Leeds Player Ratings - Leeds 1 - 1 Aston Villa

Leeds United produced a fantastic first half display to lead 1-0 at the break against Aston Villa. Unfortunately, they were unable to maintain their performance levels and in the end Villa claimed a fully deserved point. Overall, not a bad result and one that we shouldn’t be too disappointed about.

Time now to look at each player and how they performed. As always you can tell me how wrong I am @mightywhitespod or @ThruItAllLUFC on twitter.

STARTING LINE-UP

Felix Wiedwald - Didn’t have very much to do. Made a good save to deny Albert Adomah in the second half following Luke Ayling’s error, had no chance with the goal. Also had one poor attempt at a punch clear. Solid enough performance, distribution not at his best. 6/10

Luke Ayling - Gave the ball away a bit too much and was caught out of position a couple of times. As mentioned earlier made one huge error which could have been punished and going forward made the wrong choice too many times when he had a simple pass available. Was always going to have a tough task against one of the better players in the division in Albert Adomah. 5/10

Pontus Jansson - A very good performance overall with one moment taking the shine off it. Imperious in the air at both ends clearing lots of balls and getting the better of Christopher Samba to score the Leeds goal. Made some very good tackles as well but came off second best in the tackle that lead to the Villa equaliser and that costs him some points. Still a very good performance. 8/10

Liam Cooper - Another solid performance for the Leeds captain. Along with Jansson kept Keinan Davis very quiet. This looks like being the centre-back partnership for the rest of the season injuries permitting. Haven’t seen it back but from in Kop it looked as if the offside decision for his disallowed goal was correct. 7/10

Gaetano Berardi - Did well up against ex-Leeds winger Robert Snodgrass and kept him fairly quiet. Nothing spectacular but one of his better left-back performances of the season. 7/10

Kalvin Phillips - More than anyone on the pitch his performance mirrored the team as a whole. A good first half performance where him and Vieira were able to dominate Villa’s midfield, then a pretty anonymous second half where other than a couple of moments you could have forgotten he was on the pitch. Wasn’t poor enough to be in any danger of losing his place. 6/10

Ronaldo Vieira - Was better in the first half than the second but his performance didn’t drop to the extent of his midfield partner. Showed good drive in possession and was consistently strong in the tackle. Won MOTM from Sky TV but only comes second in my ratings. 7.5/10

Ezgjan Alioski - Not up to the level of his last few appearances but wasn’t bad by any stretch. A lot of his best work was done defensively by tracking back and making some good tackles. Either him or Ekuban could have got on the end of a great cross from Saiz and that could have sealed the game for Leeds. 6/10

Samu Saiz - It was bound to happen eventually. This was the quietest game that Saiz has had for a long while, his one real moment of quality was a tremendous cross from the right hand side which Alioski and Ekuban both missed. Lost the ball too often when trying to do too much and was a passenger for much of the second half. 5.5/10

Pablo Hernandez - Unfortunately had to go off due to injury after 42mins, but it was a good 42mins. Some decent defensive work to compliment his good passing and movement, topped off by a quality delivery from a corner to set up the goal for Jansson. Hopefully the injury isn’t too serious. 7/10

Caleb Ekuban - Ran his bollocks off. Pressured the Villa defence and looked a threat when going in behind off the shoulder of Samba. Looked knackered by the time he was substituted. Still to be convinced of his abilities as a goalscorer but no doubting his commitment and work rate. 7/10

SUBSTITUTES

Kemar Roofe (For Hernandez, 42mins) - Not even close to matching the effectiveness of Hernandez. Barely seemed to touch the ball at a time when Leeds needed more from him. 5/10

Hadi Sacko (For Ekuban, 82mins) - Nearly got in behind once, battled for the ball a little bit. Not a great situation to come on in. 5/10

Jay-Roy Grot (For Alioski, 93mins) - Won a couple of headers that went to no-one, not on long enough to rate. N/A