YEP Jury: Toothless Leeds United lack killer instinct in front of goal

DAVID WATKINS

This was as disappointing as it gets, coming after beating Burnley and West Ham and looking pretty good in the process.

Another win would have had us believing we were far more mid-table than relegation fodder! Now the doubts will remain.

Newcastle did a job on us; time-wasting from the first moments and staying down whenever they could to eat up time and get their breath back, it was a shameful display from the Magpies.

But, at the end of the day, we shot ourselves in the foot once again.

The Premier League is an unforgiving place and it’s no good bossing the game if you can’t put the ball in the net, while at the other end, any mistake is always likely to be punished.

We can but hope that, with two weeks off, we can get Patrick Bamford ready for the trip to Villa Park; he has left a huge hole in this team of ours and I’m sure he’d make a difference.

Man of the match: Stuart Dallas.

KEITH INGHAM

Another game Leeds will look back on knowing that the three points should have been theirs. Maybe us jurors should not tip our team to win because when we do, bad things happen.

Leeds had enough possession during a frenetic first half to force Newcastle on the back foot but the final ball wasn’t good enough. James had the best opportunity but Dubravka saved his scuffed effort before Shelvey brought the best out of Meslier.

In the second half Leeds continued to press but Dubravka wasn’t troubled until Raphinha’s shot was saved by him but the keeper recovered enough to block James’ follow up. These games can sometimes be won by a piece of brilliance or a mistake.

The latter happened as Shelvey’s free -kick went around the wall, took a slight deflection and bounced over Meslier’s shoulder.

The young keeper will be disappointed he didn’t stop a shot that had little pace on it.

There is now a two-week break and it remains to be seen if the purse strings are loosened to bring in additions.

I should advise the club to do a little business if there are players available.

Man of the match: Pascal Struijk. Solid throughout.

ANDY RHODES

That was one of those games with so much riding on it that anything other than a win would have been disappointing. A defeat, then, is even harder to take.

To say the Leeds performance was poor would be a sizeable understatement.

United, particularly in the second half, were toothless and lacked any meaningful creativity.

Newcastle became much more compact as the game went on and made it difficult for Leeds to find space to run in to.

This meant that United needed to be clinical when the chances came along but without an out-and-out centre forward in the line-up it was going to be difficult.

Ultimately, this was a big three points dropped against an opponent that has been struggling for form and victories all season and it is a result that drags United right back into the middle of a relegation scrap.

This makes the games to come against Aston Villa and Everton after the winter break even more crucial.

Man of the match: Luke Ayling.

ANDREW DALTON

After the euphoria of West Ham last weekend, Leeds felt the other side of it when they fell to defeat at home to Newcastle United.

The game started at a fast pace, with both sides going hammer and tongs with Dan James seeing his close-range effort saved by Dubravka. The rest of the first half saw both sides play plenty of football without any killer instinct. Leeds got into some very good positions but the final pass just wasn’t there.

The second period started in the same vein with James again coming close after some lovely play from Raphinha, Rodrigo and Jack Harrison. Sean Longstaff then came close for the visitors before Jonjo Shelvey gave Newcastle the lead from a free-kick on the edge of the area. The visitors could have doubled the advantage before the end through Wood and Willock but failed to add to the scoreline.

On reflection, six points from the first month of 2022 is a decent return and the break has come at a good time before the trip to Villa Park in early February.

Man of the match: Luke Ayling.

MIKE GILL
United dominated the first half but the old problems of wastefulness resurfaced.

Cross after cross, cutback after cutback left Leeds with nil return.

In all other areas, the Whites played well particularly in defence as Llorente and Struijk mopped most of the attacking threats up. The situation cried out for a natural striker like Gelhardt but the youngster didn’t join in the fray until it was too late.

After Jonjo Shelvey gave Newcastle the lead on 75 minutes with a well taken free-kick, United’s efforts became more and more desperate. Meslier did manage to get a hand to the low shot but he couldn’t parry it away.

It was apparent even to the most positive fan that an equaliser was not going to happen despite United’s best efforts.

Newcastle had performed a smash-and-grab raid and there is no argument about that no matter how you felt.

A break now before the equally important games against Aston Villa and Everton.

Let’s hope that the Whites have their shooting boots back by then.

Man of the match: Diego Llorente.

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