Toon visit provides opportunity to ease concern among Whites fans

For some, it’s still ‘early days’ with performances still impressing enough to maintain the hope that results will be turned around.

For others, the team’s failure at set-pieces, in particular, has been elevated from slight worry to (potential serious) concern.

Here’s what they have to say:

ANDY RHODES

After the Jury’s optimism with its previews and predictions on Friday, United typically put in a hugely uncharacteristic performance against West Ham.

Leeds looked almost lethargic and were sloppy with and without the ball, not to mention their usual array of missed chances. In short, this was a night when not much went to plan.

All looked well when Mateusz Klich slotted home his penalty at the second attempt; it was the start we were all hoping for. But the Whites quickly became undone by another set-piece, something that has been a problem long before the Premier League days.

A poor conversion rate again came back to haunt the team. Rodrigo, Bamford and Raphinha all missed decent chances that would have turned the game at 1-1.

The Hammers also seemed to have more energy than Leeds, particularly in the second half. The game will offer food for thought for Marcelo Bielsa and they head into another winnable home game in midweek.

Man of the match: Illan Meslier.

MIKE GILL

After the Jury’s optimism with its previews and predictions on Friday, United typically put in a hugely uncharacteristic performance against West Ham.

Leeds looked almost lethargic and were sloppy with and without the ball, not to mention their usual array of missed chances. In short, this was a night when not much went to plan.

All looked well when Mateusz Klich slotted home his penalty at the second attempt; it was the start we were all hoping for. But the Whites quickly became undone by another set-piece, something that has been a problem long before the Premier League days.

A poor conversion rate again came back to haunt the team. Rodrigo, Bamford and Raphinha all missed decent chances that would have turned the game at 1-1.

The Hammers also seemed to have more energy than Leeds, particularly in the second half. The game will offer food for thought for Marcelo Bielsa and they head into another winnable home game in midweek.

Man of the match: Kalvin Phillips.

KEITH INGHAM

It really does feel like a big wake-up call, this game against West Ham.

Chelsea were head and shoulders above us, players wise, especially in the second half but West Ham were simply head and shoulders bigger than every Leeds player and every set-piece caused consternation in the makeshift defence. Marcelo Bielsa can say what he wants, and will, but it’s a fact that defensively now we are shocking from set-pieces. If it hadn’t been for Illan Meslier and bad finishing, West Ham could have trebled their score against us. Haller had one of those games that nothing rolled his way or Meslier produced superb saves.

We all were ‘sucked in’ when early results went our way and performances were very high. Now we have levelled out, it has shown that, at best, we have an average squad with a few diamonds amongst it and we should really not be surprised as it’s basically a Championship squad that, at times, has over-achieved, results wise.

I’m not slamming their efforts because I’ve enjoyed some superb displays.

These include against Aston Villa and Everton away and the two cracking performances against Manchester City and Arsenal when we derserved the three points, without doubt.

I suppose I’d better mention the actual game with West Ham. Leeds went ahead early after Bamford was tripped in the area by Fabianski; the keeper was lucky the incident happened so early in the game as he may have seen a red card instead of the yellow one awarded by the referee.

Incredibly, Mat Klich took the penalty very poorly and it was only VAR that saw that Fabianski had moved off his line and the kick was retaken. Thankfully, the Polish international put a little more power on the second effort and Leeds were ahead within six minutes, four of those minutes taken up by the penalty incident and retake.

West Ham levelled before the half-hour, Soucek leapt past his marker Stuart Dallas and, although Meslier got a glove on the effort, it went into the net.

Leeds did put some good moves together but the final ball, like a lot of games this season, just wasn’t to the player it should have gone to and, when it did to Pat Bamford, the striker headed straight at Fabianski when well placed to score.

It was a decent first half by both teams and I expected it to carry on the same way in the second half.

I was to be disappointed as West Ham upped their game and Leeds, who brought on Costa and Shackleton after the break, didn’t do themselves or the fans justice.

