New Diego Llorente blow but breathing space and Raphinha's star value - Leeds United Talking Points

Breathing space and free-hit at Leicester

Leeds by and large took the Premier League by storm for a newly-promoted side in the first four months of the season yet United headed for St James' Park without a win or a goal this year.

Defeats at Tottenham Hotspur and at home to Brighton either side of the latest FA Cup humbling at Crawley Town hardly meant a crisis yet Whites head coach Marcelo Bielsa admitted himself that United's lack of usual attacking fluidity had left him worried.

But whilst still nowhere near their best, Tuesday's display was at least a step back in the right direction and more importantly a return to winning ways.

Leeds only mustered two more attempts at goal than against Brighton with seven shots against the Magpies and two on target, both of which hit the back of the net via Jack Harrison and Raphinha.

That stat is a bit misleading as there were other moments of danger such as when a fine cross from Stuart Dallas whizzed across the box.

Nevertheless, the Whites are capable of so much better but Bielsa admitted himself that the triumph was an important victory as bad runs are harder to snap out of the longer they go on.

Unlike Newcastle, Leeds' bad run is now over which relieves the pressure somewhat for Sunday's clash at title-chasing Leicester City which could be seen as something of a free hit.

The Foxes will be without Jamie Vardy but there's plenty else to worry about led by the superb James Maddison.

Looking at the bigger picture, Bielsa's Whites are now up to 26 points from 19 games played, sitting 12th and 14 points clear of the dropzone, albeit having played one game more than third-bottom Fulham who are five points adrift of fourth-bottom Brighton - on the same games as Leeds.

The Whites are consequently now as big as 50-1 to go down and if United can now rediscover their full attacking prowess it will be hoped that the only way is up though there is still a three-point break to 11th-placed Southampton.

All that ultimately matters though is that United keep themselves in the division and Tuesday's victory was another three points towards sealing that objective against a side for whom it could be touch and go in terms of avoiding the drop.

The defensive picture after Diego Llorente's latest injury woe

Spanish international Diego Llorente has had a rough time of things with injuries since joining Leeds from Real Sociedad for £18m in the summer, playing just 81 minutes of United's first 18 league games as an early substitute for Robin Koch in December's 3-1 loss at Chelsea.

Having previously been out with a groin injury, Bielsa had hoped to give Llorente minutes for United's under-23s before playing for the first team yet it was needs musts at Stamford Bridge as Koch aggravated a knee problem.

Llorente then suffered a fresh setback himself and had been out again since - until now.

Now back fit and also having come through 45 minutes for United's under-23s this time, a full debut finally presented itself against Newcastle and hopefully the start of a new era for the Leeds defence.

Yet trouble very quickly looked afoot when Llorente went down injured in the seventh minute with the Spaniard pointing to his hamstring as he received treatment.

Sure enough, it proved the end of the 27-year-old's evening as Pascal Struijk was brought on in the tenth minute and Bielsa admitted afterwards that Llorente had suffered a similar problem to the one experienced before.

Quite how long Llorente is out for remains to be seen as the defender's injury problems this season began when he picked up a groin injury on international duty with Spain at the beginning of October.

That then led to a two-month wait for his first Leeds outing.

Moreover, Bielsa also admitted in his post-match press conference that he was worried about Llorente's state of mind given the succession of injuries that he has had.

It means it's as you were regards the Whites defensive picture in skipper Liam Cooper, Pascal Struijk, Luke Ayling and Kalvin Phillips as the centre-back options though both Koch and Geatano Berardi are very much on the mend.

With Llorente now likely facing another spell on the sidelines, the sooner they are back the better as Newcastle caused Leeds plenty of problems even in defeat.

In particular, the Whites will be glad to see the back of Allan Saint-Maximin who would have been an even bigger problem had he started and not been on the comeback trail from injury and Covid.

Still only 23, the French winger looks destined for big things.

Raphinha's star value

There were plenty of other talking points on the night, not least the fact that Polish international midfielder Mateusz Klich failed to make one of Bielsa's starting line ups in the league for only the second time in two and a half years.

The benched Klich eventually came on in the second half as Bielsa used all three substitutes by the hour mark with Klich and Tyler Roberts on for Gjanni Alioski and Patrick Bamford after Llorente's early swap for Struijk.

Roberts is suddenly enjoying more first team football and record signing Rodrigo caused the Magpies a bit of bother but there's not much doubting that Brazilian winger Raphinha proved the star of the night.

Once again, the 24-year-old looked a class act with a lovely finish for United's opener and then a sublime pass to set up Jack Harrison's fine second goal and there were plenty of other impressive passes.

The fee of £17m that Leeds paid Rennes to sign the winger on a four-year-deal is hardly small change but Raphinha looks a gem of a player who is surely already worth at least double of what United paid for him and certainly some way more than £17m.

Better still, the Brazilian will surely only get better with the more games he gets in English football.

Leeds have a real star on their hands and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Raphinha on an international sphere as amazingly the Brazilian has had no international representation as yet, even at youth level.

As well as Raphinha, the returning Illan Meslier also warrants special praise for some fine saves in a rather worrying second half in which Newcastle really ought to have equalised at the very least.

The Magpies can count themselves unfortunate but the main thing for Leeds was returning to winning ways and it was job done with Raphinha playing the starring role.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/graham-smyths-player-ratings-leeds-united-hang-win-steve-bruces-struggling-newcastle-united-3113877

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Thank you Laura Collins