Leeds Player Ratings - Leeds 1 - 4 Cardiff

I am not a guy who leaves matches early, but after Cardiff City’s 3rd goal I really wanted to just walk out of the stadium. This performance was pathetic. A 4th red card in 5 games merely added the Cherry to the Shit-based cake that was served up at Elland Road today. A Leeds United squad that was low on defenders now has no Berardi due to suspension, and no Jansson due to an injury we do not yet know the ramifications of. All in all, a day where I genuinely wish I had not bothered attending.

STARTING LINE-UP

Felix Wiedwald - Could have done better on the second goal where dived for a shot that was going clearly wide, leaving Junior Hoilett with an even easier version of a chance he should score regardless. Also, some of his kicking was absolutely terrible, setting players up on the touchline and slicing kicks straight to the centre of the pitch only increases the pressure on his teammates.

However, his performance wasn’t even close to the biggest issue today. 5/10

Gaetano Berardi - Gaetano is incredibly likeable. The main reason for this is his passion. At a certain point diving into tackles is not passionate, it is idiotic. To be fair he didn’t do much wrong while at right-back before the injury to Jansson.

Berardi had an absolutely shocking game at centre-back today and did very little right. For Cardiff’s second goal: the ball is knocked down and if Berardi goes forward he has a decent chance to win the ball, instead he steps back and is beaten to the ball, Paterson scuffs his shot and Hoilett taps in. These are the mistakes people make when playing out of position. Then, just before half time, he tries to head a ball clear that is about knee high and could be cleared more effectively with his foot. This results in a poor clearance and Cardiff get the ball back, annoyed at his poor clearance, and KNOWING HE IS ON A YELLOW CARD, he goes diving in to a tackle and gets a second yellow. This was stupidity, pure and simple, it doesn’t matter if the first yellow was harsh he should know better. The team already are short on defenders and he is now suspended for two games. 2/10

Matthew Pennington - Won a few balls in the air and made some decent tackles, brought the ball out of defence and (with the exception of one really poor ball) usually found a Leeds player. His passing overall was good. It’s a shame he has been injured so much this season as I still think he is our second best defender after Jansson. 6/10

Pontus Jansson - Wasn’t bad before his injury but looked like he could have done better against Callum Paterson on Cardiff’s first goal, who seemed to shrug Jansson off way too easily. His passing was fine and he won a couple of headers. Was taken out by Bamba in the Cardiff box and left the pitch on a stretcher. Only on for 25mins. Not expected to be fit for Sheffield United away next weekend so De Bock and Pennington will be the only fit first team defenders. 5/10

Laurens De Bock - Got some stick for cutting back too often with the ball at his feet but in his defence both Roofe and Hernandez were spending so much time in field that he often had no option. Won some tackles and a few balls in the air, although he had one moment where he jumped to head a ball, closed his eyes, and shouldered it back into his own box which was very poor. At the end, gave the ball away on the edge of the box and Cardiff scored their 4th goal. He looks like he could be a decent signing but he wasn’t at his best today, far from it. 5/10

Ronaldo Vieira - I really do not think Vieira is fit right now. Knee tendonitis is a hard thing to manage and I don’t think Leeds have managed it well while everyone has been getting injured/suspended. Not as bad his first half against Hull City but he once again looked off the pace. Team lost a lot of shape in the second half making his job even harder. 4.5/10

Adam Forshaw - Man of the Match from a Leeds point of view. Much like against Hull, kept the ball really well and was often able to turn away from his marker in tight situations. Won more ball in the air than you would expect and although his number of tackles dropped off a lot from the midweek game he still looks like a quality addition and right now is the the number one choice in central midfield. Even did ok in the second half when he was having to play at centre-back, TC intimated that he may have to pick him there against Sheffield United, if he does, TC wants a slap. 7/10

Ezgjan Alioski - Got up and down the pitch well as always, I never fault his effort. Had a poor game today, Seemed to give the ball away more often than not when he received it. In the second half he had a few opportunities to cross under very little pressure and his deliveries were poor. Really should have scored the rebound after Lasogga hit the bar (although Lasogga’s chance was even easier). Looks a long way from the player we saw earlier in the season. 4/10

Kemar Roofe - I have no idea how he does it but Kemar Roofe is able to find lots of space and be effective when Leeds have 10 men, while not being able to do so when we have 11. When he managed a good first touch his passing was ok but too often he miscontrolled the ball or lost it while failing to beat a man. Most of the problems were caused in the first half and this is when he was at his worst. 4/10

Pablo Hernandez - The best of the 3 in the 4231, but still didn’t have a good day. Much like against Hull his set piece delivery was poor and in open play he was very wasteful. You know it is a bad day when Hernandez is making a mess of 5-10 yard simple passes. He did have a couple of decent moments though, including a great lobbed ball for Lasogga for missed an absolute sitter of a header. 5/10

Pierre-Michel Lasogga - Didn’t have a good game but was by far Leeds’ most threatening player. Had a good effort from 20 yards that Neil Etheridge did well to to tip on to the post. He then missed and absolute sitter, basically an open goal, with his head. This was a worse miss than his header in the first half against Millwall, it is one of those chances where people in the stands say “I would’ve scored that” and they are not exaggerating. That would have made it 1-1 and could have made a real difference to how the match went. However, the reaction to him being substituted showed that the fans knew he was our main threat and the decision of TC to take him off at 3-1 down was an absolutely baffling one. Some of his hold up play and passing was good, some of it was really poor. He is too inconsistent but if Leeds are going to score enough goals to turn this form around they need to figure out how to get the best out of him. 5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Stuart Dallas (for Jansson, 29mins) - Came on at right-back once again and did fine. Looked better once Leeds switched to a back 3 with wing-backs allowing him to get forward more. His cross lead to the own-goal by Sol Bamba and there is no doubt that he should be starting in the next match, whether that is at full-back or out wide in place of either Alioski or Roofe. 6/10

Hadi Sacko (for Lasogga, 74mins) - This was a stupid substitution but that isn’t the fault of Sacko. However, he was barely in the game and on the couple of chances he got to run at people he was unable to get away. Put in the effort but didn’t have the quality to make a difference. 4.5/10

Jay-Roy Grot (for Vieira, 86mins) - One okay piece of hold up play. Don’t remember him touching the ball again. Going to be nice and say he wasn’t on long enough to get a rating. N/A