First team

Leeds United player ratings v Nottingham Forest

|
Image for Leeds United player ratings v Nottingham Forest





A bad day at the office for Garry Monk and his squad. A much changed line-up from the team that beat Luton on Tuesday night, Leeds just never really got going. Conceding early took the sting right out of our game and although the second half was a little better we never really looked like competing. Here are our player ratings.

GK – Rob Green – 6 – Little he could do about the first two Forest goals, that was just awful defending. The third however – he was beaten far too easily at his near post. Made one very good save in the first-half to deny Forest an opener but apart from that he didn’t really have much to do.




RB – Luke Ayling – 6 – Ayling had started his Leeds career very well but he struggled against Forest’s left-winger yesterday, he also lost his man at the corner for their opening goal. He does like to get forward though and supports Hadi Sacko quite well. I can’t see him being dropped just yet, I’m sure he’ll recover from this.

CB – Kyle Bartley – 7 – I didn’t think Bartley had too bad of a game yesterday but sometimes you just want to see crunch into an opposing striker, I think it’d get the team and fans going.

CB – Liam Cooper – 5 – Cooper was at fault for two of Forest’s goals yesterday – allowed his man to get away from him at the corner and was left ball watching. As for the third, don’t get me started – a half-hearted attempt at a tackle and their player was simply too strong. I don’t think he should be dropped immediately as he seemed to form a decent partnership against Wednesday but with Jansson waiting in the wings there’s no room for mistakes.

LB – Charlie Taylor – 6 – He just hasn’t been the same this season and I don’t know what you can put it down to. It would help if he had Hernandez dropping in and supporting him when the opposition are attacking but he has to deal with two against one situations constantly. He did get forward well yesterday and allowed Hernandez to drift infield, not that it helped us in any way.

Into midfield…







RM – Hadi Sacko – 7 – I thought Sacko was our best player yesterday – got past Lichaj every time he tried, he has pace to burn. If he can improve his end product then he’ll be a quality player. I’ve given him plenty of stick this season so far but he’s proving me wrong. Promising.

CM – Ronaldo Vieira – 6 – Didn’t really do too much in the game yesterday before being replaced in the 65th minute. He was very lucky not to get sent off in my opinion. I thought Phillips had a good 25 when he came on. Even without his goal I thought he did more than Vieira, he wanted to get on the ball and make things happen.

CM – Liam Bridcutt – 7 – He did well yesterday, he was overran in the first half but when we were having the better of it in the second half he was pulling the strings for me. Get another ball-playing midfielder alongside him and we’ll be fine.

LM – Pablo Hernandez – 5 – Awful, that’s the only word I can use to describe his performance. Gave it away far too cheaply at times. I don’t understand why he’s playing out of position when we have Roofe and Dallas who could put in a better shift on the wing. Needs to be dropped.

Onto the forwards..







ST – Chris Wood – 6 – I want him to succeed but he just didn’t seem at it yesterday. I’d certainly consider giving him some time out of the team as the fans get on his back way too much. I hope his luck changes.

ST – Marcus Antonsson – 7 – Still think he’s going to be a gem for us this year. He would also suit the lone front-man for me, especially if we’re going to be trying all these intricate through balls as opposed to lumping it up to him and hoping for it to drop in our favour. He was unlucky not to get a goal but it will come for him soon, I’m sure.

I thought first-half we were poor but we had a lot more of the game in the second half. There’s positives, that’s for certain but we need to get rid of the mistakes, especially from corners. I’m sure Monk will get it right, after all he was a defender himself.

Share this article

0 comments

  • Mike Kirby says:

    All successful teams are built around a strong consistent hard to beat defence we just do not seem to have that at present…

  • jdc44 says:

    Mike, we don’t seem to have had a strong, hard to beat defence for over a decade now. I so don’t like knee jerk reactions, but for me, I would rid the team of any remnants of defenders from past years, including Sol Bamba, Liam Cooper, both who are / have been liabilities for some time, and including Charlie Taylor who should be sold now, with the money to be used to buy replacements … we have been rumoured to have made approaches / offers for a CB from ADO Den Haag, Tom Beugelsdijk who has more than 100 appearances in the Dutch Eredivisie, including their first three of this campaign … and a LB from SV Zulte Waragem, Bryan Verboom (Massimo Cellino said he’d never heard of him?) but he’s a former Belgium U21 player. Finally, I have never been a fan of Rob Green, he has the same effect on me as Marco Silvestri has on many others … my question is, is he anywhere near as good as Silvestri? Imo, no he is not.

  • Peter duval says:

    I think Green and Silvestri are both prone to error and there is nothing much to choose between them in all honesty … In defence , i like Bartley a lot he’s calm and commanding but I share not the same confidence in Cooper and as for Bamba he wouldn’t make our first 22 let alone the bench so why on earth was he elected captain !!! … Jansson looks promising as does Beubelsdijk so bring in the latter as to create competition with Bartley.. Taylor should have gone already and Verboom or Henry signed for much less… We need then to address our midfield and attacking formation … I don’t think Hernandez is physical enough for this league but we need a creative force with energy and bite, enter Bradley Dack with the balance of funds from Taylor … Leaving only one position a striker … We need back up for Antonsson and I would like to see Scott Hogan or if not the young lad Fletcher

  • Robert kelly says:

    Verboom anhenry ancbacks we need with flecther as fast strikerplaying of antonnson an roofe we need 4 to 5 players by the time the window shuts tight

  • leeds mick says:

    Silvestri is far better than Green for a start. Cooper out,Bamba out and Green. Then if Monk continues to pick that bone idle lump Chris wood,he can bugger off too. Most importantly, Cellino out, every season is a groundhog season with him. He’s achieved nothing in all the time he’s been involved in football. P–s off back to Florida you prune-faced Italian crook.

    • Peter duval says:

      Lol Mick , straight talking for sure and hard to disagree with you on most points certainly on Wood we need to give Roofe a go with Marcus Antonsson and Hadi Sacko in the same formation as Fulham play 4-2-1-3 …. Hernandez was bought presumably to play in that free role behind the front three with Bridcutt in to dominant the midfield supported by Phillips or Vieria …. We have got Jansson now and need to play him alongside Bartley … Cooper is not good enough to start and Bamba is god damn awful …. Sell Taylor and use the cash to strengthen Bradley Dack and a striker for starters as we don’t have good cover or competion for Antonsson

      As for Massimo … I am afraid if he is unable to finance the final pieces to our promotion challenging jigsaw he should sell to someone who can and will … 15 million investment would be massive at this level

Comments are closed.