it was a penalty for me, when your back leg gets clipped it knocks you Off balance. Milked it though! he had too or three good touches when he came on, which would make him our clear man of the match considering how **** we were.
On the whole the team was let down massively by a lack of central midfielders not doing their job. Koch will get alot of flak but he was left holding the fort singlehandedly whilst Klich and Rodrigo wandered off looking to grab headlines. We need Phillips and a new signing in there to hold the team together. Anyway on to the ratings... Meslier - 6. Did well coming for corners. Distribution was hit and miss. Ayling - 6. Quiet first half. Much better 2nd half and a screamer. Struijk - 6. Outpaced for their second but on the whole remained calm throughout. Cooper - 6. Solid enough. I'm not sure the defence was to blame despite the 5 goals. Dallas - 4. Unusually off his game. Looked rusty at LB first half and contributed to the worst midfield showing from a Leeds team in living memory for the second half. Raphinha - 4. Looked out of his depth. Got in good positions but did nothing with it. Koch - 4. Was marking Fernandes. Did have nuisance value but overun due to..... Rodrigo - 1. There are no words. Abysmal. Klich - 3. Decided not to bother marking Pogba and left Koch chasing shadows behind him. Actually had some nice touches but if you want to not mark your opposite number then you better outplay him. Pogba totally eclipsed him. Harrison - 5. Tried. Not much luck. Unlucky to be taken off instead of Raphinha. Bamford - 3. Contribution was a bit of running up top. More required. Subs. Costa - 5. Team wasn't weaker with him in it. He tried to get at his marker when he had (very few) a chance. Worked hard tracking back. Firpo - 5. Couple of poor touches but his agility and movement will be of value in other games. Roberts - 6. Had more impact than Bamford. Won a stone wall penalty but not at Old Trafford obviously.
After a performance like that it’s hard to pick an individual out, but anyone else running out of patience waiting for Koch to show any defensive attributes?
Just finished reading Leeds Live player ratings, Cooper, Koch, Rodrigo, Struijk and Klich got slated all scoring 4
To be fair to scum I think that is their best performance in quite a few years. Pogba played his best game for them. Everything Fernandes tried worked. Even McTominay and Fred had decent games. If they play like that consistently then they will go very close this year. Its very hard to admit but they looked a very good side today. ****s!
get your point, I think bielsa got it wrong though, the side looked too lightweight in the middle for me as soon as I saw it. They just had a spare man and Rodrigo is not, never has been and never will be a midfielder. Koch was there to mark Fernandez. A tough job but one he singularly failed at. thought meslier’s distribution was a lot more miss than hit, but the whole side was rusty in possession.
No point in being downbeat, we got battered and we move on. Last season we picked up 3 points from away games against the Top 4 and this season will be similar, let's not be too harsh on the players who at times suffered out there today. We probably need Eire and his common sense let's see where we are after 10 games approach.
they are a good side, which is why other teams try not to give them the freedom of the park when they play them…..
Felt for him a bit today. He was in there on his own against Pogba, Fernandes. Poor **** was just getting worked every time. I played that position and you're ****ed if nobody covers their man. He wasn't great but he wasn't the worst.