Leicester City not hungry enough says Maddison
Leicester City forward James Maddison believes his side were “not hungry enough” after their Premier League survival hopes suffered a blow with a 5-3 defeat at Fulham.
“[I’m] hurting, this was a big game for us and we were not at it,” Maddison told BBC Match of the Day.
“We didn’t start the game well enough. We need to do the basics well.”
Fulham opened the scoring through a Willian free-kick before strikes from Carlos Vinicius and Tom Cairney powered them into a 3-0 half-time lead.
Cairney added another after the restart before Harvey Barnes pulled a goal back for the visitors, who then saw Jamie Vardy miss a penalty in the 66th minute.
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Willian re-established Fulham’s four-goal lead with another fine strike before Maddison netted Leicester’s second with a spot-kick and Barnes scored a late third.
“We were not hungry enough to want to win the game,” added Maddison.
“It is tough. No easy game in the Premier League, it is a cliche but so true. We will keep fighting, we will keep trying to put it right.”
Maddison later sought to clarify his post-match comments on social media, saying: “When I say not hungry enough I mean aggressive and on the front foot in duels, not us wanting to win or realising the importance.
“We were not good enough today and we’ve only got ourselves to blame and apologise for that. But, as someone who sees the work we are doing every single day to try and put this right, it’s not down to attitude or application.”
Leicester are desperate for points and, with matches against Liverpool and Newcastle still to come, Foxes fans would have circled Fulham away as a must-win fixture in their battle to avoid the drop.
Fulham remain 10th, two points behind west London rivals Brentford.
They need five points from their final three games to equal their record top-flight points tally of 53, from the 2008-09 season.
Fulham face Southampton away in their next match on Saturday before taking on Crystal Palace and Manchester United, while Leicester host Liverpool next Monday.