Former Premier League defender Gary Neville has singled out the two Leeds United players who were ‘outstanding’ against Chelsea.
Daniel Farke eased the growing pressure over his position as Leeds manager with a much-needed win over Chelsea.
Every Leeds player did their job exceptionally in a statement 3-1 win to help lift Leeds out of the Premier League relegation zone ahead of the crucial fixture against Liverpool.
Farke has a decision to make with his full-backs after Gabriel Gudmundsson and Jayden Bogle ran themselves into the ground against Chelsea.
The pair have now been praised by Neville, who hailed their energy in Leeds’ famous win at Elland Road.
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Gary Neville praises Leeds United’s Gabriel Gudmundsson and Jayden Bogle
Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast for Sky Sports, the former Manchester United man explained what made Bogle and Gudmundsson’s performance so impressive in the win over Chelsea.
According to Neville, it is hard to find a player who can naturally play as a wing-back, so having two in his squad is a real boost to Farke.
Neville said: “Yeah, I had Leeds, Burnley and Wolves to go down and I’d been looking pretty comfortable with that.
“I’m not going to change my mind, but I have to say, watching Leeds last night that they showed me something different, a lot more physical. I think that the spine of the team, the three centre backs, I think Ampadu sat in front of them and then the two centre forwards, Calvert-Lewin and Nmecha.
“And then obviously the lads that came on, I thought that they could pick up points. They could win games. They could cause teams some real disruption and sort of physically sort of hurt them.
“I thought the wing-backs were outstanding, real energy, the way in which they went about the business. And we’ve seen tonight. I think it’s hard to find good wing-backs, players who play that sort of position naturally.
“So, yeah, I think last night was a good night for Leeds, really good night. They were dominant. They really did physically outmuscle Chelsea.”
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Daniel Farke may be tempted to rotate his full-backs against Liverpool
According to the BBC, the Leeds players covered a total of 120.32 kilometres against Chelsea, 5.72% more than their opponents, to highlight Neville’s point on their physical dominance.
While Leeds looked much more effective in the 5-3-2 system that Farke has now adopted, it does increase the demand on their full-backs, who are expected to provide the width in attack.
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Farke elected to rest Gudmundsson against Man City, bringing him on as a substitute when James Justin picked up a knock. Justin then returned to the bench against Chelsea.
Bogle was withdrawn in the closing stages of the game against Chelsea. Farke may elect to start Justin on the right of the back five against Liverpool to give his right back a much-needed rest.
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