Furious Leicester fans send message as Ruud van Nistelrooy's side produce sorry Brentford show
LEICESTER CITY 0-4 BRENTFORD: Ruud van Nistelrooy could only watch on from the sidelines as his team failed to turn up and allowed a rampant Bees side to run riot
by Neil Moxley · The MirrorThe Bees sparked a walkout as the white flag was raised at the King Power Stadium.
A three-goal blast inside 15 first-half minutes sent spectators scrambling for the exits as the Foxes slumped to their sixth straight home league defeat.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side may still, remarkably, be just two points shy of safety - but on the evidence of this, they have already given up.
Clearly, many of the home supporters thought so after little more than half an hour, let alone the first half. And against a team as hard-nosed and streetwise as the West Londoners, they chose wisely.
Thomas Frank’s side might have gone from failing to win on their travels to away-day specialists within one season. But they will rarely encounter a rearguard as flimsy as the one fielded by the Dutchman.
In addition to the three goals during the opening half, Kristoffer Ajer also sent a header crashing into the upright, and VAR came to the rescue when a ball rebounded Keane Lewis-Potter’s arm before entering the net after yet another defensive disaster class.
Legendary striker van Nistelrooy might have thought he knew what he was walking into. But with only an away victory against injury-ravaged Spurs and without a goal on their own patch to shout about since the start of December, patience is wearing thin.
The fans’ ire was directed towards the hierarchy, with director of football Jon Rudkin again bearing the brunt.
Remarkably, Leicester had started brightly and Mark Flekken had to pull off two saves in the first four minutes. Woyo Coulibaly and Jamie Vardy both had shots blocked.
That was as good as it got. Brentford took the lead in the 17th minute - and never looked back. Christian Norgaard nicked possession from Boubakary Soumare and Mikkel Damsgaard then flicked a ball over the top for Yoane Wissa to find a scruffy finish.
The second came from the same source. Bryan Mbeumo stepped inside Victor Kristiansen and curled a left-foot shot beyond Mads Hermansen. Judging by the reaction on the visitors’ bench, it may have been a pre-planned angle of attack.
Mbeumo then curled a left-wing free-kick onto Norgaard’s head in the 32nd minute. The Foxes had collapsed. Predictably, they were booed off.
More of the same after the interval. Hermansen prevented sub Yehor Yarmoliuk from adding another header from another free-kick.
One minute from time, Brentford added a fourth. Mbeumo’s strong run and shot were too hot for Hermansen to hold, and Fabio Carvalho ran in the fourth.
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