Leeds United entertained Southampton at Elland Road earlier this evening, hoping to pick up maximum points at home. Both sides fought tooth and nail in the first 45 minutes but struggled to break each other down as they went into the half-time break with a goalless scoreline.
Patrick Bamford broke the deadlock just two minutes into the second half. The Yorkshire giants finally made the points safe in the 78th minute courtesy of Stuart Dallas’ goal. Raphinha added one more goal before the end of the game to give Leeds a comfortable 3-0 victory in the Premier League.
Let’s take a look at how each Leeds player performed during the clash against the Saints.
GK: Illan Meslier – 8/10
The Whites keeper made some crucial saves to restrict the Saints from scoring during the 90 minutes. He cleared his lines when needed and secured a well-deserved clean sheet at the back.
CB: Diego Llorente – 7/10
The Spaniard made several important interceptions for his team and was not shy of putting his foot through the ball to clear the danger.
CB: Luke Cooper – 8/10
Cooper commanded his penalty area with authority and conviction. He showed great hunger to win the ball back on a few occasions and pulled off multiple crucial clearances throughout the game.
CB: Pascal Strujik – 7.5/10
Strujik did what was asked of him on the defensive end of the field and deserves a lot of credit for earning the clean sheet at home.
CM: Luke Ayling – 7.5/10
Ayling worked his socks off to shield his teammates in defence and made one good run with the ball from midfield.
CM: Mateusz Klich – 6/10
He struggled to influence the game and got replaced near the hour mark.
CM: Stuart Dallas – 8.5/10
Dallas got stuck in with a few hard tackles which disrupted the opposition’s rhythm at the centre of the park. He also got his name on the scoresheet in the second half.
RW: Jack Harrison – 6/10
Harrison helped his teammates at the back but failed to make an impact in the Southampton half and got substituted at half-time.
CAM: Tyler Roberts – 7/10
Roberts was a lively presence in and around the Saints penalty box and has got an assist to show for his efforts.
LW: Raphinha – 8.5/10
The Brazilian wing wizard created all kinds of problems for the Southampton defenders and got his deserved goal late in the game.
ST: Patrick Bamford – 8/10
The Whites centre-forward managed to net the opening goal in the 58th minute, which put his side in a commanding position to go on and claim the three points. He was quite clever with his movement but could have kept hold of the ball a bit better when linking up with his teammates in the final third.
Substitutes:
RW: Helder Costa – 7/10
Costa came off the bench to bag an assist in the second 45 minutes.
CM: Ezgjan Alioski – 6/10
He gave away the ball quite a few times but did well to fashion one chance in the final quarter of the game.
CAM: Pablo Hernandez – 6/10
Hernandez added some energy to the Whites attack.
