Leicester City U-18s: Trevor Peake happy with young Foxes’ progress
Leicester City U-18s manager Trevor Peake is happy with the way the young Foxes have progressed this season, he told in an exclusive interview with Leicester’s official website.
After finishing 12th last season in the Under-18 Premier League, Leicester City have done surprisingly well this time around, as they sit third on the table with four wins in six games so far, the most recent defeat coming against Aston Villa (2-0).
Speaking exclusively to lcfc.co.uk, Peake expressed his thoughts about how important it was for his players to gain more experience (still is) for their quality to show up while also discussing the other integral factors.
An impressed Trevor Peake said:
"“We’ve had a really good season so far. We have only last twice this season and already won four times, which is a brilliant achievement.“We mentioned last year how young we were, not so much as an excuse for results, but as a grounding for the younger age group that was about to come through.“You always hope that will give them experience and knowhow that they can use to progress and that is exactly what has happened. It’s been a wonderful few weeks for them all.“The other factor is togetherness and a willingness to learn. They clock up some miles, they are really hard working as a group and some players are catching the eye.”"
The U-18s boss then talked about Tyrese Shade and Connor Tee, who have both been scoring and assisting with consistency throughout the season. Peake also compared Tee to Shinji Okazaki, saying that he is just as hard-working and energetic.
"“They are in the positions that get the glory, but it’s worth stressing that they benefit from the hard work of the players behind them across the whole team.“They are two very hard-working individuals. Connor plays in a No.10. If you look at our first team, when [Shinji] Okazaki plays, he is a bundle of energy, and Connor is just like that.”"
It’s vital to the club’s overall growth that more players from within the setup come up the ranks to eventually break into the main team. One such emerging player is Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who is the latest to be promoted to Steve Beaglehole’s Leicester City Development Squad that plays in the Premier League 2.
Peake revealed how Dewsbury-Hall’s attitude has been one of the major reasons behind his rise.
"“Kiernan had to really fight to get into the team last season,” Peake reveals. “There were players in front of him and his pathway didn’t look great, but he kept trying.“His attitude is spot on but it fell to us to give him reassurance that we recognised his quality. It is very pleasing to see kids like that get on.“He is another one who is a real model professional.”"
The U-18s next face table-toppers Chelsea at Belvoir Drive, who’ll undoubtedly be the ultimate test for Trevor Peake’s Leicester City. The 60-year old knows it’ll be a test, though he is eager to see how his side goes.
"“We are third in the table. The other team with us, Fulham, have started well too. Chelsea have won five out of five. That’s where the real test lies.“It’ll be very interesting to see how we go. We’ve got to pick up our game even further.“Individually, we want to get as many as we can into the Under-23s. That’s our ultimate aim, as we did last season.“We may have not done so well last season in terms of results, but we progressed several players on to the next stage of their careers.”"