‘He strikes me as having a huge ego… his staff should tell him it doesn’t need to be about him’: Martin Keown tells Brendan Rodgers he risks a ‘messy’ dressing room if he blames players for Leicester’s Newcastle embarrassment
- Martin Keown believes Brendan Rodgers’ ‘huge ego’ will be hurt on Boxing Day
- Leicester received a first-half thumping from Newcastle United at home
- Sportsmail’s Keown says things could ‘get messy’ in the Foxes’ dressing room
Martin Keown believes Leicester’s shambolic first-half performance in their 3-0 home defeat by Newcastle will hurt Brendan Rodgers and has warned that the under-pressure boss risks a ‘messy’ dressing room.
Goals from Chris Wood, Miguel Almiron and Joelinton got Newcastle off to a flying start on their return from the World Cup break, with the Magpies threatening to run riot at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester, long associated with the fight for European football, have fallen short of the lofty expectations cast upon them this season, with the Foxes lingering in the lower half of the table.
Brendan Rodgers’ ‘huge ego’ will be hurt by Leicester’s thumping at the hands of Newcastle
As a result, pressure is mounting on Rodgers, and former Foxes defender Keown says that the coach’s ‘huge ego’ will be bruised by what he saw in the first 45 minutes.
‘He strikes me as a man with a huge ego and he won’t want Eddie Howe to get one over on him,’ Keown said on the Amazon Goals show.
‘He would have seen this as a really big opportunity to start properly and to be fair Newcastle have just controlled proceedings.’
The Foxes conceded three first-half goals against the Magpies on home turf on Boxing Day
Keown has warned that Rodgers risks a ‘messy’ dressing room after the first half
Leicester’s priority now is to stem the flow of goals hitting Danny Ward’s net, and Keown also warned that things could ‘get messy’.
‘It could (get messy) because the basics are really good in the Newcastle team, every compartment looks different class.
‘And then I look at Brendan, and Brendan will take this personally. He doesn’t need to. It doesn’t need to be about Brendan at half-time and I’d be telling him if I was a member of staff “we’ve got this wrong, collectively, you need to stand up here. It’s not just about the players it’s about us. It’s not an us and them situation” – which it probably will be come half-time because Brendan will be infuriated by what he’s seen.
‘But they’ve got to find a way to get out of this now and I think they do that by being collective, put the basics right and Newcastle are showing them that.’
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