Barradell: Positives To Take As Unbeaten Run Continues
- Leicester City’s Under-18s drew 1-1 away at Arsenal in U18 PL South on Saturday
- Top scorer Chris Popov added to his impressive goal tally in north London
- The Foxes were pegged back in the second half via Khayon Edwards’ penalty
- Adam Barradell discussed City’s unbeaten run and defensive record with LCFC.com
Foxes forward Chris Popov gave the youngsters a first-half advantage at Arsenal Training Centre, but Khayon Edwards’ spot-kick restored parity in Shenley, which is how things stayed despite a flurry of late chances for the visitors, which went unrewarded.
While satisfied with an extension of City’s impressive form, the coach was frustrated with the way the Gunners were able to get back into the contest during the second period, identifying areas to improve following the stalemate, which keeps Leicester fourth in the U18 Premier League South standings, three points behind leaders West Ham United with two games in hand.
He told LCFC.com: “We knew it was always going to be a tough game down at Arsenal and so it proved. I think we started the game really well. Overall, in our performance, we hit the level in the first half, we were excellent.
“In the second half, we dropped off, which was disappointing. We conceded early from a penalty from an individual error, but we weren’t happy with some of the defensive work which led up to the goal.
“We didn’t start the second half well enough. We spoke at half-time that we expected Arsenal to come out and be assertive and more aggressive in their press, and they certainly were. We didn’t meet their intensity at the start of the second half.
“We had a couple of chances late on. Two one-on-ones through Chris [Popov] and Zac [Booth], but we couldn’t finish them off. It was more our mindset second half, we needed to be a bit more positive, a bit more on the front foot and braver on the ball.”
The young Foxes have conceded fewer goals than any other side in the division (13) and Barradell is proud of their defensive record, which has been the foundation of their impressive campaign to date, including nine victories from 13 league matches.
“Ultimately, 1-1 is not a bad result,” he continued. “The performance level from the first half is what we’re after. We were pleased with the way we pressed, our organisation and our shape, and some of our bravery and control on the ball in the first half.
“There’s a lot of positives to take from the performance. We’ve still not conceded from open play. We also want to preserve that unbeaten run for as long as we can, that’s important. I think boys of this age, they’ll be looking at things like that.
“It’s important that we continue to try and hit the performance level in those competitive games and keep that run going as long as we can.”