Leeds United’s fans have had their say on Saturday’s defeat to Manchester City.
Leeds United fell to a rare defeat under the Elland Road lights to title-chasing Manchester City - but what the club’s fans think? Here is what our YEP Jury had to say.
NEIL GREWER
An exciting encounter with Leeds playing their part and competing to the end … but City’s quality won out.
The first half saw Leeds create several good chances, but DCL and Brenden Aaronson failed to convert and, at half-time, Leeds were ahead on ‘expected goals’ but behind on actual goals owing to quality passing and movement that allowed Antoine Semenyo to convert from close range, seconds from the mid-game whistle. A cruel blow.
City then employed the ‘dark arts’, with the assistance of referee Peter Bankes who seemed to have forgotten his yellow card. Rodri is a colossus of a man yet falls over with minimal contact when suits and is allowed to shout in the face of the referee without punishment.
Daniel Farke threw on five substitutes but to no avail. Attitude, commitment, effort were all present in abundance but not a goal. Six minutes were added, with two City bookings and time wasting aplenty, yet no additional time added to compensate.
This irked Farke who was then sent off, bizarrely before he even reached the referee in the centre circle to air his views. Harsh.
Man of the match: Karl Darlow (two fantastic saves and commanding).
ANDY RHODES
We all knew that the two games against Manchester City would be tough as a newly-promoted side.
However, in both fixtures this season, Leeds have pushed their opponents to the wire. In fact, they were desperately unlucky to lose on both occasions.
At the Etihad, it was the start of a mid-season revival that is still going. At Elland Road, the Whites had the chances to take a point which would not have flattered them.
It’s easy to look at the chances Leeds had and missed opportunities, but the home side started well and could have gone in at half-time at least level.
In the second half, City could have stretched their lead but, at home, Leeds are a side confident in their ability to take on the league’s best.
Of course, these aren’t the games Daniel Farke would earmark for points – the Sunderland game on Tuesday will be more important – but any points in a relegation fight are welcome.
And with their relegation rivals dropping points, Leeds haven’t lost any ground, and that can only be a positive.
Man of the match: Anton Stach.
DAVID WATKINS
This was an ‘old-school performance’ from Leeds, the sort we’ve seen in recent seasons.
Plenty of chances to score but miss them all, and then get caught with a sucker punch.
Leeds were excellent for half an hour and created three or four really good chances but while Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Brenden Aaronson have been clinical at times this season, they lacked composure in front of goal on Saturday.
DCL had the clearest chance when he tried to steer an Aaronson cross into the net, but put the ball wide instead. He also put a more difficult chance wide of the other post, while Aaronson poked one wide from close range then fluffed a decent one-on-one chance.
Then, with just seconds left in the first half, we switched off for a nanosecond and City punished us. As might be expected, Pep got his boys better organised in the second half, and City looked more like the Champions they aspire to be, although chances at both ends were fewer and farther between.
Once again, with other results going in our favour, no damage was done. And the performance should give confidence that we can finish this survival job, starting on Tuesday against Sunderland.
Man of the match: Karl Darlow.
KEITH INGHAM
Leeds lost their unbeaten home record under the lights but they must take some credit for a battling performance that took City right to the wire.
Daniel Farke’s frustration got the better of him and the poor referee sent him off after the final whistle. Leeds were superb in the first halfy. DCL should have given them an early lead but the ball went wide of the post; he also put an effort across the goal but it too went just wide.
Karl Darlow made a superb save to deny O’Reilly while Brenden Aaronson got through on goal but couldn’t beat Gianluigi Donnarumma from a tight angle. If you don’t take your chances, usually you pay for it. Antoine Semenyo got one in first-half injury time and scored.
Leeds went all out in the second half to get the leveller while Darlow made his second superb save to deny Marc Guehi.
City midfielder Rayan Cherki was very lucky not to be sent off for a clear stamp on Ilia Gruev and Leeds also had a penalty shout but VAR ruled it out, while other refereeing decisions went against them.
We need the same spirit and attitude to get three points against Sunderland on Tuesday; it’s a game we need to win.
Man of the match: Karl Darlow, two superb saves.
At the end of this game, a number of Manchester City players lay prostrate on the turf as if they had just achieved a narrow away win at Barcelona or Bayern Munich.
This was the best tribute they could pay to a United side that fought to the very finish.
The Whites pushed Pep Guardiola's expensively assembled side and were unlucky not to come away with a point if not all three. A swashbuckling start to the game saw two costly misses from Dominic Calvert-Lewin and one from Brenden Aaronson as the Whites threw everything at their unbelieving visitors.
It was a heroic performance from the Whites’ defence with keeper Karl Darlow leading by example but even he could not stop Antoine Semenyo's strike from a fine low pass provided by Rayan Ait-Nourri in the dying seconds of the first half.
Manchester City played a patient possession game in the second half and ran the show for long periods. That was until the barnstorming finish when the Whites threw everything and everyone into a final effort to score.
Again, they were very unlucky, especially with a legitimate penalty call for handball and some more terrible decisions from the awful Peter Bankes.
Man of the match: Gabriel Gudmundsson.
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