BBC pundit suggests 23-year-old Leeds player had a poor game at Southampton

Add as preferred source on Google

Jon Newsome has admitted that Jamie Shackleton had a really tough time up against Southampton, but backed the Leeds United youngster to learn from the display.

Newsome was speaking on BBC Radio Leeds after the Whites were soundly beaten by Russell Martin’s men, with Daniel Farke’s side only looking good in the minutes before their only goal.

Jamie Shackleton kept his place at right-back for the contest. The 23-year-old had been superb in the stunning win over Watford last month. So it was no surprise that he kept his place ahead of Luke Ayling.

However, Saturday proved to be a much tougher assignment for Shackleton. It must be said that no Leeds player won more tackles than him, according to Whoscored. But Southampton took a 3-0 lead into half-time. And it was Kamaldeen Sulemana who set up their second and third goals.

Jamie Shackleton struggles as Leeds lose to Southampton

Sulemana was brilliant on Southampton’s left wing. And Newsome conceded that he absolutely dominated the battle with Shackleton.

“I thought Shack found it hard against Sulemana today. Sulemana was good. You could see their game-plan, using his pace. He started wide and he made that inverted run, that diagonal. He was diving in behind and Shack didn’t know whether to twist or stick,” he told BBC Radio Leeds.

“Does he go with Sulemana? And if he does, I think it was Manning, or even Downes the midfielder, makes that run into that channel. And if he doesn’t go with Sulemana, they play Sulemana in. So it was a tough afternoon for Jamie Shackleton today. But it’s one he’ll learn from.”

Daniel Farke faces tricky decision at right-back

The right-back spot is one of the tricky decisions facing Daniel Farke ahead of Wednesday’s game against Queens Park Rangers.

Luke Ayling had been struggling before the change was made. And Shackleton was excellent against Watford. So he may refrain from making another switch given that only two teams in the Championship have scored fewer goals than QPR.

Obviously, it is a dilemma Farke was hoping to avoid. But the injury to summer signing Djed Spence has made life tricky for the Leeds boss.

Thankfully, we are not going to come up against wingers with Sulemana’s quality every single week at this level.

But Saturday’s result does act as a reminder – following the sensational win over Watford – that Leeds have got plenty of work to do if we are going to make our stay in the second tier a brief one.