Leeds Player Ratings: QPR 1 - 0 Leeds

Leeds weren’t good enough today and lost 1-0 at Loftus Road against Queens Park Rangers.

Full match recap here.

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

Kiko Casilla - Not much to do first half, made a couple of easy saves and made on very good punch from a Darnell Furlong cross. Didn’t look to be to blame for the goal, and made an excellent save to deny Nahki Wells when he could have made it 2-0. Made another good save from Bright Osayi-Samuel late on. Man of the Match for Leeds. 7.5/10

Luke Ayling - Combined well with Hernandez in the first half to get a few decent crosses in. Much less effective in the second half in both directions. 5.5/10

Pontus Jansson - Good in the first half, won everything you could expect him to and never looked in any trouble. Second half more of a a struggle as Freeman was able to caused both CBs problems. 6/10

Liam Cooper - Also very good in the first half, read the play excellently to step in and make some good interceptions and bring Leeds forward. QPR aimed their long passes at his side to avoid Jansson but Cooper dealt with the well. Missed the last 7 minutes of the first half with a cut to the face. Had the same issues as Jansson in the second half but his passing was poorer than his CB partner. 6/10

Ezgjan Alioski - Got beaten a bit too easily on one occasion to allow QPR a good opportunity to cross but other than that was ok in the first half. Good delivery from a corner which Phillips almost headed home. Continued to struggle against Wszolek in the second half, showed his frustration with a shot from distance that barely finished in the same postcode. Did come close with another mishit cross, this time from close to the byline. 5/10

Kalvin Phillips - Went close with a header from a corner but not as strong as usual in his defensive role, was skinned far too easily on 2-3 occasions by players running with the ball. Covered for Cooper well at CB when he was having treatment. Unable to get his passing game going in the first half.

Allowed Luongo to get down the Leeds left far too easily and his cross lead to the first goal. Hadn’t had his best game but it was a shock when he was the first player removed after 65 minutes. Leeds’ shape seemed much worse after his removal. 6/10

Mateusz Klich - Got into some good positions and was involved with a couple of Leeds’ better moves in the first half. Struggling to think of much to say about his performance - which probably says a lot. 5/10

Pablo Hernandez - Good link up play as you would expect and produced an excellent pass to put Roberts in behind that lead to a strong penalty shout. Not as dictatorial in the first half as he was against Bolton Wanderers. Put a great ball across that Bamford was inches from tapping in.

Produced Leeds best chance of the second half when he found Douglas in acres of space on the edge of the box but he wasn’t at his most effective in a creative sense in the second half, hard for him though as the whole team was poor in the second half. Set-pieces were consistently poor though, can’t pin that on teammates. 6/10

Tyler Roberts - Had a lively start with a couple of good runs in behind and was involved in Leeds’ good moves. Did have a couple of moments where I felt he picked the wrong pass though. Seemed to get less effective as the half went on as he got caught in possession on a few occasions. Ended the half well by beating Luongo all ends up and being fouled for a yellow card.

Second half wasn’t good, when he got into good areas he was wasteful and never looked a real threat through the entire half. To play as the number 10 you need to bring more than he currently is. More creativity, something unpredictable. 5/10

Jack Harrison - Leeds quietest player in the first half. Didn’t really offer Leeds any threat in the first half and on the one occasion he had to drop into defend in a wide area he was beaten too easily. Offered a little more in the second half by winning a few corners and tryinf to get at his opposite full-back but another who never looked like they could produce a goal. Had one chance from a corner but volleyed the ball straight at Izzy Brown’s head. 5/10

Patrick Bamford - First half was another case of almost there. Made some good runs in behind, had a couple of half chances, one of which looked to have been blocked by an arm. Almost got on the end of a great cross from Hernandez, easy to wonder if with a bit more match sharpness he would have got there.

Saw more of the lack of sharpness when he missed a simple rebound from a Dallas shot. Second half was poorer from Bamford. His movement seemed worse than in the first half. Leeds need to name a striker on the bench on Friday because I aren’t sure he is up to the 90mins at this stage. 5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Barry Douglas (for Phillips, 65mins) - Had a tremendous chance to equalise but blazed his shot over the bar. It was a good chance for a player who is supposed to have “a wand of a left-foot”. 5.5/10

Stuart Dallas (for Ayling, 72mins) - Great series of one-twos to get Leeds up the pitch but his shot was poor. Showed far more going forward than Ayling was able to do and was one the few players who seemed to treat the situation with any urgency whatsoever. 6/10

Izzy Brown (for Alioski, 81mins) - Finally got his first taste of 1st team football. Harrison volleyed the ball at his head. He got booked. He committed another foul that on another day could have been a second yellow. Barely touched the ball and when he did he lost it. Came on in a bad situation and should have been introduced earlier - but a poor start to his 1st team career at Leeds. 5/10