Russell Martin claims Leicester are ‘too soft and too naive’ in Oxford drubbing

Mark Harris scored either side of the interval as the visitors ran riot during a second half which also saw youngster Mo Missanga net his first senior goal before Jamie McDonnell sparked a mass exodus from the King Power Stadium.

Harris’ eighth-minute opener, which appeared to brush his arm before crossing the line, provoked fury among the home fans. But so did what followed from the home team.

Martin, who took over at Leicester this summer after a desperate four-month spell at Rangers ended with his sacking last October, has now won only one of his first five league outings.

“We started terribly,” Martin said. “It was such a poor goal to concede and then I thought we were really on top in the first half.

“If we’d scored then, it would have changed the energy. But the start to the second half summed it up.

“We had five kick-offs and three of them end up with a chance on our goal, which is crazy. And I think that shows the lack of experience we have on the pitch and in the decision-making at times.

“So then we’re chasing the game and we keep getting caught in transition against opponents who are really good at that. I brought some experienced guys off, to try and inject some energy. But we were too soft and too naive.

“That’s frustrating and painful, because we looked the exact opposite of the team we’d been going into this and that was a team ready to be aggressive and fight for each other.”

Martin acknowledged the momentum they had gathered by beating Plymouth four days earlier has now completely disappeared.

Former Wales and Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey praised his Oxford players for delivering everything he could have asked for.

Ramsey said: “We knew we had to be at our absolute best today, concentrate for the full 90 minutes and we certainly did that.

“There were some really big performances for us out there. Really, really big. Every single one of the lads produced one really.

“I was really proud of that performance because, when I came in, I spoke about us wanting to have an identity, about enjoying ourselves in and out of possession and I think all of that was evident today.

“We’re going to enjoy this moment, in front of 2,000 of our fans. But then, when we come back in again on Monday, we’ll have full focus again.

“Every game we are learning something. We’ll never, ever, stop doing that.

“For us, it was all about managing the moments in the game better than we maybe have done at times in the past and showing some control.”