‘Nowhere Near Good Enough’ - Maddison’s Fulham Reflections
- Leicester City were beaten 5-3 by Fulham on Monday afternoon
- The Foxes are now 18th in the Premier League table
- James Maddison spoke to LCFC TV following full-time at Craven Cottage
- The midfielder converted a second-half penalty in the defeat
Willian, Carlos Vinícius and Tom Cairney sent the hosts into a three-goal lead at Craven Cottage. Although Harvey Barnes’ brace and a Maddison penalty reduced the arrears in the second half, further strikes from Willian and Cairney ensured it was the west London side who claimed all three points on Monday.
“It’s been one of those seasons,” City’s No.10 admitted to LCFC TV. “We just struggled early on again and gave ourselves too much to do. When it's half-time and you're 3-0 down away from home in the Premier League, it's very, very rare that you can come and get back into it.
“It’s very tough to get anything from the game from there. We did well in the second half to get back into it, but it’s nowhere near good enough. It's just not clicking off the ball at the minute, for whatever reason. We haven't kept enough clean sheets, that's the problem.
The Goals As Fulham Defeat City
Watch the action from Craven Cottage where Fulham came out on top in the Premier League encounter with the Foxes.
“We keep going behind in games and chasing the game. You leave yourself too much to do, and that was the case today. It was a strange game. We had big chances in the first half as well. We always look like we're going to score, there's goals in the team, there's creativity - that's not our problem.
“The problem is defensively and I'm not talking about the defence, I'm talking about us as a team defensively. Whether that's defending the box or pressing, it's too easy to play against. It's frustrating because we work so hard on the training ground and try to be more difficult to play against.
“We're all trying to put our ideas forward on how we're going to do that. It's everything defensively. You don't have a team and then the attackers attack and the defenders defend and, if you concede, it's the defenders’ fault and if you score, it's the attackers' positive. That's not how it works.
“Just like today, we tried to press a little bit and force it on the sides, but then they just got out too easily and, for example, in the first half, Harry Wilson was coming in off the line causing us a problem and we just didn't get it right. He just he was receiving it in areas and they just bypass our press. Then they were just attacking our goal and it’s disappointing.”
Close to 2,300 Foxes supporters made the journey to the capital and the England international understood the travelling Blue Army’s frustrations after a disappointing day that leaves Leicester inside the Premier League relegation zone.
“We're all fighting for the same thing here,” the 26-year-old continued. “Fans, players... sometimes I wish the fans and the supporters could see what goes on behind the scenes, just to see how hard we're working to try and put it right.
“It just wasn't good enough from us today. We accept that and look ourselves in the mirror. We're not trying to butter it up. You hear some of the chants, and it's not nice, but they're entitled to their opinion. They pay their money, they come down to London.
“It's not an easy trip. It's not cheap, so it's just apologies to them. We'll keep trying to work harder. I promise that we're trying to put it right. I hope the fans can dust themselves down and get behind us, because we need them and hopefully we can reach the end goal together.”
Maddison: We Gave Ourselves Too Much To Do
James Maddison's post-match reflections following defeat at Fulham on Monday.
Liverpool are next up at King Power Stadium on Monday (8pm BST kick-off) for City’s penultimate home fixture of the season. Filbert Way has provided more encouraging results of late than away from home and the game takes on extra importance given recent results.
“We can't feel sorry for ourselves,” the midfielder added. “There’s obviously disappointment tonight, but then tomorrow we've got to focus on Liverpool and work hard at trying to get something from the game, to give ourselves the best chance.
“We have got three hard games left; we had four before today. When you're down there and you're fighting for your lives, you can't look at the fixtures and pick easy games and hard games, it doesn’t work like that.
“But, trying to look at the positives, we've won and drawn the last two home games. Obviously before this, we were three games unbeaten. I know we only won one and had two draws, but hopefully we can cause Liverpool some problems at home.
“But it's going to be a graft and we're going to have to work. We're trying to stay in the division as best as we can. We'll be in tomorrow straight away in the morning, looking at it, debriefing.”