Many Leeds United fans have been reacting on social media, after Ben White suggested that we lost to Sheffield Wednesday as the Owls are ‘not a big side’.
Goals from Jacob Murphy and Atdhe Nuhiu after the 87th-minute dealt the damage to Marcelo Bielsa’s squad on Saturday, which had begun the day atop the Championship table but now trail West Bromwich Albion by a point.
White was powerless to prevent Murphy or Nuhiu turning the ball home past Kiko Casilla in the dying stages, though feels the club had done more than enough to deserve at least a point at home to Garry Monk’s Owls.
United were pushing for the go-ahead goal when Murphy broke free on the counter to break the deadlock, and slash our advantage over third-placed Brentford from nine points to six after they beat Queens Park Rangers 3-1.
Losing to Sheffield Wednesday was our second defeat of the week after being knocked out of the FA Cup to Arsenal, despite ending the first-half at the Emirates Stadium as the side in control.
Are you concerned by White's comment?
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White has suggested that going toe-to-toe with the Gunners and the Owls presented vastly different challenges to Bielsa’s men, and perhaps could not reach the same intensity as a result.
“I think we played well in the first half,” White told the Yorkshire Evening Post. “I think we deserved to get something from the game on our first-half display.
“Obviously, we did well against Arsenal and we have played like that before against a Championship side, but it’s not as big [playing Sheffield Wednesday] because it’s not against a big side. We will just keep going.”
Here are some of the messages shared as fans reacted to White’s comment…
Bit of an L from Ben there if he really thinks that
— Alex Farnell (@AlexFarnell09) January 13, 2020
They should want to die for three points every week to get Leeds in to the Premier League. I question the maturity of the players. Not just based on this. And Nuhiu had the quality to out-fox White and Cooper and stick one in the top bins, a clinical move that we could learn from
— Dave 💙💛 (@David__Naylor) January 13, 2020
Any derby game is a massive game regardless of who it is
— Phil Clark (@PhilWesley08) January 13, 2020
Oh dear oh dear. I feared that players let the arsenal 1st half get to their heads. Hopefully they have been humbled and know they need to turn up for every game. We lost to worse tesms than wednesday #mot #lufc
— Zai (@Zais_P3rch) January 13, 2020
I’d Agree with the statement! #MOT Class
— Matt Grimes (@GrimesyOfficial) January 13, 2020
Got Wednesday fans on strings😂😫
— |Elliott| (@Elliott_LUFCx) January 13, 2020
He’s gone fishing there
— Johnie Beattie 💙💛 (@BeattieJohnie) January 13, 2020
Every player who puts that shirt on should treat every game as a big game no matter who it is against
— Adam Green (@AdamGreen0823) January 13, 2020
In other Leeds United news, the club are unconvinced of the benefits of signing a £1.35m-rated forward whose keen to join the Whites.