A Win Would Boost Confidence, Says Beaglehole
- Leicester City's Development Squad face a trip to Manchester City Under-23s on Sunday (2pm kick-off BST)
- The behind-closed-doors fixture is being played at City's Academy Stadium
- The Foxes are looking to get back to winning ways in Premier League 2
- Coach Steve Beaglehole looks forward to the test of coming up against 'some of the best young players in the country'
It's been over two weeks since City's previous league fixture, a 2-1 reverse at Derby County Under-23s, giving the squad time to reflect on a difficult period.
The Foxes have been defeated in their last three league games, before losing to an experienced League 2 Harrogate Town side in the EFL Trophy.
However, Beaglehole believes that once the next victory is secured, it will boost confidence within the group and Sunday's match at Manchester City provides an opportunity to return to winning ways.
"We’re looking forward to Sunday and it gets us back into the league programme," Leicester's Senior Professional Development Phase Coach told LCFC.com.
“It’s a good game to judge our players in because they have got some of the best young players in the country.
“It’s a great fixture at a great venue which will be similar to ours when we move into the new training ground.
"It’s a lovely pitch with a nice stand around it and the opposition are very good. A win would lift everyone.
“Winning games does great things for confidence and you’ve got to be careful when you get in a rut that you have to try and get out of it as quick as possible."
Defenders Sam Hughes and Mitchell Clark both went out on loan to Football League clubs earlier this month, in order to gain some first team experience.
Those moves have given some of the Under-18s a chance to step up into the Development Squad and try to impress. Beaglehole says that everyone will be raring to go come Sunday.
"We are in a transitional period at the moment, we’ve lost two more players going out on loan, but it lets us play more of the younger players," he explained.
“It’s good for them to have the opportunity to play in a game of this magnitude. Winning is a good habit and it is about winning at this level because that’s the industry they are in.
“These players are looking to further their careers, hopefully at Leicester in the first team, but that is a big ask at any Premier League club. The bar is raised and the quality is there for everybody to see.
“They are not youth team players anymore, even the Under-18s players, when they step up into Under-23s, they come into this environment.
“It shows how much importance we put on winning and how to manage games and this is something that, at the moment, we have a long way to go to improve in terms of being able to win games.
"And being able to keep clean sheets, which is a big thing. We need to be better defensively and we need to better going forward in terms of creating chances.
"We need to manage the game better. Like against Harrogate when we shot ourselves in the foot by going two goals down early on, we’ve got to do better."
Leicester will be without Layton Ndukwu for the trip to Manchester. The midfielder remains unavailable through injury, while Shane Flynn is suspended after being sent off at Derby.
“It's a disappointment as he's (Shane Flynn) been one of our best players, one of the most consistent performers, but he will be missing," Beaglehole said.
“The challenge for us as staff is we’ve got to get them all up for the game.
"We’ve had a good week’s work and hopefully we’ll see on Sunday the fruits of the work we’ve been doing.”