Leeds Player Ratings: Leeds 1 - 2 Wigan

Leeds United were fairly dominant statistically but in what I can only describe as an awful performance against a Wigan Athletic side who played about 80 minutes with 10 men following Cedric Kipre’s red card.

Kipre’s handball on the line got him his marching orders but Pablo Hernandez missed the follow up penalty. Patrick Bamford put Leeds in front with a well taken goal but Leeds had looked nervous since kick off and this only got worse and worse as the match went on.

Two Gavin Massey goals either side of half-time were enough for Wigan to claim an important win that makes them a very short price to stay up this season and give them only a second away win of the season.

Leeds pushed forward and had a lot of shots (36 in total) but didn’t look that creative and a lot of the shots were from outside the area when Leeds ran out of ideas on the edge of the Wigan box. Possibly the biggest frustration was the worst display of crossing I have ever seen a Leeds side produce.

For a full recap of the match - read Pete’s piece 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. Get ready for some really low numbers.

STARTING LINE-UP

Kiko Casilla - First goal was at his near post which never looks good, but it was well struck. No chance with the second goal. Came rushing out far too hastily for a couple of crosses. Nearly caught out by an awful backpass by Gaetano Berardi but was able to slow Leon Clarke down so Ayling could get back on the line. Distribution was very good all game. Not the problem today. 5/10

Luke Ayling - Man of the match, not that it is saying much. Made a couple of good tackles, got forward well on the right all game but often either wasn’t passed the ball, or received it too late. Got the assist for Bamford’s goal as well. 6.5/10

Pontus Jansson - Struggled against Leon Clarke at times but coped much better than his Centre-back partner with 8 aerial duels won. Massey and Reece James had him on toast on a few occasions. Had to do better with the second goal. His passing out from the back was good. Spent a lot of time up top but seemed to get in the way more than contribute to the attack. 4.5/10

Gaetano Berardi - Struggled in all areas but one today. Couldn’t cope in the air against Clarke or with the pace of Massey. Played a horrendous backpass way short of Casilla that should have been punished. His passing was fine. 4/10

Ezgjan Alioski - Awful. Combined with Jack Harrison for the worst left sided display you’ll ever get to see. Had so much time and space on seemingly dozens of occasions and either put in a terrible cross or smashed the ball into the stand (one of the shots was a decent effort but went straight at the keeper, another was well blocked). Fell over on numerous occasions including in the build up to Wigan’s equaliser. Normally I wouldn’t blame a player for that but when it happens this often you need to take some responsibility for your choice of stud. On two seperate occasions he tried to dummy a pass and confused himself so much he fell over. Passed the ball out of play on too many occasions and in the last 10 minutes consistently went into the already crowded centre of pitch to deny his teammates the space that was needed. 2.5/10

Kalvin Phillips - Hooked at half-time in a decision that everyone was confused by at the time, and were even more confused about by the end. He had been fine in the first half but not at his best. Won a few balls in the air and seemed to be in the right place to make interceptions. 6/10

Pablo Hernandez - I can only assume this wasn’t really Hernandez and was just someone who looked like him. Nervous on the ball. Wasteful in key areas. Missed a penalty (I know Bamford’s last one was poor but he is established as second choice for pens after Roofe, why didn’t Bamford take it?). Had 11 shots without looking like scoring. Took 11 corners and I can’t think of a good one. Very unlike him. Only credit to him was that he did not hide and kept trying to get on the ball and dictate the game. 4/10

Mateusz Klich - Quite how Phillips was hooked instead of Klich still perplexes me. Had a couple of efforts on goal, one of which was close. There were 3 occasions when he had all the space in front of him, and the ball was played in to that space and he turned and tried to move in the other direction. All the players looked nervous but Klich’s decision making capabilities seemed particularly off. 5/10

Tyler Roberts - Had a volley cleared off the line but wasn’t at his creative best. Unable to do as much damage when running at players either. Hooked at half-time along with Phillips, was far and away more effective than the man he replaced though. 4/10

Jack Harrison - First, my original draft for Jack Harrison. “F***ing Useless” 1/10.

Having calmed down. All the wasteful characteristics that Alioski showed only more frustrating as he got into good position after good position only to hit the first man with his cross repeatedly. Looked so annoyed with himself as everything that could go right, went wrong. 1.5/10.

Patrick Bamford - First half, some good movement and got involved in moves well. Goal was a fantastic first touch and finished well across the keeper with his weaker foot. Did miss a couple of other chances that he should have done better with. In the second half he was far less effective as the game became crowded around the Wigan box and he couldn’t get any space. Did force one really good save from Christian Walton with a low effort across the goal. 5.5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Adam Forshaw (for Phillips, HT) - In theory a more attacking option than Phillips but spent half his time as an auxillary centre-back helping out against Clarke and Massey. His helping out at the back seemed not to help for the most part, and him dropping deep so much meant that Leeds were a man short in midfield - effectively negating the fact that Wigan were down to 10 men. When on the ball his passing was fine and he made one excellent defensive contribution against Reece James right at the end when he almost got through for a 3rd Wigan goal. 5/10

Kemar Roofe (for Roberts, HT) - Had a great chance early in the second half but tried to chest it home instead of ducking for the header. Outside of that, completely anonymous. Roberts didn’t have much of an effect on the game but he seemed to cause more problems than Roofe. He also was trying to get into the same areas as Bamford at times which seemed to negate both players strengths. Doesn’t look at all sharp following his injury and there were times when I genuinely could have forgot he was playing. 3.5/10

Jack Clarke (for Klich, 71mins) - Tried to beat his man and was able to do so on more occasions than on his last couple of appearances. Couldn’t get his crosses right but not as infuriating as the ball kept finding it’s way to the Leeds left (almost like Wigan wanted Harrison/Alioski to have the ball). 5/10