Smith Calls For More In-Play Control

- Leicester City and Everton battled to a 2-2 draw at King Power Stadium on Monday
- Çağlar Söyüncü and Jamie Vardy found the net after Dominic Calvert-Lewin's penalty 
- Alex Iwobi rescued a point for the Toffees, who also regularly tested Daniel Iversen
- Manager Dean Smith says the Foxes needed more 'control' in the game

Dominic Calvert-Lewin's penalty was overturned by Çağlar Söyüncü and Jamie Vardy before the break for City, who also saw James Maddison's penalty saved by Jordan Pickford. Alex Iwobi, though, netted a second-half equaliser for the visitors. 

It's a result which elevates Leicester to 16th in the table, leaving Everton 19th, although both sides desperately wanted all three points. Smith believes the Toffees 'won the second-ball game' on Monday, giving the Foxes an uphill task.

"It was breathless, it was end to end," the Manager told LCFC TV. "It was probably more end to end than I expected, or wanted. I didn’t think we were great in the first half. I was disappointed with the performance.

"Out of the four games, it was probably the worst one we’ve had so far, in terms of the quality of the players we’ve got and the unforced errors we made. They won the second-ball game, they were better than that than us.

"I wanted us to have more control. I felt we could've have more today, but as I said, there was too many unforced errors. We lacked a little bit of discipline tactically. We've got midfielders overlapping wide players, but you can see that the players care.

"I just don't think we showed enough quality on the ball today. 

"Our qualities are on the ball and we became a counter-attacking team unfortunately in the first half because we didn’t keep the ball well enough. We looked a threat when we did [go forward]. It was a bad start to concede a penalty.

"I thought it was a little bit soft, but I can understand why it’s given. I’ve seen a few over the weekend not given for similar. But it was a really good comeback. I think we scored from our first chance, really.

"Çağs gets on the end of it and then I thought Vards was a constant threat to their backline and got a really-worked goal. It was a great pass from Madders and a great finish. We’ve hit the bar and also missed a penalty.

"It makes the game different in the second half if we one of those goes in. They didn’t and we gave a sloppy goal away.

"We actually got the control back then. We made the sub and moved Madders inside to a no.10 to get him more of the ball and then I actually thought we controlled the game for a 20-25-minute spell."

Smith was impressed by the Blue Army's support on Filbert Way, also discussing Daniel Iversen's saves and Vardy's improved goal rate since his appointment last month.

"I'd have obviously liked a couple more points from one of these games, but it was important we didn't lose them," he added. "We didn't play our best first half, but the fans certainly stuck behind us. When we got the goals, you could see the place lifted. In the second half, when we had that control of the game, I thought they were going to suck a goal in for us. 

"We showed our attacking intent at times, but we can't be giving away the amount of shots that Everton had. We knew they were going to be strong from set-pieces and they won a lot of first contacts. Daniel came to our rescue when we needed him. 

"It's a great bonus for us [to have Vardy in form] with Kel (Kelechi Iheanacho) injured as well. He looks like he's got the bit between his teeth. He's getting in behind defenders and I think he'll be a threat for the rest of the season."