Leeds FA Cup player ratings: Newport County 2 - 1 Leeds United

So Leeds United went and dropped an embarrassing loss away from home in the FA Cup. This has never happened before, right?

Despite Thomas Christiansen’s claims that the team was taking this match seriously, the team put in easily its worst performance of the season. The team looked disinterested and uncoordinated, with a number of players looking as if they’d never played a minute of professional football before in their lives.

Harsh? Maybe, but this was a bad result. The red card to Saiz is just icing on the shit sandwich.

STARTING LINEUP

Andy Lonergan: Made a few saves, and the goals weren’t necessarily his fault. Maybe could have done better, but after the performances in front of him, he was always going to be under pressure. 5/10

Vurnon Anita: Wasn’t the worst defender on the pitch, but was still unable to drive the play forward at all. Looked rusty, and compared with the match that Lewie Coyle had for Fleetwood Town, Leeds fans will be asking why Anita got into this match at all. 4/10

Conor Shaughnessy: His own goal opened the scoring for Newport. Looked poor for much of the match. You’d think with someone of his size that he’d be able to deal with crosses in the box, but you’d be wrong. 3/10

Gaetano Berardi: Only bright spot of the match was his goal. Best player for Leeds. If only the rest of the team would have played like him. 8/10

Cameron Borthwick-Jackson: Another defender that had a poor match. Beat time after time. Subbed off in the second half, and with rumours surrounding his future, might have played his last match for Leeds. Won’t be sorry to see him gone. 2/10

Mateusz Klich: The better of the two central midfielders, which isn’t saying much. Had no control and couldn’t drive the play forward. For someone who has (allegedly) complained about a lack of playing time, you think he’d grab the chance that was given to him here. 4/10

Kalvin Phillips: Had a match to forget. With the rest of the team looking disjointed, Phillips ran around trying to make things happen. However, when that happens, the team is in trouble as Phillips doesn’t play in a system and all hell breaks loose. 4/10

Pawel Cibicki: Looked lost on the left. As good as he looked against Queens Park Rangers, he looked poor here. Reminiscent of the Leicester City match where you’d be forgiven to not remember that he played. 4/10

Hadi Sacko: The best way of summing up his match was the time in the second half when he got free down the right, crossed a pass when there were no Leeds players within 10 yards of the box and it bounced over the net harmlessly. Another player that should have grabbed his chance for playing time that did himself no favours. 5/10

Jay-Roy Grot: Missed a really good chance early, and his only impact otherwise was to get a yellow card when he went clattering into a Newport player after losing the ball. The kid needs some time away from the first team, because this isn’t working. He can’t go on loan because he already played for NEC this season, but would have liked to see something from him today. 3/10

Pierre-Michel Lasogga: What a lazy, unmotivated, greedy performance. He barely looked like he cared and was wasteful with the ball. Took terrible shots from about 40 yards out instead of trying to link up. For someone who’s scored as many goals as he has in the Bundesliga, you think he’d actually stand out at this level. Going back and watching him against Burton and then watching today’s performance, you think someone from the stands stole his shirt and came on instead of him. What an awful performance from someone who should absolutely bossing this level. 2/10

SUBSTITUTES:

Liam Cooper: (60 minute, for Borthwick-Jackson) Came on and instead of calming down the match, Leeds conceded twice. Not all his fault, but would have expected better from him. Obviously the partnership with Jansson brings out the best in both of them, cause Cooper looked lost. 5/10

Samu Saiz: (75th minute for Grot) Absolutely mental. He got sent off for spitting in a match that Leeds had already lost, and now faces an extended ban in a critical part of the season. As much as he’s been the savior for Leeds this season, this will go down as an appalling decision by TC to put him in, and an even worse reaction by Saiz to lose his shit in the match. Put his head coach and DoF under the eight-ball to find reinforcements for a position that Leeds would have already considered sewn up. 1/10