Football
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Nigel Pearson tells Leicester players to ignore online taunts from fans

Leicester boss Nigel Pearson has urged his men to ignore the taunts after Paul Konchesky was the victim of online abuse.

The 33-year-old has received Twitter taunts after his poor back pass allowed Andy Carroll to score in the Foxes' 2-0 defeat at West Ham on Saturday.

It kept them bottom of the Premier League and winless in their last 12 games ahead of Boxing Day's visit of Tottenham.

Pearson himself has been in hot water after an argument with a fan saw him hit with a one-game touchline ban, which he will serve on Friday.

But with Leicester five points from the safety line Pearson urged his men to ignore the critics.

"My job as manager is to prepare them as players for the next game, that's my view on it," he said.

"If you're not getting the results you want, if we're coming in for criticism for our league position and the run of games that's been going on too long, we have to accept at times people are going to be obnoxious.

"In many ways it's an incentive for us to turn it around - we want to do that for ourselves anyway.

"Other people's way of dealing with it is probably an indicator of how shallow some are."

Pearson will watch Boxing Day's game from the stands, where he often sits, after deciding not to fight the FA charge of misconduct.

He was found guilty after a row with a fan during the Foxes' 3-1 defeat to Liverpool earlier this month and had a personal hearing last week.

The manager retains the support of the squad despite their poor run, where they have not won since beating Manchester United 5-3 in September.

And he has rallied behind former Liverpool man Konchesky and insisted his support will never falter.

He said: "Do they call them trolls? It's probably quite a good description, but I don't think it's particularly good for the game.

"Paul is a very experienced player, I had a chat with him.

"In our situation it was a key moment in a game in which we'd played well.

"Unfortunately we ended up on the receiving end of another defeat.

"Is my support of my players going to waver because of other individuals taking out their frustrations on players? Certainly not."

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