Tiny T who regularly gives us his player ratings from all the games at Elland Road is currently enjoying a break so fellow Vital Leeds contributor erni stepped into the hot seat for the shocker against Walsall.
Unfortunately, for erni he also had the displeasure of having me sat next to him for ninety minutes.
Ankergren 5
Has little to do and no saves of note to make, but was back to his indecisive self on some crosses, should have dealt with the cross that went for a corner leading to their second goal.
Crowe 4
Abysmal in the first half with poor first touch, indecisive tackling, and little support to the forwards. Improved slightly in second half but always looked vulnerable
Lowry 6
The only one of the defence to show any skill on the ball or calmness in his defending. Was left exposed a lot in the second half, but stuck at his task.
Naylor 4
Slow in the tackle, indecisive in his actions and misjudging tackles, passes and high balls, time and again. Looks to have lost a yard of pace and for such an experienced defended panicked at times.
Bromby 5
Strong in his defence but got caught out of position several times and his skill level and passing is poor. Went up to support the attack towards the end but had trouble controlling the ball and was too slow to react.
McSheffrey 5
Kept trying but his crossing was so poor at times it was embarrassing. Used his pace to get behind people but wasted every opportunity to put in quality crosses. Scored a fluke goal when his cross skewed off the outside of his boot and fooled their keeper, it`s difficult to see on this performance how he is a Premier League player.
Johnson 5
Had a decent start to the game with some powerful running and provided the only decent shot of the first half but faded away badly in the second half.
Kilkenny 4
Had a bit of a ‘mare` first half. Losing the ball, passes intercepted, seemed to be waiting for the ball all the time instead of attacking it. Improved a bit second but just couldn`t get into the game and resorted to passing backwards before being subbed.
Snodgrass 5
Tried hard first half to get into them but not much came off for him. Did a lot of tracking back and it cost him as he totally ran out of steam second half and faded out of the match completely.
Becchio 6
Battled hard and did a lot of running and challenging without ever looking like creating a chance. Had little support from his strike partner. Still seemed full of running when subbed, but not his night .
Beckford 4
Hardly got into the game at all. His effort level until the last 20 minutes was virtually non existent and I cant remember him challenging for a single header. He seemed content to play back to the goal and divert passes around. Even when presented with a decent chance by Grella he blasted it across the face of the goal.
Subs
Grella 6
Made an instant impact initially on coming on, with a series of quality passes but hardly saw the ball in the last 10 minutes. Looked one of the few who could control the ball first time, and move it quickly.
Gradel 6
Lots of energy and bursts of pace but final ball was lacking in quality as he tried to cram all his tricks into a short space of time. Still makes poor decisions after breaking into the box but no doubting his effort.
Howson 5
Not on long enough to make any difference, but given how poor the midfield had been maybe he should have come on earlier.
Dazza (sat next to me) 3
Much too quiet for someone who had travelled all the way from Oxford.
Summary
All in all, a display that lacked commitment, skill, guts, energy and any degree of leadership from the experienced players. Grayson could have subbed any of six players who played 90 minutes instead of the three who went off (I think maybe Becchio was unlucky to be subbed and he certainly was less than pleased). Probably our worst display in the three seasons in this division at home and we got what we deserved.
These are my opinions and I would appreciate any other who went to the game to comment but I feel robbed of my gate money tonight.
Thanks for your views erni, although, only giving me a 3!
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