Saturday 2 May 2015 13:52, UK
Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has launched a staunch defence of manager Nigel Pearson - despite his 'ostrich' outburst.
Pearson apologised after calling a journalist "stupid" and an "ostrich" during a bizarre post-match news conference following his side's 3-1 defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday.
But Schmeichel, speaking exclusively to Sky Sports ahead of Leicester's clash with Newcastle on Saturday, has shrugged off the incident and described Pearson as the "best manager" he has played for.
"I think the Nigel Pearson, on the outside in the media seat, is very, very different to the guy that we see on a daily basis," Schmeichel said.
"I’ve said many times that he’s the best manager that I’ve ever played under and creates a great atmosphere and platform for his players to start to perform.
"If he needs to shout he’ll definitely shout but he can also be very calm. He’s very charismatic, got a great sense of humour as well and he creates a good atmosphere."
Leicester had won four in a row before defeat to Chelsea, that run lifting them out of the relegation spot, albeit by a point.
But Schmeichel took plenty of positives from a match in which Leicester took the lead and is confident his team-mates can ensure another year in the top flight.
"To win four games in a row at any point in the season for any team in the Premier League is a great achievement," he added.
"We’re not getting carried away and if you had been a fly on the wall in our dressing room you would never have thought we were bottom of the league.
"I think if anybody had been watching all our games you could see we have actually played quite well but we haven’t got the results that maybe our performances merited, but that’s the Premier League for you.
"As a promoted club you are always favourites to go down and some promoted teams do go down but we’ve always felt we had the quality of playing and good calibre of manager to help us stay up."
Watch the full Kasper Schmeichel interview on Soccer Saturday - from 11am, Sky Sports News HQ.
