Leeds player ratings - Leeds 4 - 1 Port Vale

Leeds United produced a excellent second half display to wrap up an impressive victory against League Two Port Vale. It was a good follow-up to the opening day victory over Bolton Wanderers and kept the club’s momentum going. 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 - Quiet game for the German, tidy with his feet again and couldn’t really have done much about the goal. 6/10

Vernon Anita - Another who had a fairly quiet game. Didn’t get forward as much as Luke Ayling does when he plays at right-back. Got beat too easily in the box once but a decent enough game. 6/10

Conor Shaughnessy - Entire defensive unit was poor for the Port Vale goal, outside of that Shaughnessy looked untroubled and won a fair few headers (especially in the second half). An improvement on Sunday. 6.5/10

Luke Ayling - Named as captain for the match (A role I would give him permanently). Marshaled the defence well in his less-familiar centre-back role. Stepped out from defence with the ball to start attacks (did well in the build-up to Saiz second goal in particular). A good performance. 7/10

Cameron Borthwick-Jackson - A good debut (not a great one, that comes later) for the new loan signing. Got forward well down the left creating a lot of overlaps with Stuart Dallas. Crossing left a bit to be desired but sure that will come with time in the side. Moved to centre-back for the last 20 minutes and was untroubled. 7/10

Mateusz Klich - Was able to get on the ball a decent amount on his debut, didn’t do enough with it though. Often seemed to want a bit too much time on the ball. 6/10

Ronaldo Vieira - A good start to the season for the best-named footballer in England. Was solid for the first hour but improved when Liam Bridcutt replaced Klich in midfield. This allowed him to get further up the field and resulted in an assist for the second Leeds goal. 7.5/10

Hadi Sacko - Poor. Offered little going forward and nothing defensively. For some reason looked scared to try and beat defenders after failing once in the first half. Is capable of much better than this but I would be shocked if he makes the squad on Saturday. 4/10

Samuel Saiz - What a debut. What a performance. What a Hat-Trick. The Spaniard was absolutely awesome in this game. His three goals were all very good finishes. Played his part in Ekuban’s goal with a good dummy to help create the space. This was an unbelievable performance and gives Thomas Christiansen a very tough decision following the performance of Pablo Hernandez against Bolton. 9.5/10

Stuart Dallas - Looked a threat in the first half. Set up the opener for Saiz (albeit not in the way he intended), looked to beat his man on a few occasions. Cemented himself ahead of Sacko in the pecking order, but also behind Roofe and Alioski. 7/10

Caleb Ekuban - Worked hard for not much reward in the first half and I aren’t sure if a lone striker role suits him really. Did everything he could though with a great back-heel assist for Saiz 3rd goal and when he finally did get a good chance he took it very well. An able back-up to Wood.

SUBSTITUTES

Ezgjan Alioski (for Sacko, 57mins) - All the things Sacko did poorly, Alioski did well. The game was in a bit of a lull and Leeds weren’t looking like creating much. As soon as Alioski entered the field Leeds began to batter Port Vale. Defenders looked terrified of his pace and his shooting ability. Great work to carry the ball 70-80 yards for Ekuban’s goal. Could have scored at least once if not for some good goalkeeping. You won’t see many better substitute appearances than this. 8.5/10

Liam Bridcutt (for Klich, 57mins) - A return to form for Bridcutt when he came on. Won his fair share of tackles and was tidy in possession. His introduction allowed Vieira to push-up and get more involved. Doing himself no harm in terms of getting back into first team plans. 7/10

Madger Gomes (for Ayling, 70mins) - Played left-back for the last 20 mins and did fine but you could’ve forgotten he was there as all the play went down the right after Alioski came on. 6/10

An decent first half performance at best but the last 30 mins were very impressive (despite Port Vale being the opposition). Yet more reasons to be optimistic for Leeds fans.