Richard Cockerill feels Leicester Tigers have lost their way

Former Leicester Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill believes the Gallagher Premiership have lost their way and might have to battle their way to avoid relegation in the ongoing season.

The Welford Road unit finished 11th in the last season of Premiership and managed to escape relegation and even in the ongoing season they started with three defeats from four games and were at the bottom of the table until Saracens replaced them after they were docked 35 points for a breach in Salary Cap.

They now have a 26 point lead over Saracens but Cockerill, who coached the Tigers between 2005 and 2017 before he was sacked believes Mark McCall's men have the potential and form to overcome the gap.

"The first thing they need to do is realise where they're at and what they need to do next," said Cockerill.

"I'm not sure Leicester have decided where they're at. Once you realise that you can do something about it.

"But no one's too good to go down. Look at Saracens historically and they will be right in the mix to survive - Leicester will need those 26 points.

"Leicester were in the relegation scrap last year and, unfortunately for them, their season has not started particularly well. They're in the same boat as last year."

The Tigers are the most successful team in the Premiership with 10 titles apart from finishing runners-up seven times and Cockerill was involved in the majority of them after featuring in 250 games for the club as a player followed by a 12-year stint as coach.

"Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for," said Edinburgh head coach Cockerill.

"The brunt reality is I got the sack because they wanted to be in a better position than they were.

"I had eight years at the club as coach - we were champions three times, finalists twice and semi-finalists three times.

"We got to a European final, LV Cup and a European semi-final. If that wasn't good enough then the people that made change need to make it better."

Following his stint with the Tigers, Cockerill had a brief stint with Toulon before taking in charge of Edinburgh ahead of the 2017/18 season.