DOUGIE Freedman has made defensive signings a pressing priority in the January transfer window after seeing his side hit for five at Leicester City.

Wanderers were outclassed in an eight-goal thriller at the King Power Stadium where, despite having twice taken the lead, they were eventually comprehensively beaten by the Championship leaders.

Andre Moritz scored either side of a Jermaine Beckford goal for the Whites – but in the end, second-half strikes from Lloyd Dyer and Gary Taylor-Fletcher emphasised a class gap between the two teams.

“I’ve got no complaints about the defeat,” Freedman told The Bolton News. “But I was disappointed with our defensive duties.

“The players going forward were very good but we didn’t take care of our defensive duties and we gave away sloppy goals.

“In the second half we huffed and puffed but they have so much quality going forward, so much legs, we felt we had to defend better.

“We have got to try to bring in a couple more defenders who are more resilient and give ourselves a chance.”

Wanderers had given as good as they got in the first half but always looked vulnerable down the flanks, where Foxes wide men Anthony Knockaert and Lloyd Dyer excelled.

Freedman tried to change the shape of his side by taking off Rob Hall for Darren Pratley at half time – but admits the change did not bring about the desired effect.

“It was not just about the change but over the 90 minutes I think that is what let us down,” he said.

“They caused us problems down the left hand side, as they did the whole game, so I just thought we needed to be a bit more solid without taking away too much creativity.

“I just wanted to make sure we didn’t give away three goals again because the longer the game went the next goal was going to be crucial."