Leicester City's sensation 4-3 defeat by Southampton, in a game they had led 3-0 at half-time, is described by pundits, players and coaches as "infuriating", "completely unacceptable" and "a capitulation".
An "infuriating" lack of fight, a "completely unacceptable" collapse and the "capitulation" of a side low on confidence are all ways Leicester City's sensational defeat by Southampton has been summed up.
The Foxes were three goals up at half-time and still leading 3-1 until the 81st minute, only to go on to lose 4-3 in front of their own fans at the King Power Stadium with Shea Charles stunning the hosts and deepening relegation fears with a 96th-minute winner.
Leicester's interim head coach Andy King said he felt "sheer anger" after what was the third defeat in three games since taking caretaker charge after Marti Cifuentes' sacking just over two weeks ago.
It is also the second defeat in four days after the club was docked six points by the EFL for historical breaches of spending rules.
The long-anticipated points penalty last week dropped the Foxes into a relegation fight their legal team had managed to keep the club away from until the final four months of the campaign.
Leicester, the club famed for its 5,000-1 Premier League title win a decade ago, are now only outside the drop zone on goal difference – and even then, have played a game more than Blackburn who are immediately below them in the relegation places.
The loss against Southampton, the way the Foxes went from the sublime, as they led 3-0 inside first half-hour, to the diabolical as they conceded three goals in 14 minutes to crumble in defeat, was described by King as Leicester's "season in a nutshell".
After goalkeeper Asmir Begovic used the strained old cliche that the game was "one of two halves", former Foxes winger turned BBC Radio Leicester pundit Matt Piper was incensed and left questing his work in the media because of how "draining" it is to follow the fortunes of the club.
"It was one of the worst halves I've seen in the history of football," he said during his post-match analysis. "How can you lose 4-3 when you are 3-0 up at half-time?"
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Piper, a boyhood Leicester fan who came through the club's academy before going on to play for them in the Premier League, was staggered by how the Foxes "folded" against the Saints on Tuesday night.
"But when you get a group like that, who are so against rolling their sleeves up when the times get tough it is infuriating," he said.
"It pains me to talk like this, because I don't want to be on radio ranting raving and spitting down the microphone."
Begovic, the 38-year-old former Chelsea, Bournemouth, Everton and Stoke goalkeeper, said he could "understand the frustration and disappointment" of supporters.
But as a player with two decades of experience in the professional game, the ex-Bosnia and Herzegovina international said the "only way to get out of" the increasingly dire relegation situation they are in is "to work harder and stay together".
"If you start pointing fingers and stuff like that now, it's not really going to be helpful," he told BBC Radio Leicester.
"It's why we can't hang our heads, and we can't feel sorry for ourselves.
"We are grown adults and professional footballers and have to stick together, keep going, stay positive and look at the good stuff and fix the not so good stuff very, very fast."
The "good" that Begovic tried to latch onto was undoubtedly masterful for the level – starting with Manchester City loanee Divine Mukasa netting his first goal for the Foxes before Patson Daka pickpocketed a second for the hosts and Abdul Fatawu thumped a third into the top corner.
It was when a flicked finish from substitute Ross Stewart gave Saints hope of a revival in the 61st minute that Leicester began to collapse as they suffered their fifth loss in a six-game winless run.
Begovic called it a "normal reality" for a side he freely admitted is low on confidence.
"You give them momentum and belief as soon as they get their first, and with the situation we are in we capitulated a little bit," he said.
"Everyone wants the three points to get us back on track and to start getting away from the relegation zone and everything we are involved in at the moment.
"We know we are capable - we have shown that in the last couple of games and in the first half today.
"We just have to do it consistently and keep believing in each other because if you start getting divided and not being as one, it starts to get very difficult."
Category: General Sports
