The Level Wasn’t Good Enough, Says Barradell
- Leicester City’s Under-18s were beaten by Aston Villa on Tuesday afternoon
- Rory Wilson scored a hat-trick in the Premier League U18 match
- Josh King and Reece Evans netted second-half goals for City at Bodymoor Heath Training Ground
- The young Foxes finish their season with an away match against Tottenham on Saturday morning (11:30am BST kick-off)
After several positive results, which saw City’s Under-18s climb to seventh in Premier League U18 South, they were on the reverse on a 4-2 scoreline which saw Villa take the points thanks to three early goals.
Scottish striker Rory Wilson netted twice in the opening four minutes before Charlie Lutz gave the Villans a commanding lead just 15 minutes in. Speaking to LCFC.com, the coach summed up his thoughts on the game.
“Overall, it was a disappointing performance and not of the level that we have come to expect,” Barradell said. “We spoke as a group about our disappointment to concede two goals so early, and we’re determined to put it right in our last match of the season against Tottenham.
“I was proud that the lads managed to make it competitive and get it back to 3-2 in the second half, but from an overall performance, it is below the level that we’ve been putting in so it’s important that we bounce back.
“We’ve looked at the goals we’ve conceded, and we’ve not been happy with how many we’ve been shipping recently, because we went through a period where we were defensively solid.
“The team has changed over the season with more lads coming through into the Development Squad, so we’ve had plenty of scholars making their first impact and sadly they didn’t get a result, but it’ll be a learning curve for them.
“When you concede goals so early, it’s about how you regroup and recover, and as a young group of lads like we are, that can be difficult, but it’s something we’ll work on, along with the aspect of regaining momentum in those situations.”
Tuesday’s defeat didn’t include top goalscorer Amani Richards or Logan Briggs, with both starting the day before in the Development Squad’s 4-1 loss to Everton, but Barradell was still happy to praise the progress within the pathway despite the result.
“Ultimately my job is to progress players in their journey to the first team,” the coach stated. “It’s always a success seeing these young players move into the Development Squad.
“Of course, we want to be competitive in every game and finish as high as we can in the league, and we’re striving for both continuous development and positive results.
Highlights - Leicester City U21s 1 Everton U21s 4
Extended highlights from LCFC Training Ground as Leicester City Development Squad were beaten by Everton on Monday evening in PL2.
“To see players, such as Amani [Richards] come on for the Under-21s is always pleasing to see and I think he had a positive impact in the game, so that is always the main aim for us.”
Looking ahead to this weekend, City’s youngsters travel to the capital to face Tottenham Hotspur in Enfield, as the 2022/23 campaign is brought to a close.
“We’re preparing by making sure we're solid defensively,” Barradell continued. “We want to get back to having the solid backline that we had before the West Ham United game and aiming to keep those clean sheets.
“We’ve been working hard defensively to look at how we can prevent those errors and goals slipping through, while also making sure we’re clinical ourselves at the other end.
“We’ll have an attacking line-up so that we can take the game to Tottenham and hopefully finish the season on a high. We want to finish as well as we can, especially after the last couple of performances, but it’s always about how we rectify those situations.”
During a season of ups and downs, which currently leaves Leicester eighth in the standings with seven wins so far this season, the coach looks back on it as an important one, with the idea of individual development firmly at the forefront of his mind.
He concluded: “From a development point of view, it’s been a positive season with progressing players through to the Under-21s squad, and with the number of debuts we’ve seen from Under-18s in the squad has been pleasing from a staff perspective.
“Richards is one player who has had a great season with his impressive goalscoring record. Jayden Joseph is another who has impressed, just to name a few.
“We’ve been competitive in the league, alhough we've probably not finished as high as we would have expected, but that’s something we’ll work on next season to improve, while continuing to develop players along the pathway.”