Jamie Carragher Leeds United
Leeds United’s defeat at Nottingham Forest on Sunday saw Jamie Carragher point out what every Leeds fan is thinking – how has the club fallen so far behind fellow promoted side Sunderland.
Last season in the Championship, the Whites finished 24 points above the Black Cats. The key between both sides this season is recruitment; Sunderland bought serious quality in the summer transfer window. Bringing in players like Habib Diarra, Granit Xhaka and Brian Brobbey.
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On the other hand, Leeds were signing players on low fees; most notably up front with Leeds first and second choice strikers this season, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha, arriving on free transfers.
Jamie Carragher slams Leeds United man Jaka Bijol
In total, 10 players arrived at Elland Road in the summer, but as the season started, not all of them got a chance in the first team. Some like Lucas Perri and Gabriel Gudmundsson slotted in immediately due to the need in those positions. Others like Sean Longstaff had to play their way into the starting lineup – the former Newcastle man has been one of the more consistent players this season.
Then there is the £30 million trio of players that fans continue to wonder why they were signed in the first place. Sebastiaan Bornauw has just played one game all season, and James Justin has been limited to a total of 90 minutes in the league. Jaka Bijol, who barely played in the first few months, has now had a chance in the lineup; he has played the last three games in the league.
And the results have been awful; the Slovenian has not justified why Pascal Struijk has been benched for him to play. And on Sunday, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher analysed his poor showing, highlighting the role he played in Forest’s crucial second goal.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Carragher said: “Jaka Bijol does something that a lot of defenders do… So he’s keeping an eye on Gibbs-White all the time – I don’t understand why Bijol would put his arms behind his back?
“Now I would understand if he was one against one and the ball’s really close to him and he’s trying to avoid giving away a silly penalty.
“Because his arms are now behind his back, it allows Gibbs-White to make that run behind him but if he kept his arms where they should be, he can get tight, he can feel him, he can touch him, he can sense where he is going to run.
“But as soon as he loses sight of Gibbs-White, he can’t feel him because his hands are behind his back.
“There’s no need to have his hands behind his back, because the ball is never going to hit him on the arm.
“Gibbs-White just runs in behind and is gifted an easy header. It’s almost unforgivable.”
Daniel Farke needs to bench Bijol
Bijol’s performances so far have not been encouraging; he came with the reputation of being a no-nonsense defender. But what we have seen so far is a player who is always in the wrong place when defending. Farke made the call to bench Struijk due to an injury concern initially, but the results without the Dutchman point to the fact that he was not the problem.
Struijk has his issues sometimes, but he is a solid player. This season he started out well with Joe Rodon before a few errors affected his play. Farke needs to bring the defender back into the lineup after the international break. Rodon looks more comfortable playing alongside him and at this time of real struggle for Leeds, they need reliability and strong foundations.
Rodon and Struijk were partnered together for most of last season and were doing okay defensively prior to Struijk dropping out of the team. Barring a 5-0 loss at Arsenal, the pair ranked high in the Premier League for limiting chances for opposition players and given what we have seen from Bijol in the 3-0 defeat at Brighton and 3-1 loss at Nottingham Forest, he is not up to the same standard. Carragher’s words directed at Bijol were strong, but he is not wrong and it would be even more ‘unforgivable’ if he continues in the team after the international break.
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