Fired up players, says Vardy

long as the performance was right, we could hold our heads up high.”

Leicester’s victory lifted them out of the relegation zone into 15th place and they will face struggling Hull City on Saturday.

Craig Shakespeare, Ranieri’s former assistant who has taken temporary charge, could even be named as manager for the rest of the season before this weekend after the resounding victory.

“It’s been a strange few days, I’ve been an assistant manager for a number of years and my remit was to prepare the team for this game,” he said.

“Knowing Claudio he will say it’s football. Do I think I’m capable of doing the job? Yes. Does it faze me? No. I’ll leave it to the owners but I think it will take its course. I’ll prepare the team for Hull unless told otherwise.”

Liverpool produced a dreadful performance and have only one league win this year. Jordan Henderson, who was absent last night, is also expected to miss this weekend’s home game against Arsenal with a foot injury.

And manager Jürgen Klopp admitted he and his squad were playing for their futures as their season threatens to disintegrate.

“We should get criticised. This inconsistency makes absolutely no sense,” he said.

“I don’t think they aren’t as good as I thought, but I think they need my help more to show it every week. I feel maximum responsible because I am.

“I try to say the truth as often as possible but bad performances don’t help anyone. We are all playing for our future here.

“I don’t want to be too serious but that’s how it is. We can be better and not doing it feels really disappointing.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool have named Peter Moore as their new chief executive.