I’m not one to ‘jump’ on players but Costa’s performance was so bad he should have worn a black West Ham shirt as he continually gave the ball to the opponents - an absolute shocker from the winger and he gave away a free-kick off which centre-back Ogbonna scored the winner with 10 minutes to play. He rose above Cooper and the ball flew past Meslier.

The young keeper had kept United in the game with a couple of saves previously and then kept the score from becoming a real rout. His best save came from an acrobatic overhead kick from Haller and a couple of efforts went past either post or bar. West Ham, without doubt, deserved their win.

Leeds have little time to reset as Newcastle United come to Elland Road on Wednesday night, the first time the two teams have met there since they met in the Championship when Dwight Gale grabbed a couple of goals in a 2-0 win for the ‘Toon’.

Bielsa may stick with the same 11 who started the West Ham game but I wouldn’t.

Luke Ayling did well at centre-back but I’d like him back in his normal right-back position with the taller Pascal Struijk brought in to partner Liam Cooper. I’d also like to see inspirational Pablo Hernandez back in the starting XI, Harrison dropped to the bench with Rodrigo moved to his position on the left-wing.

Leeds definitely need something out of this game before they travel over the Pennines to face the old enemy at next Sunday.

Man of the match: Illan Meslier.

MATTHEW EVANS

It was an incredibly disappointing Friday evening to kick off the weekend but we must be careful not to overreact.

This was perhaps our poorest performance of the season but we can’t let our defeats define us. I’m actually quite shocked at how quickly the fanbase has dropped into meltdown. We’re playing at this level for the first time in 16 years, many of our squad are recent debutants to the Premier League, we were without two experienced centre-halves and West Ham ended the game fifth in the table. A 2-1 defeat is not surprising, nor is it the end of the world.

We should also give West Ham credit. Like Chelsea the week before, they were organised and hardworking and took enough of their chances to see us off. There is always a focus on how poorly we play, as if every game were just an opportunity to impose our style on a blank canvas of an opponent.

Only two players really get a look-in for man of the match: Illan Meslier and Luke Ayling. I’m giving the nod to Luke for a solid performance out of position and in difficult circumstances.

Man of the match: Luke Ayling.

DAVID WATKINS

Oh dear, that was not a very festive performance! From that first Klich penalty to the Rodrigo header at the end, Leeds didn’t really do anything well apart from another solid display from Meslier, but for whom we’d have had another hiding.

Not that it was a game that West Ham really dominated that much but it was just that our old Achilles heel came back to haunt us.

If you can’t defend set-pieces in the Premier League, you are always going to concede goals and we are not creating enough at the other end to allow that.

This was a game all the jury felt we would win and I still think, at our best with our strongest XI, we ought to have done.

Whether this was our strongest available XI I’m not sure; it looked like a game tailor-made for Pablo Hernandez but he remained on the bench. Meanwhile Rodrigo, if he is supposed to be playing that role, just didn’t get a grip of the game.

We have another chance to put this right with the upcoming game against The Toon.

That now becomes a huge game if we are to settle the nerves and re-establish our credentials as a decent mid-table side.

Man of the match: Illan Meslier.

JACOB STARR

What on earth was that? A hugely below-par performance from Leeds United, and the ever-present theme of defending set-pieces. Not in a good way.

Yet again, it’s a defeat from a winning position, which used to be something unthinkable for this team. A crucial issue has been raised in the last two matches, despite it regularly being a problem for the last decade I’d say. Conceding from set-pieces. It’s a ‘Leeds thing’.

Thomas Soucek and Angelo Ogbonna headed in from a corner and free-kick respectively. So yeah, not the ideal time for two centre-halves to be injured.

Mateusz Klich’s retaken penalty seems an absolute age ago.

Jack Harrison was replaced at half-time by Helder Costa, and it was hard to separate who played the poorest. Pablo Hernandez may have had more to offer though, on his return to the squad from injury. Inevitably, the social-media fan base has started to panic, and there is good reason to, especially if we continue to concede from every corner and unnecessary free kick we give away.

I’m not going to lie, I didn’t expect a performance as poor as that, but I will trust the man in FIFA’s top-three coaches of the year to resolve our on-field problems.

Man of the match: Illan Meslier.

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