Ruud van Nistelrooy has come out in support of Danny Ward after the goalkeeper faced a barrage of boos from Leicester City fans, stating he never considered taking him off. Despite Ward's shaky performance, which saw him struggle with saves and communication leading to goals, Van Nistelrooy stood by his player.
The Dutchman expressed his discomfort with the targeted jeering, saying: "It doesn't make it easier for him and for the team. We all understand disappointment from the crowd but it shouldn't go to one player.
"Booing and being disappointed with a result, I think it's a right of a supporter to show your emotions. We all do that. But when it goes to one person, that is hard to see for me personally."
Van Nistelrooy praised Ward's composure under pressure: "I think he kept his composure very well over the course of the game. It's not easy when something happens like that, when you catch a ball and people start cheering, and boo you, when it gets personal like that. I think he handled it very well.
"He's the first one to look in the mirror. They all want to do well and perform and do their best for the club. When it doesn't work out, it's good to stick together as a squad and as a club.
Asked if he considered making substitutions, the manager adamantly replied: "No. I'm sticking with players in these moments. You have to address certain situations in your team selection, but no it didn't cross my mind. He handled himself really well. It must have been hard. We all felt that. Hopefully he can turn things around quickly."
Leicester will be bolstered by the availability of Jakub Stolarczyk for the Boxing Day clash against Liverpool, and possibly Hermansen too. However, for Van Nistelrooy, it's defensive errors that are causing sleepless nights ahead of the Anfield trip.
"If you look only at the result, then it was a very bad performance," he admitted. "If you look at the goals and how we conceded them, as individual incidents, and look at the rest of the game, it was not as bad as the result said.
"It's clear if you look at that fact (seven goals conceded in two games), it's way too much. Today, three goals conceded, but it's only one goal for expected goals.
"Against West Ham we won and we had three expected goals. Everyone's delighted when you take the points but we acknowledged that conceding that many was excessive. Overall today we defended better, as strange as it sounds. But individual blunders led to three goals getting past us. Those moments over the 90 minutes were something we just couldn't rally back from."
