Sam Allardyce has labelled the manner of Leeds United’s 4-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday as his biggest disappointment while at the club.
Allardyce was speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, where he lamented the ‘basic errors’ from Leeds that made the scoreline in such a crucial game look ’embarrassing’.
The Whites went into that game against Spurs knowing only a win would give them a chance of remaining in the Premier League.
Despite naming six defenders in his line-up, Leeds were pulled apart within the first two minutes as Harry Kane steered home unmarked from inside the area.
From then, it was a mountain to climb and all four of Spurs‘ goals were as a result of poor mistakes at the back by Leeds, which cannot be excused in a game of that magnitude.
Allardyce on biggest Leeds disappointment
Ultimately, based on results elsewhere Leeds would’ve gone down regardless of the result against Spurs.
The nature of the scoreline makes it look like Leeds went down without a fight, though, which is what Allardyce has named his biggest frustration from his brief spell at Elland Road.
He said: “The ultimate real disappointment I would have to say, after all the hard work we did, was Sunday’s match. The escalation of basic errors at critical moments in the game which made it look really embarrassing, which was really sad.
“In between that, there was 21 shots at goal, but on target only two. You can see the amount of play we had but that means nothing to the fans and the press because you got hammered 4-1.
“Apart from the last goal, all three of the goals were our mistakes.”
Leeds were immediately on the back foot against Spurs simply because of the starting XI Allardyce opted to go with in a must-win game.
Six defenders was simply never going to work, particularly when all are in such poor form and leaving the attacking talent he had at his disposal on the bench was a poor choice.
That said, what can a manager do when such simple errors are being made week-in, week-out.
Receive a digest of our best Leeds content each week direct to your mailbox
