Embed from Getty Images
Andy King made his moves again. Caleb Okoli was back in the team, Harry Winks got his starting position and gave Divine Mukasa his debut. Asmir Begovic kept his place and it all started fantastically for Leicester.
Divine Mukasa had the opportunity to show his worth early on and a quality strike after just nine minutes made it 1-0 to Leicester. The pressure continued and Patson Daka scored another great goal after 13 minutes, following a poor back pass from Southampton, scoring with confidence.
Leicester looked calm and very well organised, everything was under control and when Abdul Fatawu scored a fantastic goal from close range in the 29th minute, it looked like a safe win.
Southampton made changes at half-time, bringing on Matsuki, Charles, Stewart and Manning. They changed the structure and put Leicester under pressure from the start of the second half. Leicester looked like they had no weapon to stop this new team and things were starting to get a bit nervous.
Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp in midfield had been dominant in the first, but at this point they seemed to have no formula to put Leicester in a position of control again.
Luke Thomas and Ben Nelson looked very vulnerable in these situations and both started making strange and foolish decisions and that helped Southampton create chances and put pressure on Leicester.
Then in the 61st minute it was time for Southampton to score their first goal. A good finish but very poor defense from Caleb Okoli ensured that this move went straight into the goal. Then it was a period when Leicester regained the momentum. Patson Daka should have scored, but his movement, shooting and decision are all very random.
Defeat against Southampton.#LEISOU | @BCGame pic.twitter.com/VeAQVDKIwC
— Leicester City (@LCFC) February 10, 2026
Then Andy King decided to make his moves and change the formation, players and everything became a total mess. Keeping the team together and not making changes that affect quality is easy to avoid. Swapping Abdul Fatawu with Silko Thomas will make you look strange, and it is not the time to sign young and inexperienced players. The formation change also disrupted the balance and worked in the completely wrong direction.
Louis Page was also used to eliminate Divine Mukasa. Andy King also decided to use Lamaal Lascelles instead of Stephy Mavididi to try and win the game, but instead he mixed everything up and made a total mess of it. In reality, any possibility of gaining momentum was destroyed.
All these changes came at crucial times when Southampton used it to their advantage. They scored their second goal in the 82nd minute, then the third in the 86th, to top it all off, completely destroying Leicester with a fourth goal in the 96th minute, to settle this impossible victory. It all happened when Leicester made changes that threw everything out of balance tactically and structurally.
A total disaster, and there is only one person responsible for this mess, and that’s Andy King. Sorry to say, but when he started his transition ball, he also destroyed whatever little momentum the team had after being 1-3 down. Luke Thomas and Ben Nelson are players who look very restless in these situations and do not handle pressure well. Oliver Skipp also has problems in these situations, because he makes silly mistakes that he normally avoids. These are very negative habits and sad to discover. This could ultimately end their top-level career if they can’t avoid these horror mistakes.
Of course, this is hopefully the last we will see of Andy King as manager at Leicester. His actions are completely bizarre towards the end and his knowledge of this group seems far from what is needed to get points in the bag. The first half and the second half were two different worlds and it looked like players had eaten sleeping pills.
We certainly hope the board can appoint a new manager in the coming week, otherwise this looks like total ruin and possible relegation to League One.
- Positives
- The first half was great and it shows the team’s ability
- Fantastic debut for Divine Mukasa, great goal, quality player
- Harry Winks had a brilliant day at the office, but the second half was another struggle
- Asmir Begovic made some good saves
- There are so many positives from the first half that potentially Leicester need to look at the long term
- Negatives
- Andy King’s activity in the second half is a disaster, too many players have been substituted and the structure has changed, he has a full half to stop Southampton, he made it all wrong and it cost Leicester three points
- At the end of the game the players were all over the place and not really willing to defend or attack, it was just a mess
- Ben Nelson and Luke Thomas cannot be trusted in crucial periods of the game and do strange things
- To drop back to the level that Leicester did in the second half is very strange and completely unacceptable
- The last ten minutes of the match were shocking and the manager’s decision was to blame
- To be harsh and critical: Leicester had three shots on target in the whole match, not much pressure and had a bit of luck in the first half
Line-up:
Begovic 5, Pereira 5, Okoli 5, Nelson 2, Thomas L 2, Mukasa 7, Winks 6, Skipp 2, Daka 6, Mavididi 6, Fatawu 6, Subs: Lascelles, Thomas S, Page, Ayew
- Leicester City, man of the match
Match statistics (H/A)
- Possession: 45 / 55
- Shots on target: 3/7
- Corners: 3 / 9
- Errors: 11 / 13
Related
#Leicester #Southampton #positive #negative #points #player #ratings #match #report #championship #match