BBC
Leicester City forward James Maddison believes his side were “not hungry enough” after their Premier League survival hopes suffered a blow with a 5-3 defeat at Fulham.
Leicester remain just above the drop zone on goal difference with relegation rivals Nottingham Forest and Everton both playing later on Monday.
“[I’m] hurting, this was a big game for us and we were not at it,” Maddison told BBC Match of the Day.
“We didn’t start the game well enough. We need to do the basics well.”
Fulham opened the scoring through a Willian free-kick before strikes from Carlos Vinicius and Tom Cairney powered them into a 3-0 half-time lead.
Cairney added another after the restart before Harvey Barnes pulled a goal back for the visitors, who then saw Jamie Vardy miss a penalty in the 66th minute.
Willian re-established Fulham’s four-goal lead with another fine strike before Maddison netted Leicester’s second with a spot-kick and Barnes scored a late third.
“We were not hungry enough to want to win the game,” added Maddison.
“It is tough. No easy game in the Premier League, it is a cliche but so true. We will keep fighting, we will keep trying to put it right.”
Woeful Leicester booed off at half-time
Leicester are desperate for points and, with matches against Liverpool and Newcastle still to come, Foxes fans would have circled Fulham away as a must-win fixture in their battle to avoid the drop.
But against a side who had lost three of their previous four matches at home, they were woeful in the opening 45 minutes.
“The first half was nowhere near good enough,” Leicester boss Dean Smith told BBC Match of the Day. “We gave away goals we shouldn’t give away at this level.
“I didn’t see that coming. We have been fairly resolute in the five games we’ve had with the exception of Everton.”
The Foxes fell behind in the 10th minute when keeper Daniel Iversen misjudged Willian’s wide free-kick and the ball bounced underneath him before nestling in the bottom corner.
Vinicius’ goal finished off a fine counter-attacking move before Cairney scored on just his third league start of the season with an impressive curling finish.
Trailing by three goals at the break, Leicester were booed off by the visiting fans and the mood only got bleaker when Cairney added Fulham’s fourth in the 51st minute.
However, Barnes gave his side a glimmer of hope, before Vardy was caught by Bernd Leno midway through the second half – but when the striker missed the resulting spot-kick, any thoughts of an unlikely comeback ended.
Fulham soon added a fifth against a porous defence, with Leicester having now failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their past 20 games, an unwanted Premier League record.
There were ironic jeers when Maddison found the bottom corner from the spot in the 81st minute after he had been caught by Joao Palhinha in the box.
Barnes’ 89th-minute strike made the scoreline look more respectable, but in truth the Foxes never looked like securing anything from the match.
