Russell Martin has conceded his Leicester City side have to play "horrible" at times

Leicester City boss Russell Martin has admitted that his side must start playing "ugly" and "horrible" to improve their form after a slow start to the League One campaign.

City have won just two of their opening eight games in the league this season, losing three, and find themselves 17th in the table. After last week's 3-1 home defeat to Peterborough United, the Foxes are just one point above the relegation zone.

Martin has come under intense pressure in the aftermath of the latest defeat at the King Power Stadium. The City boss was brought to the club to get Leicester back to the Championship, but so far, results have followed a similar pattern to last season.

Make sure you never miss the latest Leicester City news and opinion by making Leicestershire Live one of your Google preferred sources

Plenty has been made of Martin's style of play since he was appointed at Leicester, with a perception that he refuses to move away from his principles. However, the Leicester boss has conceded that his team must start playing "ugly" at times in games to get results.

"Whether we go home or away, we have to play football," he said. "We have to fight. We have to run. But then we have a shaky moment, whether it's home or away, we do not respond in the right way.

"So we have to try and give them some strategies on the pitch that can help them respond properly. And maybe for five or 10 minutes, it's like just be ugly and just be horrible, fight and put the ball up there. But we spoke about this and we can't do it.

"So we have to keep reaffirming. And if you don't do it, you won't play."

He added: "At Stockport, we win the game because we did the ugly stuff brilliantly, really well. And we're going to have to do that in every game. Whether it's for five minutes, 10 or 15 minutes, whatever it is, first half, second half or late on. You have to weather the storm at some point, you have to suffer in a game of football. And right now, when we have to suffer, we don't look like a team.

"We look like a group of individuals trying to preserve their own. You can't deal with big moments like that, so we have a lot of work to do on that front, because if we do get that right, the goals we concede are not anything to do with tactics, it's individual moments. You have to show so much willingness to fight and do your job for the team. And right now, we're not quite there."