Brendan Rodgers claims he told Leicester players to "punish" Southampton at half-time

Ruthless Brendan Rodgers told his Leicester squad to "punish" Southampton as he put Ralph Hassenhuttl on the brink of the sack.

Jamie Vardy and Ayoze Perez both scored hat-tricks for the Foxes as they romped to a 9-0 win at St. Mary's on Friday night.

The win is the biggest away win in Premier League history and equals the overall largest total, set by Manchester United against Ipswich Town in 1995.

Hassenhuttl will now face crunch talks with Southampton chiefs following the damaging result.

And Leicester boss Rodgers claims that he urged his team at half-time to humiliate the Saints - despite already being 5-0 up.

Rodgers told his Leicester players to "punish" Southampton (REUTERS)

Leicester romped to a record-breaking victory (AFP via Getty Images)

"We said at half time, keep your speed in the game and we have to punish them," he said.

"It is tough for Ralph but we have to do our job and score as many goals as we can.

"The game is 0-0 at half-time we said. This is part of our education we have to come out of the boy zone and play like a man and respect the game. They are very talented and learning to be ruthless.

"Kasper is really happy, The only other keeper to have a nine was his father. We believe in our work, believe we can push over the course of the season. Our mentality is how we work every day. The players want to get better and improve.

Vardy converts the ninth goal of the game from the spot (PA)

Leicester's players celebrate their ninth goal of the game (Getty Images)

"A great, great win and now we have to focus on the cup game."

Southampton's Nathan Redmond did not hold back in his assessment of the match, telling Sky Sports: "It was an embarrassing performance, the stuff of nightmares and especially playing at home.

"It just wasn't good enough and one of the poorest performances since I've been at the club and we'll have to debrief that whole game from start to finish tomorrow.

Redmond trudges off the pitch following the game (REUTERS)

"There were a host of things that went wrong - the red card decision and then the quick goal at the same time. We conceded goals far too quickly in the first half.

"We need to do much, much better. I think we had a few players out of position after the sending off and we tried to deal with it as best we could.

"There are the things we need to look at tomorrow but it was an embarrassing performance."