A poor performance at Elland Road this afternoon. We could’ve lost if it wasn’t for Nick Pope’s penalty save, but will leave Leeds frustrated to only draw after a late equaliser from Rasmus Kristensen.
Here come the ratings following today’s 2-2 draw:
Nick Pope – 8 – Brilliant save for the penalty, keeping us in the game. Couldn’t really do much about the goals, possibly could’ve tipped the first round the post, but we should’ve defended the cross way better. Took a few high balls well. Without his first-half stop, we probably leave with nothing today.
Kieran Trippier – 5 – Set piece delivery all over the place today. Missed Longstaff in the right channel offensively and defensively. Gave away the corner for Leeds’ second goal where he probably overcomplicated the clearance and a few fouls late on. Also an argument to say he should’ve done more to stop the cross for Leeds’ first.
Fabian Schar – 6 – Didn’t look his usual composed self in possession, but did make some vital interceptions and tackles to clear dangerous Leeds attacks.
Sven Botman – 5 – Surprisingly, he sometimes made hard work of the physical battle with Bamford. Looked a bit ropey today and hasn’t been at his effortless best of late.
Dan Burn – 4 – Really struggled going forward and was all at sea in the first 20 minutes of the game. Seemed to grow into the game but looked unbelievably one dimensional going forward and a little slow to react.
Bruno Guimaraes – 5 – His passing was way off early on, overhitting balls into the box and trying to pull off passes that were never really on. His weight of pass was really poor by his high standards and it’s obvious he’s struggling with his ankle. Looked a little tired and was also booked for a dive.
Joe Willock – 6 – Full of energy as always and tried his best to drive us forward. Wasn’t protected enough by the referee and Leeds got away with a few challenges on him with no consequence. Ran out of ideas in the second half, perhaps also running out of steam.
Joelinton – 5 – Put himself about as always, yet he was another who huffed and puffed but never got going, also conceding a really clumsy penalty. Didn’t get in the box enough and was always on the fringe of the game. Looked a bit sluggish at times, with our midfield three all tiring in Longstaff’s absence.
Miguel Almiron – 4 – Didn’t offer anything in the first half and made some really poor touches and passes. Obviously lacking some match fitness with his first start in a while. Leeds were touch tight to him in the second half and he seemed to struggle with this throughout.
Alexander Isak – 6 – Electric movement to win the penalty in the first half, but drifted in and out of the game at times. Looked better in a free role just off Wilson after failing to offer enough from the left. Didn’t track Ayling for his early goal.
Callum Wilson – 7 – Other than his two penalties which he took emphatically, didn’t really offer a lot in the match. However, he was so cool under pressure though, taking his penalties with supreme confidence. His best goal scoring season for us now, making it 17 for the season.
Substitutes:
Allan Saint-Maximin – 5 – Didn’t make the most of the space he was given at times. Failed to win fouls he was claiming for and wasted a fantastic position late on with a really poor cross. Had one decent shot that was held well by Robles.
Anthony Gordon – 5 – Like ASM, it was pretty ineffective cameo. Looked under confident on the ball and lacked the intensity that he used to show regularly at Everton.
Elliot Anderson – 5 – Ran himself into trouble a few times and failed to make an impact.
Don’t know why EH is persisting with Burn as he has been suspect of late and Leeds hardly posed any threat in the air, Taggart offers more going forward.
I can only think Bruno is nursing an ankle injury as he has been nowhere near his best.
Joelinton has been clumsy covering that area of midfield.
Trippier although unlucky with the deflection often lacks discipline defensively.
I don’t think Almiron offers any real threat and his flash in the pan purple patch is now a distant memory.
Champions League place is still in our hands but I am not confident at all.
Good teams would not have given this Leeds team the start we offered them and they would have closed the game down once in front which is a bit naive.
Joseph(Quote)
“We could’ve lost if it wasn’t for Nick Pope’s penalty save,”
I would have phrased it in a different way – as in “we could have won if he hadn’t parried the shot straight back out to the Leeds player.”
So who got the 8?
BykerBill(Quote)
I disagreed so strongly with some of these ratings it made me wonder if Ollie Wilson even watched the match?
So I sat down and watched the match again.
While some of the ratings are so far off as to be comical I’ll just start with Pope – who got a 7 and was praised for a “brilliant penalty save” , and “couldn’t do much about the goals”.
When you say “couldn’t do much” you mean couldn’t do much apart apart from maybe directing the header into a safe space rather than parrying it straight out to Aylin’s feet for a tap in that should never have happened?
Then there’s Dan Burn who gets a 4. so he “really struggled going forward” even though he drove forward whenever he had the opportunity, gave us the extra man on the left going forward and didn’t hit a bad pass all day. Not really his fault that Willock made a few iffy decisions and decided not to use him.
Apparently he was “all at sea in the first 20 minutes of the game” even though he didn’t actually put a foot wrong . Then we get to him looking “unbelievably one dimensional going forward” and “a little slow to react”. Overall Burn was probably our man of the match.
He wasn’t perfect – his only error in the game was when the ball was crossed for the Leeds goal, and Botman and Burn were caught marking spaces either side of the 2 Leeds players in-between them.
Basic rule of reviewing Ollie, rate the players, not the result, oh, and you actually have to WATCH THE MATCH!
BykerBill(Quote)
Bill – lets get this right 🤔
So Ollie scores a couple of players a few marks differently to what you would’ve and you went back and watched the WHOLE game over again just so you could write a childish sarcastic post about his article???.
Sharpy17(Quote)