Former Leeds striker Noel Whelan did not hold back in his assessment of the Whites’ performance on Boxing Day.
Marcelo Bielsa’s team needed an 89th-minute equaliser from Stuart Dallas to salvage a point at home to Preston, continuing their recent slump in form in the Championship.
Leeds had won seven on the bounce to strengthen their hold on an automatic promotion place but have since hit a three-match winless streak, with two draws and a defeat since their last victory over Hull earlier this month. [via TransferMarkt]
Whelan gave a scathing verdict on his former club’s display against Preston to Football Insider, describing it as: “By far the worst performance in 30 minutes I can remember watching for a very long time. Very disjointed, all over the place, looked like strangers at times.
“The passing was slack, no intensity to the game, couldn’t put two or three passes together and it was almost like they were waiting for Preston to score before they kicked into action.
“Watching it, it was dire, it really was such a bad performance for the first half an hour. If we’d have carried on that way, we’d have lost by two or three. I can only look at that as two points dropped.”
Whelan has every right to be worried about Leeds’ performance in the opening half-hour at Elland Road on Boxing Day.
It was during those first 30 minutes that Alan Browne gave Preston the lead and it was a goal which didn’t come against the run of play – the visitors had six shots to Leeds’ one in the first half-hour and the home side went from the second to the 31st minute without registering a shot of their own (as per WhoScored).
Bielsa himself was highly critical of his team’s display in the opening third of the match, saying: “I was not happy with the first 20 minutes, it was not a good spell for us, we did not cope with their pressing and did not get into our game.” [via Sky Sports]
Whelan’s view that the draw was “two points dropped” despite the lateness of the equaliser is also a fair one, given Leeds’ dip in form over the last fortnight and the fact that they were playing at home, where they had blown a three-goal lead to draw with Cardiff in their previous Elland Road outing.
The ghosts of what happened to the Whites this time last year may also be a cause for concern for Leeds supporters. A seven-game winning run towards the end of 2018 put Bielsa’s side top of the Championship but they then lost four of their next six in the league and were ultimately beaten in the play-offs. [via TransferMarkt]
Today they go to Birmingham, where they were beaten on their previous visit last April. A repeat of that result following their performance against Preston could well add to Whelan’s frustration.
Leeds fans, was Whelan right to condemn the team’s Boxing Day performance? Is their dip in form a worry going into the New Year? Comment below with your views!
