Van Nistelrooy staring down the barrel as Leicester make unwanted history v Brentford
Brentford took full advantage of another abysmal Leicester City performance to put more pressure on Foxes boss Ruud van Nistelrooy.
A 4-0 defeat for Leicester created some unwanted history. Van Nistelrooy’s side became the first team to lose six consecutive home games without scoring in an English top flight season.
Yoane Wissa gave the visitors an early lead, capitalising on a speculative and brilliant through ball from Mikkel Damsgaard to hit the ball into the ground on the volley.
It was a lovely finish but Brentford’s second – scored by Bryan Mbeumo – was even more impressive.
The Leicester defence was more than willing for Mbeumo to cut in onto his left foot and blast the ball past a helpless Mads Hermansen.
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It was the Cameroonian’s 15th Premier League goal of the season in his 26th appearance. It was Wissa’s 12th in 23 games.
Five minutes later, Christian Norgaard made it three from a perfect Mbeumo assist.
Home fans were leaving in the 33rd minute with their side three goals down and Van Nistelrooy staring into the abyss, wondering what the hell he got himself into.
Leicester heads were rolling at 3-0, with yellow cards for Woyo Coulibaly and Caleb Okoli after Bobby De Cordova-Reid was booked four minutes before Norgaard’s goal.
Brentford thought they had a fourth in first-half stoppage time but the ball crossed the line via Keane Lewis-Potter’s arm.
On the first watch it looked like an own goal for Wout Faes. You can’t blame us for assuming that was the case, can you?
The Leicester boos were deafening when the whistle blew for half time, with the fans still in attendance hoping for a different manager to walk out for the second half.
Van Nistelrooy played a couple of wildcards at the break, bringing on Jannik Vestergaard and Stephy Mavididi for the cautioned Coulibaly and De Cordova-Reid.
Norgaard, meanwhile, couldn’t continue after picking up a knock and was brought off for Yehor Yarmolyuk.
Not much happened in the second half except for Fabio Carvalho’s 89th-minute goal to make it 4-0 and rub salt in the wounds.
Leicester came relatively close to grabbing a consolation and avoiding that unwanted record but it is theirs and Van Nistelrooy is clearly on borrowed time.
The foundations were set long before the Dutchman’s arrival as Steve Cooper’s replacement. The summer recruitment was terrible and set them up to fall straight back into the Championship.
Cooper was the club’s choice to replace promotion-winning head coach Enzo Maresca after he joined Chelsea and his sacking came as a surprise at the time, even if Leicester’s performances did leave a lot to be desired.
Van Nistelrooy has picked up some big wins, like the one at Tottenham Hotspur, but Leicester’s form at home has been catastrophically woeful.
Brentford, meanwhile, can dream of playing in Europe having sorted out their away form in the Premier League.
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