Leeds United 3 Chelsea 1: Lee Sobot's video verdict
Leeds United secured a big win against Premier League rivals Chelsea at Elland Road on Wednesday night.
Chelsea legend John Terry appeared to question Enzo Maresca’s team selection after the Blues suffered a 3-1 defeat at Premier League rivals Leeds United.
The Whites went into the game on the back of a devastating late defeat at Manchester City on Saturday as a brave second-half display from Daniel Farke’s side went without reward thanks to a last-gasp strike from England star Phil Foden. However, there was to be no mistake made as they returned to Elland Road in fine style by boosting their hopes of avoiding relegation with their best performance of the season in a fine victory against Chelsea.
Leeds were at it from the first minute and deservedly took a two-goal lead into half-time thanks to a brilliant header from Jaka Bijol and an outstanding finish from Ao Tanaka as the Japan midfielder fired beyond visitors keeper Robert Sanchez from just outside of the area.
Chelsea improved in the early stages of the second half and gave themselves some hope of mounting a comeback when Pedro Neto halved the Whites’ advantage within five minutes of the restart - but an error from Blues stopper Sanchez handed Dominic Calvert-Lewin a chance to all but seal the points that the former Everton striker did not waste.
After making a number of changes from Sunday’s 1-1 draw with current league leaders Arsenal, Chelsea boss Maresca was questioned by Stamford Bridge icon Terry, who believes the former Leicester City head coach may think twice about rotating his squad in future.
Mistakes
Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez gifts Dominic Calvert-Lewin a goal.placeholder image
Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez gifts Dominic Calvert-Lewin a goal. | Getty Images
Speaking out on TikTok after the game, Terry said: “What a poor performance that was. Everything I said about Leeds, they were going to be aggressive, fans were going to be up for it, it was going to be a hostile place to go. You either go there and match them or you take the sting out of it completely, and by looks of it we certainly didn’t do that in the first half.
“We cannot follow up two unbelievable performances with a performance like that, it’s certainly not going to make you title contenders. Unfortunately, that’s what’s going to cost us, we are inexperienced and if you can’t go Leeds away and know what to expect then.
“You need to go there and show the fight, match Leeds in every single way and then earn your right to play. After 15, 20 minutes you play your football once you’ve earned that right. Set piece, individual mistakes defensively, clearly not good enough. Maybe that’s an opportunity for the manager to look at the squad and go ‘okay rotations not for me moving forward, I know my best 11-14 players and I’ll stick with that and the other players are just going to have to deal with it."
Continue Reading