Tony Dorigo has written in his YEP column that a comment made by Leeds United manager Sam Allardyce after the 3-1 loss to West Ham on Sunday “pricked his ears” – about the Whites lacking a striker to come off the bench.
Leeds limped to a 3-1 defeat in what was a lifeless, tired, beleaguered second-half performance that has put the club on the cusp of relegation. Leeds need to beat Spurs and hope Everton lose to stand any chance of survival.
So, realistically, Leeds will be in the Championship next season and the last roll of the dice in Sam Allardyce has not worked. Even though, it was always going to be tough. It was not helped on Sunday by two injuries in the same area.
Indeed, Patrick Bamford came off after 30 minutes. Rodrigo seemed to have picked up a knock on the hour mark, but limped on to finish the game. Allardyce bemused many by saying he did not have another striker to bring on.
Even though, Georginio Rutter – the club’s record signing – was literally sat behind him. We wrote this week that Big Sam’s comments of Rutter is only going to harm the Frenchman. Now, Dorigo has given his verdict on those claims.
“I was in the press conference after the game and my ears pricked up when Allardyce said what he said about not having a centre forward. He has had time to see the squad train and play, to assess what we’ve got,” Dorigo wrote.
“This was his assessment and it’s hard to argue with that. You look back then and think how did this happen and it’s just one of the things you could look at to say we didn’t do the right things or get who we needed in January.”
Tony Dorigo says Sam Allardyce comment about Leeds pricked his ears
It was a weird comment. Clearly, he was desperate to bring on a striker. Yes, Rutter is not a natural no.9 but if he was so keen to replace Rodrigo – who needed to be saved for the final game – surely Rutter would was the one?
Has Allardyce just looked at him in training and thought, nah? Or is it that he feels Rutter is a winger? He is literally playing Rodrigo as a winger, but will not play Rutter – more of a second striker – as a striker. That one is bizarre.
