| Leicester have struggled to repeat the heroics of last season and were only a point above the relegation zone before manager Claudio Ranieri was sacked and replaced by Craig Shakespeare in February |
Leicester City were never going to defend their Premier League title and a top-half finish would be fair reflection of club’s topsy-turvy campaign, winger Marc Albrighton has said.
Leicester have struggled to repeat the heroics of last season and were only a point above the relegation zone before manager Claudio Ranieri was sacked and replaced by Craig Shakespeare in February.
The interim manager has since led Leicester on an impressive run of form having picked up seven league wins in 10 games to move up to ninth in the standings.
They also reached the Champions League quarter-finals in their first-ever campaign before losing to Atletico Madrid last month.
“To expect us to go and win it a second year was a bit naive,” Albrighton told reporters. “We wanted to finish a bit higher than we will do but we’ve clawed it back from a bad situation.
“If we can finish in the top half and with what we’ve achieved in the Champions League, I think we can say it wasn’t a bad season.”
Meanwhile, full back Danny Simpson has backed Shakespeare to be promoted to full-time manager following their 3-0 victory of Watford on Saturday.
Shakespeare, who has been part of the coaching staff at Leicester for eight of the last nine years, said last month that the board had involved him in its recruitment plans for the next campaign but a decision is yet to be made on his future.
“He’s (Shakespeare) been great and he’s literally just gone back to basics. We all respect him… he’s obviously been there for years,” Simpson told Sky Sports.
“I can’t see him changing and it’s been a good run since he took over. From the players’ point of view there’ll be no complaints but it’s up to the chairman, whatever he feels is right for the club.”