Absolute scenes as Southampton come back from 3-0 down to beat Leicester 4-3

Southampton boss Tonda Eckert told BBC Radio Solent:

“It is tough to find the right words for this game today. It was the decision of the boys at half-time.

“You can say whatever you want to say, in the end it is their decision to have a proper go and I would say that we did in the second half.

“We need to enjoy this. The season is so long and you don’t have many nights like this so today we need to enjoy it and from tomorrow we will keep going.

“Allow me today not to look to far ahead. I think it is just one of those nights which is very special and we will try to enjoy it for the moment and what comes in the league against Charlton will come.

“We will be well prepared, hopefully play a different first half and continue the second half like we did here but for tonight it’s just a moment to enjoy.”

Eckert, per Sky Sports:

“At half-time, we reset. I asked the players to make a decision and that was if they wanted to have a proper go. In fairness, they had already made that decision for themselves.

“I didn’t want to do too much talking to the players about structure. I wanted to leave that to the staff.

“For me, it was more about dealing with the emotions. There’s a lot flying around.

“I give full compliments to the players. It is tough to find the right words because there are so many thoughts still buzzing around.

“I don’t have an explanation for what happened during the first half. We were just a step late to everything and were poor in possession and out of possession. But we bounced back. It was a crazy night.”

Leicester caretaker manager Andy King told BBC Radio Leicester:

“I want to start by apologising for that last half an hour. It was completely unacceptable.

“Obviously, the feeling I have at the moment is sheer anger towards the performance. It will take a bit of time to process, I have to watch it back, see what happened but, yeah, passive and not good enough.

“Probably a lack of character, a lack of leadership, stuff we have said about before and it has been almost a pattern throughout the season where you do some good bits in good spells and then we almost have a spell of the game where we just go under.

“Like I say, I’m angry at the moment so I don’t want to speak out of turn. I need to watch it back, I need to properly analyse it, I need a bit of time to reflect on it. Like I said, I fully apologise for it but that’s all I’m sat with at the moment.

“You’ve seen today, probably, our season in a nutshell. You’ve seen some brilliant football, some goals, some really good stuff and then some stuff which is unacceptable and we have seen both sides of that today.

“Come out of another loss, some good stuff, but second half, last half an hour, from my point of view, like I keep saying, apologies. Completely unacceptable.”

King, per Sky Sports:

“Let’s not be naive about what has just happened there. The fans are fully justified to react the way they did at the end.

“I was very strong on the point at half-time that the game hadn’t been won. I was pleased with the first half but it’s certainly not a positive. There are no positives to take because of the second half. None at all.

“I can’t explain what happened. I have spoken to the players and there is a sense of anger but I won’t elaborate on that until I’ve had time to reflect more.

“I have had a conversation with the lads in the dressing room and it’s right that they know my feelings on what happened.”

🦊#LCFC | Andy King apologised to the Blue Army after tonight’s defeat to Southampton.

🗣️The City interim boss told us he was angry at full-time.

🔗All the reaction on WYS: https://t.co/v0K76KK0Oc pic.twitter.com/eYRDlkN1BF

— BBC Sport Leicester (@BBCRLSport) February 10, 2026

Here’s how fans reacted to the absolute scenes as Southampton come back from 3-0 down to beat Leicester 4-3…

@ChampionsPL16: Well deserved, We were awful, Good luck for the rest of the season!

@WTFox1884: 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 fair play. You wouldn’t see an #lcfc side with that kind of fight and bottle…

@Widge001: We owed them that. I hope it hurts as bad as the 0-9. Well done Saints.

@holgat43398: Ross was a game changer…showing his worth to this team and our style of play… Please let us never see Archer again…

@PlayzytStyle: Fair play today, Tonda spot on an absolutely brilliant fight from the players second half. Only cons is Archer is still contracted to the club.

@Too_Jazzee: Funny what happens when the best players are on the pitch. Game of two halves, first hour was dire but huge credit for the comeback. Shows that Archer should never play again for us! #saintsfc

@FosseHub: Leave our club you shitty board #lcfc

@JustSaints_: WE WANT 9

@euQyaJ: The rot has truly set in, we will lose Fatawu for sure next season. End of an era. It’s a battle to stay up now, but our horrible board management has caught up with us.

@ChloeRT9: WTF WAS THAT

@FUTKeiran99V4_: Just put us into administration and let’s rebuild ourselves as Leicester bottler city foxes fc

@37elliss: That’s relegation then, these players do not deserve the support they get.

@DangerDanAdams: At this rate we’ll struggle to get out of league one!

@Vannhillo5: not even surprised that’s the worst part. relegate us, this board deserves it.

@Sarahhh09: the most embarrassing result in recent years.. players should be ashamed but they don’t care because they are all off in the summer!