We’re Ready For Chelsea, Says Barradell
- Leicester City’s Under-18s welcome Chelsea to LCFC Training Ground on Saturday
- This weekend’s U18 Premier League fixture has an 11:00am BST kick-off
- City’s youngsters beat Arsenal 2-1 last time out when Amani Richards scored twice
- The team will continue to look further up the table, says Adam Barradell
The young Foxes boast a record of four wins in their last six outings, most recently when they came from behind to win 2-1 against Arsenal at the end of March. Looking back to their performance in Shenley, the coach shared his admiration for the team in an interview with LCFC.com.
“I thought the boys were excellent,” Barradell told us. “They showed a real collective desire to do well in the game and have a good performance. To comeback from behind and score two goals late on left a good feeling in the group.
“We’ve got five games left and we’ve spoke among ourselves that we want that feeling to continue until the end of the season, and we're on a pleasing run in the league.”
Heading back to competitive fixtures, the Under-18s now take on fifth-placed Chelsea in Seagrave this weekend, with the Blues currently seven points ahead of Leicester heading into the match.
“We’ve set our targets individually, but also collectively, and on the league table as well," Barradell continued. "I think it’s important for boys of this age to have those targets to aim for, to aid in their development. We want to keep pushing and improve our league position, so with the game we have left, we want to keep progressing.
“The boys have had a little time away, as it’s been a demanding schedule this season for the Under-18s, so we’ve enjoyed Easter off, as it’s important to allow the boys time to reflect and spend time with their families.
“But we’ve come back in, been working hard, and we’re ready to face Chelsea on Saturday. It’s a game we’re looking forward to, and we want to improve on the display that we put on at Cobham earlier this season.
“We’ve also had confidence in our own ability, but we just didn’t get the results we probably deserved until recently. But we must stick to the process and focus on what we’re doing daily, and thankfully we’re starting to see the fruits of our labour.
With only a handful of games remaining in this season, the Foxes have been able to drag themselves away from the bottom of the table, but Barradell explains how the coaching staff have targets set from now until the season’s conclusion in May.
He added: “There’s always ups and downs in youth development. We won’t get carried away in this winning period that we’re in, and we won’t get too disappointed when it goes against us, like it did against Crystal Palace. We focus on the next game, and the next performance and continue to develop our team on a daily basis.
“Our main target is to keep looking at where we finish in the league, while continuing to set individual targets for the players. We’ve got some who are developing well and moving through the squads.
“Amani Richards is performing well and scoring in the league so we’ve got targets for him, and clean sheet targets for the backline, so we know, as coaching staff, what we want to achieve between now and the end of the season.”