Crysencio Summerville is earning enormous praise for his ability and indeed, numbers in the final third for Leeds United – but Graham Smyth believes his defensive work has dramatically improved.
Summerville, 22, has been enigmatic this season. Not only did he net his 16th goal of the season last time out on Tuesday night at Swansea, but he took his tally to 25 goals and assists – with a ninth assist.
The Netherlands U21 man is the best player in the Championship, according to Ross McCormack. He is not wrong at the moment, with the pocket-sized ace on absolute fire. He is key to our promotion chase.
Michael Bridges said this week that Summerville’s shooting has got so much better of late. But Yorkshire Evening Post reporter Smyth told the Inside Elland Road podcast his work defensively has improved.
Smyth said: “When you come up against a team like Leeds and Crysencio Summerville, whose pressing and tackling has gone to a different level of late. He’s winning the ball a lot more often than he was.”
Graham Smyth says Crysencio Summerville better defensively
Gareth Ainsworth said ahead of Tuesday’s win over Swansea – in which Willy Gnonto nabbed a brace and Joel Piroe got another – that Summerville is the man that if we go up, he will be seen as the reason.
Leeds now sit in second place and if we are going to go up automatically, then keeping Summerville fit and firing is absolutely key. Whether Leeds can hold on to second remains to be seen, going forward.
Leeds will need a helping hand from those that take on Southampton in the next few weeks. There are 15 Cup finals left to play, and you would imagine Leeds need to win at least 10 of those to get second.
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