YEP Jury: Mistakes prove costly for Leeds United against ‘top-class’ Tottenham Hotspur

DAVID WATKINS

I think we’ve known for some time where we stand in this Premier League lark; against most sides we’re more than good enough and, on occasions, when we get the breaks and take our chances, we’ll batter them.

Against the very best though, the mega rich, they will always just tend to have that individual quality that means they make fewer mistakes, play in better crosses, play fewer loose passes and take more difficult chances and, mostly, they’ll come out on top especially if we don’t get a break or two.

That sums up this game. For half an hour we were the better footballing side, making more chances, but then we made a mistake, arguably two mistakes, and Spurs were ahead.

Son is a player with top quality skills and, if we had a player who could finish like he can, we’d be a top side too.

And then we had our regular disappointment at set-pieces; I guess that’s quality too, Spurs for the delivery and the Leeds defence not having the skills to deal with it. Spurs are not in our sights this season though, this was a free hit!

Man of the match: Luke Ayling.

MATTHEW EVANS

The Premier League is a punishing place at times. You show up to Tottenham’s fancy new ground (empty, of course), you put in a really good performance, but somehow you still lose 3-0.

Playing Spurs and playing West Brom was like playing two different sports this week. Where West Brom were all over the place, Spurs were incredibly organised and defended brilliantly which meant they only needed to take one opportunity at the other end.

All of this meant another punishing afternoon in front of the TV listening to clueless pundits demanding that Bielsa change his style. What they miss is that maintaining one approach is absolutely key to our success.

Imagine saying to our back five of two rookies, a full-back out of position and two wingers out of position (with a combined cost of less than £10m) “Just ignore everything we told you at the Hawthorns, let Kane and Son come on to you, do your best to stop them and let’s see if we can nick one from a corner at the other end.”

Utter nonsense.

Man of the match: Luke Ayling.

JACOB STARR

A questionable penalty, a moment of quality, and a corner. That was the difference as, yet again, we’ve come away from London with nothing despite a decent enough performance.

Although Leeds dominated the first 20 minutes, Spurs took a two-goal lead into the break with the first coming from a Harry Kane penalty that looked like it should have been a free-kick instead. But hey ho, it was a dodgy pass from Illan Meslier and an unnecessary foul from Gjanni Alioski that caused it.

Son Heung-Min’s finish from a sublime cross by Kane doubled the lead and in turn was the South Korean’s 100th career goal.

Conceding from another corner didn’t come as much of a shock, but only minutes into the second half didn’t give us a chance of getting something from the game.

It was total domination in our favour for the rest of the game, helped by the introduction of Pablo Hernandez, but it was the first time this season we’ve failed to score away from home.

With more Premier League experience, I am certain we will be able to properly compete with sides like Spurs.

In this case, it was a typical Jose Mourinho performance that ultimately got the job done. We weren’t far off, though.

Man of the match: Pascal Struijk.

KEITH INGHAM

Leeds suffered a 3-0 defeat at Spurs at their impressive new ground but it’s another game that most United fans will be saying “what if” because chances were once again spurned, and soon as the hosts were ahead there was only going to be one winner.

The London hoodoo unfortunately continues.

Leeds started impressively and should have been 1-0 up through Patrick Bamford but Gjanni Alioski’s clumsy challenge looked just outside the box but the referee awarded a penalty. There was a VAR review but the penalty stood and Kane put the spot kick down the middle of the goal. It was rough justice for Leeds.

Son made it two before the break with a sublime finish after a good Spurs move had presented him with the opportunity. It was the 100th goal that the South Korean had scored for the ‘Lillywhites’.

Alderweireld made it 3-0 when he jumped highest to head in a corner, Meslier got two hands to the ball but it squirmed over his hands and just crossed the line to give Spurs an unassailable lead.

Six points out of 12 isn’t a bad return over the Christmas and new year period considering they have played both Man Utd and Spurs on their travels.

It has to be said though that the difference in standard of footballer in the Spurs line up was clearly there for all to see once they were ahead.

Spurs had two deadly strikers in Kane and Son while Leeds haven’t anybody as lethal as them.

It might seem very harsh to say but whatever level you play at you need to take your chances when they come your way.

Put a Kane or Son in the Leeds team and the result would definitely have been different.

Man of the match: Luke Ayling.

ANDY RHODES

After a hectic festive schedule, we can be happy with six points from a possible nine in the week after Christmas.

The odd one out came, as we all expected, in London where Leeds’ nightmare run goes on.

Despite their woeful record in the capital, United started well. The forward line looked bright as ever, attacking in perfect synchronisation.

However, the defence has a habit of causing its own problems this season, and it happened again here. Sloppy passing again led to a penalty.

There was nothing that could be done about Spurs’ second. Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane have dismantled many a Premier League defence this season, including ones more experienced than Bielsa’s. From that point on it was going to be tough for Leeds, but the way they continue to attack is admirable.

For years, we’ve wanted a team that would rather go for it and lose 3-0 than park the bus and lose 1-0, and now we have it.

It might not be good enough for the pundits, but it’s good enough for us.

Man of the match: Luke Ayling.

MIKE GILL

Another reverse against a top-class side didn’t seem inevitable until Son ended a fine move with Kane by scoring just before half-time.

Even after the controversial penalty on the half hour, the Whites were more than holding their own.

In fact, most of their woes could be attributed to the old spectre of poor finishing in front of goal.

The second half was too steep a hill to climb and when Meslier failed to keep the ball from crossing the line after a scrambled shot from Alderweireld it was effectively game over.

As is their custom, Leeds kept battering away. A consolation goal would have been most welcome but it wasn’t to be.

Despite the fact that they were marking the most potent striking partnership in the Premier League, Luke Ayling and Pascal Struijk managed to get forward. It will be good when Luke can make his forays up the wings again but he is doing a fine job in the centre of defence.

It’s the FA Cup next week and some respite and recovery time is in prospect.

Man of the match: Stuart Dallas.

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