Sat in 14th with just 13 points from as many games, Leicester City have officially made the worst start to a title defence since Ipswich Town in 1962.
After shocking the world to lift the 2015/16 Premier League title, Claudio Ranieri has called on his Leicester side to summon the character that they showed last season in order to avoid relegation.
In this week's Premier League action, Leicester trailed after 13 minutes followingAlvaro Negredo's first Premier League goal since the opening day of the season. A Riyad Mahrez penalty levelled the score for the Foxes as the game approached half-time, but a second Negredo goal allowed Boro to retake the lead with 20 minutes to go.
A late Islam Slimani penalty saved Leicester from what would have been their 7th loss of the season, however, scraping a point at home to Middlesbrough probably isn't what Leicester had hoped for after shattering their transfer record to sign the Algerian.
Speaking toSky Sportsafterthe match, Ranieri said: "They must remember not how last season went but two seasons ago, they now must be focusedon this. We have to play with the same character as the season then - the great escape. They have to play with pressure."
Playing like they did last season doesn't seem to be too much of an issue in the Champions League, however, where the Foxes could potentially face the likes ofReal Madrid or Bayern Munich after securing their position at the top of Group G.
"Something happened. The players are human, they are not machines," continued Ranieri.
"Then it is normal they remember last season when everybody played well and everything they tried to do was good - but this year no. Then you have to reconnect very well your brain.
"We are a good team. But we are not a good, good team as Chelsea, for example. Look at Chelsea last season, with a lot of champions they didn't work so well.This season they have N'Golo Kante and Marcos Alonso extra - but the others are the same. And now they are top. What happened? It is football."
Leicester did, of course, lose the impressive N'Golo Kante to Chelsea this summer but managed to keep their title-winning attacking duo in Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez. A year on from breaking Ruud van Nistelrooy's record for goals in consecutive Premier League games, Jamie Vardy looks a shadow of his 2015/16 self with less shots on target since September 11th than Laurent Koscielny.
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"Now we have to live in two ways. One Champions League. One Premier League. In Champions League we are so happy, in Premier League we aren't happy. Champions League we have to forget. We have to focus on what happens in Premier League," Ranieri Added.
"I am confident that we will work so hard with a strong mentality", defied the Italian as the club prepare for a relegation clash with Sunderland this Saturday in a season which saw them as unlikely relegation candidates with odds of around 50/1.