Leeds United have suffered a bruising and costly 2-0 defeat to Burnley in the Premier League relegation race.
It was an early must-win game for Leeds United in the battle for Premier League survival as they travelled to fellow promoted side Burnley, but they put in their most disappointing performance of the season at Turf Moor.
It wasn’t a game full of quality, with both sides sloppily giving the ball away in a lacklustre first half, but Burnley took the lead through Lesley Ugochukwu’s header.
Leeds controlled most of the possession and got into some dangerous areas, but Daniel Farke’s side once again struggled to create a lot of chances and couldn’t take the ones they did.
The Whites continued to have all of the ball in the second half, but they lacked any real creative verve or incision, with the ball just not sticking in attacking areas and both teams playing out some appalling passages of play.
Burnley then doubled the lead through a thunderous Loum Tchaouna strike from distance to compound a miserable afternoon for Leeds.
Here’s how the players rated.
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Karl Darlow – 3
Farke showed loyalty by keeping Karl Darlow in the starting XI, despite his awful performances for Wales in the international break and Lucas Perri being fit again. His loyalty was misplaced.
The goalkeeper didn’t even attempt to get near the goal and probably should have done better for the second, too.
Jayden Bogle – 5
Attacked well with his pace but nothing came off and he missed an absolute sitter at 2-0.
Joe Rodon – 4
No defender covered themselves in glory with Burnley’s opening goal, but Joe Rodon should have seen Ugochukwu find himself unmarked and got closer to him. Didn’t have much else to do, really.
Pascal Struijk – 5
Maintained his spot in the side over Jaka Bijol. Showed urgency with taking the ball up the pitch to try and get Leeds going. Should have closed Tchaouna faster.
Gabriel Gudmundsson – 5
Didn’t have an awful lot to do defensively, though he did make some well-timed tackles. Showed willingness to get forward but was often wasteful on the ball.
Sean Longstaff – 6
Not quite as precise with his passing or set piece delivery as usual but was tidy on the ball in attacking areas, using his quick feet to move it on nicely and build up attacking phases of play. Clipped one great cross into the box to create a good chance.
Ethan Ampadu – 6
Good battling in the heart of midfield and used the ball well. With Burnley sitting deep, Ethan Ampadu often found himself in possession and he recycled it efficiently to kick-start Leeds’ attacks.
Anton Stach – 1
An abysmal display from the big summer signing. Anton Stach may have stung the goalkeeper’s palms with a free-kick, but he was largely ineffective again from open play, rarely being able to make the ball stick or do anything of worth with it.
To make matters worse, Stach completely lost Ugochukwu as he headed home and then didn’t put any pressure at all on Tchaouna as he fired in the second. Finally hooked in the 72nd minute.
Brenden Aaronson – 3
Oh Brenden, Brenden, Brenden. You just can’t miss chances like that in the Premier League, let alone away from home, let alone when you’re losing to a direct relegation rival. Aaronson was given a perfect ball and all he had to do was loft it into the top corner but he went with his side foot and gave Martin Dubravka the chance to deflect it onto the post.
A shocking miss, which was a shame because he did look sharp in open play. Was visibly angry after being taken off but can have no complaints after an anonymous second half.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 3
Starved of service, so not even given the chance to contribute his usual good forward play of holding up the ball and bringing others into play. Had an acrobatic effort but was nowhere near scoring it. Struggled to get the ball under his control and didn’t do much of anything of note until a header that just went over in the final minute.
Jack Harrison – 6.5
Leeds fans might not have been happy with seeing Jack Harrison back in the starting XI but he was Leeds’ most creative player. It was his direct run, attracting defenders, and composed pass that put Aaronson clean through. There were some other tidy passes and positive pieces of play from him, too.
Had a great chance in loads of space but wrongly elected to take it first time rather than having a touch and he fired another shot well over before being taken off. The best of a bad bunch, though.
Substitutes
Dan James – 5
Nice to see him back. Tried to make things happen on the right.
Lukas Nmecha – 5
Offered a bit of presence up front.
Joel Piroe – 4
Didn’t see much of the ball.
Ao Tanaka – 4
Not given much time to have an impact.
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