Leeds Player Ratings - Norwich 2 - 1 Leeds

Leeds United lost away to Norwich City at Carrow Road in what could best described as a shite game of football.

The first half was a pretty poor contest for 30mins, both teams constantly gave the ball away and niether keeper had much to do. Kalvin Phillips brought the game to life with a great goal but Norwich went in level thanks to Wes Hoolahan’s deflected strike.

The game wasn’t great in the second half either but Norwich managed to grab the lead through a Josh Murphy strike which really should have been saved.

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

Bailey Peacock-Farrell - Dealt with one driven cross well but that was all he really had to do in the first half. The Norwich goal he had no chance with after the massive deflection and the ball hit both posts before squirming over the line. Made a great save to deny James Maddison after 55 mins, shot had a lot of power but he made a great save diving to his left.

Unfortunately, Josh Murphy’s goal was a shot he really should have saved. It was pretty much straight at him and he will be pretty disappointed. Only one mistake, but it’s a big one so despite his save I have to drop his rating a fair bit. 6/10

Matthew Pennington - Had a solid opening half hour, but then picked up a deserved yellow card for a late slide tackle on the halfway line. Some good blocks but not a great deal to say, doesn’t look comfortable passing the halfway line, which is to be expected for a centre-back. 6/10

Pontus Jansson - Niether centre-back had much to do until the stroke of half-time when Wes Hoolahan scored the Norwich equaliser. The shot took a massive deflection off Jansson but he was completely blameless on that front. Just unlucky. Second half played a couple of sloppy passes and got a needless booking for moaning at the referee at the end. 5/10

Liam Cooper - Not much to do in the first half but was solid. Second half, more of the same. He was fine. Still would have stuck with O’Connor as I think he deserved to keep his place in the side. 6/10

Tom Pearce - Another one with a quiet first half, his passing was tidy and he had one good break where Kemar Roofe should have played him in but Roofe turned inside and tried to go alone. Put a good ball in for Roofe just before the hour mark but Norwich defended it well. Not near to his performance last weekend as he had much less of an effect going forward and had less to do defensively. 6/10

Ronaldo Vieira - Had a decent effort after about 20 seconds, and won a few early interceptions in the Norwich half. Got the assist for the Phillips goal (if we are really nice to him) with a completely mishit volley that fell kindly for Phillips. In the build up to Norwich’s goal he was dispossessed too easily when he had plenty of options, which was really poor midfield play. Not much to say about his second half other than his passing overall was ok, he just lost a ball at one crucial time and that is the thing people will remember. 5/10

Kalvin Phillips - Was (much like everyone) very quiet for 35mins. Then scored an fantastic goal. Ball bounced to him on the edge of the area and he hit it first time on the turn into the bottom left-hand corner. It was a superb finish from a player who probably should get more goals. He did most of the simple stuff well today too, his passing was very solid in particular. Could have done with a little more combativeness out of him but he was Leeds Man Of The Match today (admittedly in a poor showing). 7/10

Ezgjan Alioski - Really quiet first half where you could have forgotten he was there. First major contribution came early in the second half, a decent effort over the bar after good work from Roofe and Hernandez in the build up. Very quiet game. 5/10

Samu Saiz - Couple of openings in the opening 20mins where his final ball wasn’t up his early season standards. Seemed a yard off the pace after that. In the second half started to link up and got a bit closer to Hernandez which lead to a couple of openings. Also played Phillips in for a decent chance on the counter attack. Had a decent strike from 25-30 yards after receiving a lay-off from Phillips but it was saved easily. Had a chance at the end on the volley which may well have been deflected wide but both Saiz and Jansson got needless bookings for complaining about the decision to give a goal kick. 5.5/10

Pablo Hernandez - Quiet for 30 mins before playing a quality pass to get Kemar Roofe in behind which lead to the free kick on the left side of the Norwich area, from which Phillips scored. In the second half he played a couple of nice passes but wasn’t at his usual level. His set-pieces were really poor again today. 5.5/10

Kemar Roofe - Some decent moments of hold up play from long balls up against the much larger central defensive pair of Norwich. Had a decent effort driven into the side netting just after Phillips’ goal which some of the fans in the ground thought was in. Second half, a couple more moments of decent hold up play but only real threat was nearly getting on the end of a Hernandez cross. Often took too long to make his mind up what he wanted to do with the ball. 5.5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Jay-Roy Grot (for Alioski, 70mins) - Showed a couple of nice touches on the right wing to be fair to him. Won the ball back a few times as well. Ended up playing right wing-back. 5.5/10

Adam Forshaw (for Vieira, 74mins) - Very unlike him, came on and immediately gave the ball away sloppily a couple of times. However, he had a good effort on goal from 25 yards when the Norwich defence backed off him forcing a decent save from Angus Gunn. Had another effort deflected wide, should always start when fit. 6/10

Pierre-Michel Lasogga (for Pearce, 83mins) - Not on long enough and ball hardly went within 10 yards of him. N/A