Ruud van Nistelrooy reflects on Leicester City outclassed by Newcastle United | OneFootball

Ruud van Nistelrooy watched on as Newcastle United took control of the match within two minutes.

Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento tearing Leicester apart, with Tino the one to perfectly cross for Jacob Murphy to finish at the back post.

An audacious effort from Fabian Schar, hitting the bar with a strike from his own half, as the Leicester defenders stopped and didn’t even bother running back whilst the ball was in flight, Murphy determined. He sprinted to make sure that if any chance would come from the keeper saving, or off the woodwork, he would get his reward.

Newcastle two up on 11 minutes and Leicester demoralised.

That moment perhaps the one that perfectly summed up the two teams.

Ruud van Nistelrooy reflects on Leicester 0 Newcastle 3:

“Very difficult, especially after 33 minutes.

“We lost another game starting with the best intentions.

“We lost another early goal.

“It is very disappointing and worrying.

“It is a big challenge.

“We all know the run of form we are in.

“It is extremely difficult.

“Especially if there aren’t light points to build on.

“The most difficult thing is we are in a place for such a long time and there are no results.

“The most important thing is the club and to bring it forward.

“That is the worrying part.

“It is clear where it went wrong, very early in the game, again.

“If we look at the three goals carefully, we could have done better in all three.

“Newcastle are deadly on counter attack and finished the game very quickly.

“What is worrying is the run of form, the lack of goals, the lack of results we can’t produce. Trying different things, different structures, different players in different positions and the results are not there.”

Ruud van Nistelrooy asked about keeping the same starting eleven yet again:

“Looking over the last month, we tried different things and different ways to play, with different personnel.

“You want to give that a chance, that is what we tried to do.

“If you keep changing every week you can’t see that progress but it is very worrying.”

Ruud van Nistelrooy on Leicester not scoring at home in the Premier League since 8 December 2024:

“It shows.

“It’s a confidence thing.

“In the second half you can see when there is no pressure anymore it frees people up.

“Then you see some reasonable football.

“When the pressure is on it becomes very difficult.

“With an early couple of goals it collapses.”

Leicester 0 Newcastle 3 – Monday 7 April 8pm

(Stats via BBC Sport)

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Murphy 2, 11 Barnes 34

Leicester:

Possession was Newcastle 42% Leicester 58%

Total shots were Newcastle 16 Leicester 7

Shots on target were Newcastle 5 Leicester 2

Corners were Newcastle 2 Leicester 12

Touches in the box Newcastle 23 Leicester 16

Newcastle team v Leicester:

Pope, Trippier (Krafth 87), Schar, Burn, Livramento, Joelinton (Miley 65), Tonali, Bruno (Longstaff 65), Barnes, Isak (Wilson 72), Murphy (Osula 72)