Leeds Player Ratings: Leeds 1 - 0 Brentford

Leeds United produced an impressive second half performance to secure a 1-0 win over Brentford at Elland Road.

Much of the build up centred around the return of Sweden international Pontus Jansson to Elland Road, and both defences were on top during the first half - Brentford coming closest to scoring when Bryan Mbeumo hit the post with a curling effort from 25 yards out.

Leeds improved in the second half, dominating possession and forcing Brentford onto the back-foot, but it took a tactical switch from Marcelo Bielsa to break the deadlock. Bielsa introduced Eddie Nketiah and Helder Costa and went with two strikers as well as bringing on Gaetano Berardi and going with three centre-backs, the change worked perfectly with Portugal international Costa setting up England U21 international Nketiah for the only goal.

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 - Didn’t have much to do. Claimed a couple of crosses well and looked to start counter attacks. Distribution good but not faultless. 6.5/10

Stuart Dallas - Another good performance from Dallas. Got up and down the right flank well and did good work in both directions. Up against Sergi Canos for most of the game and nullified most of his threat. Subbed after a knock but looked like he could have carried on if needed. 7.5/10

Ben White - Another good performance from the Brighton loanee. Calm in possession and made very few mistakes. Showed good anticipation to cover on the rare occasions that a Leeds player lost their man. 7.5/10

Liam Cooper - Very similar to White, slightly better in the air and not quite as effective with his passing. 7/10

Ezgjan Alioski - Had a ropey first 10 minutes where he made a few defensive errors which could easily have been punished. Improved after that and started to drive forward with the ball. Put in some good crosses but was wasteful at other times. 6.5/10

Kalvin Phillips - Won possession over and over again. Got a few of his cross-field passes wrong but overall his passing was good. 7.5/10

Adam Forshaw - Can only remember him losing possession a couple of times so he must have been good on the ball. got forward well and was heavily involved just like he was at Wigan Athletic. If he keeps playing like this he will hopefully break his duck for the club soon. 7.5/10

Pablo Hernandez - His overall passing stats won’t be too bad, but whenever he had the chance to unlock the Brentford defence his passing quality seemed to desert him. Not a shock that he was taken off. Still looked a threat despite having an off day. 5.5/10

Mateusz Klich - A bit more involved than he has been in previous outings. Had a good volley saved by Raya Martin in the first half. Did his best to get forward and support Bamford, even replacing him as the focal point when he dropped off the front - something Forshaw also did a couple of times. A decent effort from the Poland international. 6.5/10

Jack Harrison - Has had a really good season so far but wasn’t quite at the same level today. Too wasteful and hesitant to try and create something. Not bad, but his position could be under threat from Helder Costa after today (although I don’t expect a change on Saturday). 5.5/10

Patrick Bamford - Full of running but struggled to get clear cut chances as a lone striker against three centre-backs. Had two headed chances from Alioski crosses, the second of which he should have hit the target with. Some good hold up play from long balls to bring others in to play was impressive and his run pulled Henrik Dalsgaard away for Nketiah’s goal. 6.5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Helder Costa (for Harrison, 65mins) - Looked more of a threat than Harrison with his pace and directness. Excellent play to breeze past Ethan Pinnock before putting the ball on a plate for Nketiah for the winning goal. 7.5/10

Eddie Nketiah (for Hernandez, 77mins) - Exactly what Leeds fans hoped they were getting with the Arsenal loanee. Got the ball, immediately ran at players and got a shot on target. Good movement to find acres of space in the box to tap in for the winning goal. Once Leeds were in front showed he was willing to chase and do his defensive share. 7.5/10

Gaetano Berardi (for Dallas, 78mins) - Leeds’s switch to three CBs and two up top worked well. So his introduction was definitely a positive for the team. However, his personal contribution wasn’t up to par. He gave the ball away at least 50% of the times he played a pass and didn’t time his challenges well. 5/10