Plenty To Work On, Says Petty
- Leicester City’s Development Squad were beaten 4-3 by Burnley on Friday
- Wanya Marçal, Amani Richards and Silko Thomas all scored in Seagrave
- Coach Ben Petty assessed the performance in the Premier League Cup defeat
- City face Wigan Athletic in the EFL Trophy group stage on Tuesday (7pm kick-off)
The young Foxes began their Premier League Cup campaign at home to the Lancashire club and despite twice taking the lead through goals from Wanya Marçal and Amani Richards, they ended up with nothing to show for their efforts at LCFC Training Ground.
“I thought the performance was actually good at times,” Petty reflected in his post-match assessment. “But I'm really disappointed with the goals we've conceded. To score three at Seagrave and play the way we did with some of our attacking play, I'm very disappointed [to lose].
“We looked really potent in the final third. You can see there's a lot of good attacking play out there and some really top attacking players that we have at the Club. I've said to the players in the changing room that what we need to do is work harder as a team out of possession, because some of our in-possession work is excellent.
“I think Burnley only had six attempts on goal and scored four. That's clinical, but we have to be better than that, especially here. It was a really poor goal to give away, the second goal, because we were in the ascendancy. We'd just taken the lead. We were on top.
“Burnley looked like they were running out of gas but fair play to them, they kept going and they really worked hard for it. It was a fantastic game of football, but one that you don't want to come out second in.”
Having scored for the First Team earlier this season, Marçal was back with the Under-21s side on Friday evening and his application impressed Petty, as did substitute Olabade Aluko, making his debut at this level.
“I was very impressed [with Marçal],” City’s coach explained. “It was a fantastic goal and he had some really good moments in the game, showing a really good attitude. It's difficult because the First Team squad is so strong and Wanya is still a young player so he needs minutes.
“I think it was important that he got 90 in him tonight and I'll give a good report back to the Manager. [Aluko] didn't look out of place. He really impressed me. In the last two weeks, we've done a lot of work with the Under-18s and me and Adam [Barradell] have joined the groups together.
“Over the international break, he stood out and with us being short at right-back at this moment in time, we thought it was a good introduction for him tonight, and I think he's got a bright future at the Club.”
'Disappointed With The Goals Conceded'
Reaction from Ben Petty as Leicester City's Development Squad came out on the wrong end of a seven-goal thriller in Seagrave.
Now looking ahead to Tuesday evening’s EFL Trophy opener away to Sky Bet League 1 side Wigan Athletic at DW Stadium (7pm kick-off), he placed extra significance on how the players respond to a run of four defeats across all competitions.
The 46-year-old added: “We've had a few indifferent results, but it's development. We'll learn more about the players when they don't get the result than when they do get the result.
"We're a little bit short of defenders at the moment, with Joe [Wormleighton] and Iestyn [Hughes] out at right-back, Jahmari [Lindsay] out at left-back. But overall, it's a team, team ethic and a team game when it comes to defending.
“That's the main focus in the team talk at the end there. It's easy stuff when you're winning. They're going to have to dig a little bit deeper now and we'll see who's got the character and the fight for Tuesday night.”
All times BST.