought their strong start to the season back down to earth. The Foxes were beaten at St James’ Park, with Jacob Murphy scoring twice, and Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak also getting on the scoresheet.

The loss marked Van Nistelrooy’s first since taking charge of Leicester, following a win against West Ham and a draw with Brighton in his opening games. Reflecting on the defeat, the Dutchman emphasized that it was part of his side’s “development” and that the team is still in the process of learning and building under his leadership, having only been together for two weeks since he took over on December 1.

“This is a great game to look back on, but we’ve only been together for two weeks. It was positive to get four points against West Ham and Brighton at home,” Van Nistelrooy told BBC Sport. “But this one went the other way. We are still reflecting, learning, and building something together. We will use this game to help the team’s development. It was tough. At half-time, it was 1-0, and we were a bit lucky not to be down by more.”

Van Nistelrooy pointed to Leicester’s poor organization in set-piece situations as a major factor in the loss, as they conceded three goals from dead-ball situations. He also acknowledged Newcastle’s high intensity, which led to 27 shots on goal for the hosts compared to just four for Leicester in Van Nistelrooy’s first away match.

“It’s costly to concede from standard set-piece situations,” he said. “Once that happened, it was always going to be tough to turn it around. We know how intense Newcastle players are, and they capitalized on our ball losses with quick counter-attacks.”

Despite the defeat, Van Nistelrooy urged his side to keep going and learn from the experience. “We kept trying, but we have to take this on the chin and move on.”

Following the loss, Leicester dropped to 16th in the Premier League, just two points clear of the relegation zone. They will next face a struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers side at home on Sunday, who have won only two of their last 15 games.