Ruud van Nistelrooy has now realised the challenge he has on his hands to keep Leicester City in the Premier League.
Leicester City beat West Ham 3-1 in van Nistelrooy’s first game in charge and followed that up with a thrilling comeback draw against Brighton.
Since then however, the Foxes have tasted three defeats on the bounce and conceded nine goals, losing to Newcastle United, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Admittedly, van Nistelrooy’s side were impressive against Man City in their most recent match and were perhaps unfortunate to lose 2-0 with Pep Guardiola even admitting Leicester were the better team.
Indeed, that display against the champions has sparked fresh hopes of Premier League survival however, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher thinks otherwise.
Jamie Carragher takes aim at Leicester City fans in Ipswich survival verdict
Currently, the three teams who came up from the Championship are all situated in the bottom three, with Southampton rooted to the foot of the table, Leicester in 19th and Ipswich in 18th.
Last season, each of the promoted teams; Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United, were all immediately relegated back to the second tier.
Now, at the midway point of the season, there are fears that the above trend could continue as the gap between the Championship and Premier League continues to increase.
Former Liverpool defender Carragher thinks the crowd can play a huge role in the fight for survival and he believes Ipswich have the edge in that regard, citing the Leicester fans as ‘negative’.
He also thinks that because the Tractor Boys don’t necessarily expect to stay up, whereas the Foxes do, Kieran McKenna’s side could hold the mental advantage over van Nistelrooy.
“I think Leicester have given up a lot of opportunities, shots, big chances, in all of the games they’ve played in, bar the Man City one,” Carragher told Sky Sports.
“I think because Leicester expect to stay up, at times there can be a bit of negativity. They’ve already changed their manager because they expect to stay up.
“At Ipswich, there’s still that feel-good factor, and if they have a few bad results, they’re not going to get too down on themselves, they’re not going to get too negative. Whereas I feel at Leicester, the crowd can become a bit negative.”
Leicester fans were happy to see Steve Cooper sacked, although just over a month on from that decision, the supporters are yet to see an improvement in results.
Wilfred Ndidi’s return will be crucial to survival
A crowd can only add an extra 10% to a performance but it’s ultimately down to the players and manager to take responsibility for what happens on the pitch.
In the case of Leicester, they were much improved against Man City, as previously mentioned, and if they perform similarly at Aston Villa, they will give them a great game.
One player who can give them a huge boost in the race for survival is Wilfred Ndidi. The Nigerian is hopeful he will return in January after suffering an injury in the draw against Brighton.
Ndidi, alongside the likes of Harry Winks and Boubakary Soumare, is an integral cog in van Nistelrooy’s midfield and the statistics underline his importance.
Ndidi’s 2024/25 Premier League stats
- 15 games
- 4 assists
- 4 big chances created
- 82% pass completion
- 3.2 tackles per game
- 4.6 balls recovered per game
- 2.9 clearances per game