Saturday 19 November 2016 20:18, UK
Claudio Ranieri says Leicester's poor run of form in the Premier League only magnifies the scale of their achievements last season.
Leicester suffered their sixth defeat in their defence of the title they claimed in May and second in succession as they went down 2-1 at Watford.
Ranieri was still upbeat after the final whistle, despite their latest result leaving the champions within two points of the relegation zone.
The Italian, whose side have also gone four games without a win in all competitions, said: "It's just a bad period now. This period [shows] how big last season was. That's it.
"Now we are in 2016-17 and we have to react, to keep going with this period but of course stay stronger and concentrate from the beginning of the match every time.
"They have very good quality players and scored two fantastic goals. We had a very fantastic reaction. We tried to do our best.
"Of course, (Heurelho) Gomes didn't make any saves, but I think until the end we had a chance to score a goal because the team was alive. Against us today there was a big wall to stop all our shots at goal but I'm very pleased with our performance. I'm proud of them.
"At the end we deserved to draw the match. Of course, we lost the match, but the spirit is the same and I am positive. The spirit is high spirit."
Despite the club being in danger of being sucked into another relegation fight after a remarkable recovery from one two seasons ago, Ranieri remains optimistic of saving Leicester from the drop.
Ranieri, whose side fell behind early to Etienne Capoue's opener then lost a second to Roberto Pereyra, added: "We have the kick-off and after 35 seconds concede a goal, how can you explain?
"It was very difficult and after 12 minutes we were down two goals. They scored two fantastic goals. When your opponent scores two fantastic goals you can only say well done to them.
"(The issue is) not the confidence. If you don't have confidence you slip down and don't try to do the reaction. No, we react very well. We wanted to draw the match.
"I know [we are only two points above the relegation zone] but with this spirit I am very, very calm and very confident with my players."
