James Maddison hits out at social media after backlash following Leicester's loss to Fulham

Leicester City midfielder James Maddison has hit back at social media after receiving backlash for comments made following the Foxes' 5-3 defeat to Fulham.

Maddison scored in the eight-goal thriller at Craven Cottage, while Harvey Barnes bagged a consolation brace, but Leicester are in serious trouble and currently occupy the final relegation spot on 30 points with three games remaining.

And their Bank Holiday Monday got worse as relegation rivals Everton and Nottingham Forest recorded high-scoring wins over Brighton and Southampton respectively.

Leicester are two points behind 17th placed Everton and now face in-form Liverpool and Champions League hopefuls Newcastle in their next two fixtures.

After the Fulham drubbing, Maddison had said Leicester "were not hungry enough to want to win the game" during a post-match interview with BBC.

James Maddison was not happy after Leicester City's defeat against Fulham.#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/jqhYDAonei

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 8, 2023

Maddison, who is always honest and good value in interviews, received criticism for his comments but believes they were taken out of context.

He took to Twitter to clarify what he said, insisting he was referring to not being aggressive enough in duels.

The former Norwich City man also stressed that the team are still committed to trying to stay in the division.

He wrote: "What is wrong with social media, say 1 thing in an interview straight after a game and it gets taken way out of context. When I say not hungry enough I mean aggressive and on the front foot in duels, not us wanting to win or realising the importance.

"We were not good enough today and we’ve only got ourselves to blame and apologise for that. But as someone who sees the work we are doing every single day to try and put this right, it’s not down to attitude or application. We will keep going until the very end."

What is wrong with social media, say 1 thing in an interview straight after a game and it gets taken way out of context. When I say not hungry enough I mean aggressive and on the front foot in duels, not us wanting to win or realising the importance.

— James Maddison (@Madders10) May 8, 2023

2015/16 champions Leicester have been in the Premier League since 2014 after earning promotion from the Championship but had been away from the top flight for ten years before that.

But they are in serious danger of heading back to the second tier and manager Dean Smith bemoaned the mistakes made at Fulham.

He told reporters: "I expected a far better performance and a better start to the game than we got. At this level, if you give the kind of goals away that we gave away it's going to be an uphill battle."