MARTIN KEOWN warned Brendan Rodgers to put his ego to one side during Leicester’s 3-0 defeat to Newcastle.
The Foxes were brushed aside by a rampant Newcastle as goals from Chris Wood, Miguel Almiron and Joelinton put Toon 3-0 up at half-time.
Brendan Rodgers has overseen a disappointing campaign for Leicester
Martin Keown warned Rodgers to keep his ego in check
At the break Keown, appearing as a pundit on the Amazon Goals show, told Rodgers to hold his hands up and take responsibility for the dire first half.
Keown said: “He strikes me as a man with a huge ego and he won’t want Eddie Howe to get one over on him.
“He would have seen this as a really big opportunity to start properly and to be fair Newcastle have just controlled proceedings.
“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.”
Rodgers’ half-time instructions did stem the flow of goals but Leicester failed to find a way back into the match.
The 49-year-old has overseen a disappointing campaign at the King Power stadium and risked being sacked a few months ago.
The Foxes were bottom of the league after seven games and Rodgers took responsibility for their struggles.
He thanked the owners for their continued show of faith but accepted he needed to perform better.
He said: “Whatever happens I’ll have a huge amount of respect for them [the owners] because they’ve given me great support.
“They’ve given me brilliant support. Whatever happens to me at Leicester, whether I stay and fight on, I’ll always respect them.
“I come in every day and do my work. I totally understand the frustration of supporters. I can’t hide from that. It’s my responsibility.”
