Leicester City news: How Dean Smith reacted to the Foxes' relegation from Premier League?

Leicester did the job by beating West Ham United 2-1 at King Power Stadium, however, Everton also narrowly won their game against Bournemouth.

Dean Smith in a file photo. (Image Credit: Twitter/@NorwichCityFC)
By Karthik Raman | May 29, 2023 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Leicester City’s roller coaster spell in the Premier League came to an abrupt end this weekend after they were relegated to the second division. The Foxes had to win their game on Sunday and hope that Everton do not win their match. Leicester did the job by beating West Ham United 2-1 at King Power Stadium, however, Everton also narrowly won their game against Bournemouth. It meant that Everton guaranteed their safety in the division for one more season, while Leicester’s nine-year spell in the English top flight has come to a sad ending.

Dean Smith took over the managerial job at the business end of the season. Even though there were some promising signs, he was not able to help Leicester City stay up in the relegation battle. “It wasn’t [to be]. Personally, I feel I haven’t done my bit in terms of keeping the Club in the league. That was my remit, to come here for seven weeks, eight games. I felt that 11 points was needed and it turns out that is what was needed. Unfortunately, our luck in the Leeds game away and the Everton game here, we’ve left two points out there,” Smith told LCFC TV.

The Leicester City manager stated that they managed to pick up their side’s confidence level during his spell but it was a bit too late. “I’ve just thanked [the players] for what they’ve given me over the last seven weeks, myself, JT (John Terry) and Shakey (Craig Shakespeare). They’ve worked extremely hard and had a great attitude. There was a lot of building that needed to be done, I felt. They were very low when we came in. Confidence and belief was low. I felt we turned that around, but just not quick enough unfortunately,” he added.

We did what we had to do: Dean Smith

Coming back to the win on Sunday, Dean Smith was happy with how Leicester City went about their business against West Ham United. “I thought the guys were good today. They dealt with the pressure of the situation. They dealt with the game. I thought it was one of our best performances. I thought we controlled the game for long periods. I thought, after we went 2-0 up, we probably dropped off it a little bit, just trying to see out the win, rather than continuing what we were doing. That’s understandable, but we did what we had to do,” he stated.

The priority for Smith was for Leicester to win their game, however, it was not enough in the end for them to survive the relegation battle. “We won the game but ultimately it wasn’t good enough. I wanted to make sure we did our job and won the football game. That was the most important thing. Anything could have happened in the final minutes of the other games. Ultimately it wasn’t in our own hands today and that’s why we are relegated from the Premier League,” he stated.

More Football Stories:

Champions League: What went wrong for Real Madrid in semi-final second leg?

Premier League: Which players have scored the most goals in a single season?

EPL stats: Which clubs have conceded the most last-minute winners in Premier League?

EPL stats: Which clubs have scored the most number of last-minute winners in Premier League?

Premier League: Who are the players with the most number of assists in EPL history?





Related Post

HIGHLIGHTS

Buzzwords