Ethan Ampadu of Leeds United and Leeds United manager Daniel Farke
Ethan Ampadu of Leeds United and Leeds United manager Daniel Farke(Image: Offside via Getty Images)
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Ethan Ampadu admitted Leeds United need to be ‘self-critical’ on the goals they conceded during their 6-3 League Cup defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday but indicated that his side may have been hard done by over one decision.
Leeds were 2-0 up when a contentious penalty decision went the way of Chelsea upon Daniel James being penalised for a foul on Pep Chavarria in the 52nd minute. The defence disintegrated afterwards, with three goals being conceded in seven minutes as Chelsea’s substitutes sparked a 3-2 turnaround.
The hosts scored again through Danny Welbeck before Dominic Calvert-Lewin pulled one back for Leeds - but Valentine Barco’s strike soon afterwards on 80 minutes restored the two-goal cushion.
It was after this goal that Noah Okafor was felled just inside the area after a rough tackle but the referee Jarred Gillett waved play on. Chelsea eventually went on to win 6-3 but Gillett would apologise to Daniel Farke afterwards for his error amidst the tackle on Okafor.
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Commenting on both penalty incidents and the game itself, Ampadu told LUTV: "It was a crazy game. We know what it's like - the history of this game - to play at Stamford Bridge, it's going to be difficult, but I thought the first half we dug in, we fought, we worked hard.
"There were moments where we could be a lot better on the ball, which we wanted to take into the second half. I think when it went 2-0 it was well deserved.
"We had a lot of momentum. We quietened the crowd down. Everything seemed to be going in our direction, and then it was a penalty for their first.
“I’ve not seen [the Chelsea penalty] back, I don’t know what happened. I don’t want to say hearsay but apparently maybe we should have one the other side for a similar situation.
"Then after that they brought a lot of quality on the pitch and took moments. Moments where we could be self-critical with the goals, whether it's something to better ourselves, to learn on. We never like to lose. We want to win every game.
"We're obviously very, very disappointed. We fought to the very end. We had to try to push on. We've got lots to learn from tonight.
"We've started the season fairly well, but we know that it's going to be a very long season, as we learned last year, and there's definitely a lot of potential in this group too.
"We've got to keep working hard as we do every day to make sure we get to the top."