Leeds United suffered a first loss in eight games on Tuesday night as the Whites were beaten 1-0 by Sunderland away from home – and Phil Hay praised the development of Sunderland’s Jack Clarke.
Coming into the game, Leeds might have fancied their chances given Sunderland are yet to appoint a new manager after sacking Tony Mowbray. We had won six of the last seven, drawing 1-1 at Rotherham.
But Leeds looked lethargic. Daniel Farke decided to make just one change, one enforced change – as Djed Spence came in for the injured Sam Byram. But the other 10 players retained their starting spots.
Ethan Ampadu, Dan James, Joel Piroe and even Georginio Rutter struggled to impress on the night – as Leeds lost ground to Ipswich, who beat Watford. On the other side of the coin, Sunderland were good.
The likes of Jobe Bellingham, Niall Huggins, Trai Hume – a player that has been linked with Leeds – and Alex Pritchard all had impacts. But Hay took the time to praise Clarke, applauding his development.
Phil Hay praises development of Sunderland star Jack Clarke
The winger of course, came through the Leeds academy into the team under Marcelo Bielsa. He moved to Spurs in 2018 and has ended up at Sunderland – so far, producing 41 goals and assists in 91 matches.
Archie Gray did his best to keep Clarke quiet but after picking up a yellow card in the first half, it was always going to be tough. Ultimately, the goal came from Pritchard heading to Bellingham to score.
This season, he is in the form of his life. He has 10 goals in 21 Championship outings. Having watched him as a teenager, Hay discussed how obvious it was to see that Clarke had become a better player.
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