A Pleasing Performance Despite The Result, Says Barradell
- Leicester City Under-18s were beaten 2-0 by West Ham United last weekend
- Second-half goals from George Earthy and Favour Fawunmi settled the scoreline
- Barradell believes City’s performance was one of their best this season
- The youngsters are next in action against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday
The Foxes arrived at West Ham's training ground in high spirits following a 3-2 home win against Blackburn Rovers in the U18 Premier League Cup a couple of weeks ago.
However, their opponents for the day would be a Hammers side sitting at the top of the table. It was a spot they would continue to hold as the outfit from London would beat City 2-0, with two second-half goals from George Earthy and Favour Fawunmi.
Despite the loss, Barradell told LCFC.com he was impressed with the display: “I thought it was a very pleasing performance, one with and without the ball that was up there with our best of the season.
“It’s not easy to go down to West Ham that are doing so well in the league, but I thought we put out our style and personality on the game and managed to compete.
“I thought we were the better team in the first half, we controlled more of the ball and had more penalty box entries. Unfortunately, we conceded a sloppy goal 10 minutes into the second half, and then to concede chasing the game in the 90th minute was disappointing.”
He added: “Overall, the feeling of the group was that we were pleased with the performance level. Yes, we want to get the result as well, but I believe if we continue to play like we did, the results will come.
“There was certainly some excellent development for individuals as well, I was really impressed with some of the scholars that featured.”
While disappointed to not take anything from the game, the coach was keen to outline the positive effect from the players' performance, but also the learning points that they’ll take forward into their next fixture, a league game against West Bromwich Albion U18s on Saturday (11am GMT kick-off).
He said: “We focus on ourselves, it’s not like we went down there, defending for long periods of the game. We had more of the ball than West Ham. We created more clear-cut opportunities, but we were just missing that execution of quality in the final third.
“We had to be a bit calmer to sustain the ball in their half and more clinical in front of goal, but there were plenty of positive signs to build on.
“We know what we’re going to face against West Brom. They’re a team that like to play positive and forward football, so you’ve got to deal with that in terms of the physicality of their team.
“It will be a case of can we be as good on the ball like we were against West Ham, while being more clinical and effective in the final third? But also, being wary out of possession, in order to cut out the two errors that we made for the goals - but we’re looking forward to the game on Saturday.”
Currently 10th in the league, Barradell doesn’t focus too much on the standings: “We don’t get too carried away with looking at the table, obviously we want to go there and get a win, but ultimately looking at the long-term development of the players.
“It’s important that we focus on getting the right performance. Like I said to them after the West Ham game, if we can do that, nine times out of 10, results will start picking up.”