- Steve Beaglehole credits Leicester City’s Under-23s for their improved display in the second half of Monday night’s game
- The Foxes were beaten 4-2 by Everton at LCFC Training Ground in Premier League 2
- Callum Wright replied to the Toffees’ early opener, before Jake Wakeling also found the net
City’s second home match in the space of only eight days saw them take on the Toffees following a 4-2 success over Manchester United in Seagrave, thanks to Callum Wright’s opener, a goal from Jake Wakeling and Thanawat Suengchitthawon’s brace.
However, the Foxes were unable to replicate their performance in their latest league outing. Despite Wright firing in a first-half equaliser, City headed into the interval 3-1 down and while Wakeling found the net again in the second period, they couldn’t mount a comeback.
“I thought we played some very good football in the first period of the first half, but it was good in our half, and when we got into their half, I thought we lacked a few ideas and it was a bit pedestrian – the passing,” Beaglehole reflected to LCFC TV.
“So, we didn’t create as much, although we were having a lot of the ball. I was very disappointed with the defending. I thought they picked us off on the counter-attack, they are a counter-attacking team.
“They’re very much like their first team, I think you can see their similarities. They’re strong defensively and look to counter-attack quickly. When you do that, you’ve got to be clinical, and they were clinical. I thought they didn’t have to work too hard for their goals. We had to work very hard for ours.”
After the interval, Leicester were much more fluid in their attack, and reduced the deficit to just one goal when Wakeling netted with 20 minutes to play.
However, Nathan Broadhead restored Everton’s two-goal advantage shortly after, while Portugal youth goalkeeper João Virgínia made a string of fine saves throughout.
“I think the second half, we showed a lot more desire to get players forward to make runs past the ball in advance of the ball, and we were a real threat,” Beaglehole added.
“If you look at the stats in the second half and the saves that their goalkeeper has pulled off, we didn’t deserve to lose it if you look at the amount of attacks we had and the amount of final-third entries, crosses and shots.
“But you don’t get what you deserve, and rightly so sometimes if you give goals away like we did. It’s disappointing that we conceded four goals.
“If you look at it on balance, possibly we deserved a draw, but that would have hidden the defensive mistakes that we made tonight.”