Barradell: Young Foxes On The Right Path
- Leicester City’s Under-18s welcome Birmingham City to LCFC Training Ground on Saturday (12pm GMT kick-off)
- The young Foxes could rise to the U18 Premier League South summit with victory in Seagrave
- Coach Adam Barradell believes the players are in good shape ahead of returning to competitive action
- Their performance level must be high to overcome the Blues and continue an impressive run, he adds
City’s youngsters returned to training this week after a short winter break, which came off the back of ending last year with a seven-game unbeaten streak in U18 Premier League South.
“The boys have had a bit of time off over Christmas,” the coach told LCFC.com earlier this week. “We thought it was important that the lads spent the time with their families and recuperated. We’ve had some of the training group who have been in with the Under-23s, so they’ve had a really good experience.
“They’ve all had a home programme over the Christmas period and, with the type of group they are and how responsible they are, they’ve come back in good shape, in terms of the session we had on Monday and the double session we had Tuesday.
“The boys have come back hungry and raring to go.”
Barradell is expecting visitors Birmingham City to prove to be a tricky opponent at LCFC Training Ground on Saturday, despite their position of 13th in the league table, though they did remain unbeaten in the final two fixtures of 2021.
Focusing on Leicester’s own display, there is a determination to quickly recapture the momentum built up during the first half of the season and ensure that performances match the results to enjoy further successes.
He continued: “With the league game on Saturday and the FA Youth Cup game next Friday, it’s important that the boys try and look to continue where they left off, that’s one of the most important things. They did well in terms of performances, and they will be wanting to carry that on.
“The biggest thing for us will be the performance on Saturday. It’s always difficult after you’ve had a break for the boys to come back in and hit the ground running. That will be the challenge for them first and foremost, before the result, to get back to the levels we were hitting before Christmas.
“But Birmingham will be a really good test for us. They’ve got some real good individual players who are pushing on at their academy and we played them in pre-season so we know it’ll be a tough game for us.”
Winning six of their last seven league games maintained a healthy position of third in the standings, collecting 25 points from 11 matches. It has led to several player call-ups to the Development Squad, which Barradell believes demonstrates the clear pathway in place.
Having a full week to prepare for this weekend’s fixture is also a bonus after a hectic schedule towards the end of 2021, ahead of meeting Crewe Alexandra in the FA Youth Cup on Friday 14 January.
He explained: “It was great that the boys managed to achieve that [run] before Christmas, but the main thing will be about getting the performance level right. We’ll have some individuals who will hopefully be around the Under-23s on Saturday against Chelsea, so that’s a real positive for the group and we’ll be looking to perform well on Saturday.
“It’s important that we treat Saturday professionally, like the boys will. Some of them will be thinking about next week, that’s natural, but hopefully they will keep their eye on Saturday. As staff, we’ll encourage that. With us training Thursday and Friday, we’ll get in some good tactical work on top of the physical work we’ve done in the early part of the week.”