We Kept Going, Says Van Nistelrooy

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We Kept Going, Says Van Nistelrooy

Although frustrated by the defeat, Ruud van Nistelrooy was pleased with the way his Leicester City side stuck together in Sunday’s 2-0 reverse at AFC Bournemouth.

2025-05-25T19:00+01:00

by Sam Stevens

Published

25 May, 2025

We Kept Going, Says Van Nistelrooy

Although frustrated by the defeat, Ruud van Nistelrooy was pleased with the way his Leicester City side stuck together in Sunday’s 2-0 reverse at AFC Bournemouth.

Sam Stevens

2025-05-25T19:00+01:00

We Kept Going, Says Van Nistelrooy

Although frustrated by the defeat, Ruud van Nistelrooy was pleased with the way his Leicester City side stuck together in Sunday’s 2-0 reverse at AFC Bournemouth.

Sam Stevens

2025-05-25T19:00+01:00

We Kept Going, Says Van Nistelrooy

Although frustrated by the defeat, Ruud van Nistelrooy was pleased with the way his Leicester City side stuck together in Sunday’s 2-0 reverse at AFC Bournemouth.

Sam Stevens

2025-05-25T19:00+01:00

We Kept Going, Says Van Nistelrooy

Although frustrated by the defeat, Ruud van Nistelrooy was pleased with the way his Leicester City side stuck together in Sunday’s 2-0 reverse at AFC Bournemouth.

Sam Stevens

2025-05-25T19:00+01:00

Manager Ruud van Nistelrooy reacts to Sunday's 2-0 loss at AFC Bournemouth
Antoine Semenyo's double consigned us to a 25th defeat of the Premier League season
Leicester City have been relegated this term, but performances improved over recent weeks
Van Nistelrooy was pleased with aspects of our performance at Vitality Stadium

It’s been a tough year for us in the Premier League, finishing in 18th place at the end of a campaign which sees us return to the Sky Bet Championship for the 25/26 season.

That fate was confirmed last month after a damaging run of form at the start of the year, but improved performances have created better results over recent weeks, albeit not at Vitality Stadium – with Antoine Semenyo’s brace the difference.

Van Nistelrooy, though, did see some positives in the performance on the south coast, saying: “We were in the game for a very long time against a very strong Bournemouth side, especially at [their] home.

“We gave very few things away, and if they had an opportunity of any kind, Jakub [Stolarczyk] was there to save us. He had a great game with a couple of excellent saves. We had a couple of moments where I think we could have done better.

“The offside goal of course, with Oliver Skipp, and we had moments where we could have played the final pass better to create some chances.

“But overall, I think Bournemouth deserved it. They scored the first goal and the second after that. We kept going, we kept pushing.

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“We also allowed onto the pitch the young players to make minutes and Bade Aluko to make his Premier League debut, which was also a highlight for him of course.

“It was unlucky that we conceded right after the three subs came on, I think from a set-piece, from a header knocked down into the penalty area.

“We brought three fresh players on to create some more momentum in the game. The lads played and kept going and there were valuable minutes, again, for the young lads.

“It’s a team that stuck together, which was important today.”

After picking up seven points from a possible nine beforehand, this defeat was a disappointment. Leicester finish the season in 18th place, 13 points adrift of safety, after a ‘painful’ campaign for van Nistelrooy, but the Dutchman has been enthused by recent displays.

“We’ve been through a very poor spell of results and [lack of] goals, and losses,” he explained. “To bounce back from that, breaking certain cycles, scoring and winning games and finishing 18th, we showed definitely that we can react and we are capable of putting in some good performances.

“That’s not easy. Our fate was clear and it was painful, but we found a way to react and a purpose to perform. Everybody bought into that and showed their qualities.”

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