‘Frantic’ - What Alan Shearer, Rio Ferdinand and pundits have said about Leeds United this season

Leeds United have enjoyed a solid start to the season, sitting in 12th place after seven games, and with a game in hand to play.

Jesse Marsch’s men will still feel they have space to improve, but with a gap between themselves and the bottom three, they are where they would expect to be at this point.

It’s a start Leeds can be pleased with, especially with the number of players they have had to bed in from the summer.

But what have pundits made of their performances so far this season?

We take a look below.

Rio Ferdinand

Speaking on his Vibe with Five podcast early in the season, Ferdinand said of the relegation battle: “Bournemouth are my certs (to get relegated). I have all the three teams that came up.

“I know that sounds lazy. I like (Steve) Cooper, but it’ll be interesting to see how he integrates that many new signings. They’ve gone mental. They’ve gone mad.

“They (Leeds) won at the weekend. I agree (they’ll have enough to stay up), but I think Forest go down.”

Dion Dublin

After Leeds’ opening day win over Wolves, Dion Dublin said on Final Score: “He’s gone for players that he knows and players that he can trust,. He’s had a taster of this league and now knows what is expected of his players.

“They are still frantic. They are still all over the place. But they seem to be squeezing and closing the ball down in the right places now, in the final third of the opponent.”

Michael Dawson

Leeds suffered a setback against Brighton earlier in the season, causing Sky Sports pundit Michael Dawson to say: “[Illan] Meslier made two or three saves that were top class to keep them in the game.

“The second half changed, of course it did, because Leeds couldn’t be any worse than they were in the first half.

“Leeds made substitutions, they were disappointing. Jack Harrison, big player for them last week, magnificent. Non-existent today, he really, really was. And Leeds can’t have that performance because they’re not good enough to carry players.”

Alan Shearer

Leeds’ best performance of the season so far came in a rampant home win over Chelsea.

Discussing that performance on Match of the Day, Alan Shearer said: “It was an incredible game. Other than the first few minutes of the game where Raheem Sterling missed a big opportunity for Chelsea, Leeds battered Chelsea.

“They went after them, they didn’t give them a moment’s peace. Their energy, their application, the way the manager had them playing in terms of pressing. It wasn’t just about the pressing, when they got the ball they played some fantastic football as well.

“This is what they did. They just didn’t allow Chelsea to settle and play any of their game because of this [high press] it wasn’t just one person doing it, it was the whole team.

“When they lost the ball, then when they won it back they had three of them to go and play and cause Chelsea problems as they did. He gets a warning here the goalkeeper because that’s exactly what Leeds were going to do - they’re going to close him down, every player, no time at all for Chelsea to play to get into any sort of rhythm.

"We've had the warning which Mendy didn't take any notice of whatsoever. He tries to be clever - too clever - and he gets done with an absolute howler.

"But, Aaronson led from the front in terms of his ability and energy - threes and fours [pressing]. Even when they were 3-0 up their attitude never changed Leeds. Once they got the third one they wanted to go and get a fourth one and then force other errors into the game.

"This is with two or three minutes to go [two Leeds players dive into tackles] I'm on about the commitment they're showing and they responded to the crowd because that was electric at Elland Road today.

"That's Thiago Silva there [in a heap on the floor], no respect, they got in there for the tackle and the manager was driving them forward. They did that and it was an unbelievable performance and thoroughly deserved."

Roy Keane

The Whites had to settle for a home draw with Aston Villa last time out, and speaking on Sky Sports after that one, Roy Keane said: “There’s a bit of needle going on, but in terms of quality it’s been dreadful.

“Really, really, poor. One or two half chances, but really poor from both sides.”