JibrinAndy King Holds Hands Up, Backs His Call and Urges Leicester to Learn After Southampton Setback
Andy King took responsibility and called for unity after Leicester City’s dramatic 4-3 defeat to Southampton, insisting difficult nights can become turning points in the club’s fight to finish the season strongly.
The Foxes looked in complete control at half-time with a commanding 3-0 lead. But Southampton mounted a late comeback, capped by Shea Charles’ stoppage-time winner in the 96th minute.
It was a painful result, and supporters made their feelings clear at full-time. King understood their frustration — and didn’t shy away from addressing his players in the dressing room.
“I’ve spoken with the players while I feel a sense of anger,” King said at full-time. “They sometimes need to know that.
“But I don’t want to speak too much outside of the changing room until I’ve had time to reflect on it and watched it back.
“I want to apologise for the last half an hour. It cannot happen. We need to learn from that. We have to be better. It’s an apology from me for that last half an hour.
“They (the squad) are fully aware of my thoughts on it. It was right for them to hear it at that time.
“They have to know that they have to be better. We’ve got a tough 14 games ahead of us. We can’t be throwing away three-goal leads.
“100 per cent (the fans reaction was justified). I felt the same. I can understand their frustration. Let’s be naive about what’s just happened there.
“They’re well within their rights to voice their opinion the way they did. I have no problem with that at all. They’re fully justified with that reaction.”
While disappointed with the outcome, King made it clear that reflection — not panic — is now the priority.
He admitted he needed time to properly assess what went wrong in the second half.
“I can’t (explain the second half). I need to reflect when I’m in a calmer state of mind.
“We haven’t kept a clean sheet for a long, long time, so the minute the first one goes in you do start to worry a little bit.
“But the goals are so preventable. We can watch it back and analyse it but we’ve got to be better in those moments.”
King also stood by his tactical decision to introduce Jamaal Lascelles for Stephy Mavididi and shift to a more defensive structure, explaining it was made to protect the lead and deal with aerial pressure.
“I don’t think so (bringing Lascelles on was the wrong decision). I think we were already back. We were defending a lot of crosses. So we needed to bring him on to try to shore things up with an aerial presence in the back-line.
“We conceded goals when he was on the pitch so you could say it wasn’t the right decision, but if we lose the game and he doesn’t come on the pitch, everyone would say we should have put an extra defender on. So no, I think it was the right decision in that moment.”
With 14 matches still to play, Leicester’s focus now shifts to responding positively. King’s message was clear: lessons will be learned, standards will rise, and there is still time to reshape the narrative of the season.
Jibrin
