Leeds United finally overcame Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fourth round with a 4-1 victory after extra-time.
Just like at Elland Road, Leeds were held to a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes, despite having smashed the woodwork three times and dominating for much of the evening.
A lot of Leeds‘ dominance came from being able to consistently sustain attacks on Plymouth’s defence thanks to their ability to win the ball back quickly in decent areas of the pitch.
Ilia Gruev was undoubtedly key to that, with his ability to smell danger as a defensive midfielder at an exceptionally good level. His leggy style also means he is very good at winning tackles when you might not expect him to.
And Leeds’ official Twitter account has today posted a video of two sliding tackles Gruev made on Tuesday night, both of which stopped a Plymouth counter-attack in its tracks.
Leeds post tweet of classy Gruev tackles
The first one sees Plymouth’s dangerman Morgan Whittaker cutting inside onto his left foot with Leeds’ defence a little all over the place, until Gruev comes in with a perfectly timed challenge.
The second one, however, is even better. Leeds had just hit the post in stoppage time through Joe Gelhardt and substitute Frederick Issaka began driving towards a low on numbers defence.
Somehow, though, Gruev was able to stop him with his tracks with an unbelievable sliding tackle and win back possession for Leeds.
Gruev has had to be incredibly patient for his opportunity following his move from Werder Bremen in the summer, but he has certainly been worth the wait.
The 23-year-old has started seven matches in a row across all competitions in 2024 and just continues to get better and better, making himself undroppable in that midfield.
On top of tackles like these, he rarely ever gives the ball away. As per Sofa Score, his pass accuracy has dropped below 90 per cent only once during his recent run in the team. He is a complete midfielder at this level.
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