Javi Gracia's frustration, VAR and Sinisterra as Leeds…

Javi Gracia's frustration, VAR and Sinisterra as Leeds United embarrassed at Elland Road yet again

Leeds United were embarrassed for the second game running as they lost 6-1 to Liverpool at Elland Road.

Here’s the winners and losers from the clash.

Winners

Leeds’ relegation rivals

It’s hard to feel confident about Leeds United’s chances of staying up right now after conceding 11 goals at home in the space of eight days. The result keeps Leeds in the mire at the bottom and it certainly gives the likes of Leicester City, Everton and Nottingham Forest hope that they can surpass the Whites and climb out of danger.

Morale looked lower than low at Elland Road as the goals flew in and Javi Gracia has another huge job on his hands to pick his side up before Fulham on Saturday afternoon. There’s still seven games to play between now and the end of the season, but on the back of that performance it’s tough to be optimistic.

Luis Sinisterra

On what was another dire night at Elland Road, Sinisterra was probably Leeds’ best. The Colombian managed to get in behind on a couple of occasions in the first half and grabbed Leeds’ only goal of the game in the second.

It was an opportunistic effort, stealing the ball off the toes of the dilly-dallying Ibrahima Konate before bursting into the box and lifting it over Alisson. Leeds were 2-0 down at the time but the effort, just after the interval, gave the home crowd hope of a comeback for a minute or two, at least.

Unfortunately Diogo Jota restored the visitors’ two-goal advantage just a few minutes later to put the result beyond doubt, even at that early stage. Sinisterra appeared to pick up a knock shortly before being subbed off.

Losers

VAR

In real time Liverpool’s opener seemed to come on the back of some sloppy play from Marc Roca and in many respects it did as his attempted pass cannoned off Trent Alexander-Arnold and into the path of Mo Salah, who put the ball on a plate for Cody Gakpo to open the scoring. However, replays showed that it was in fact a clear handball from Alexander-Arnold.

The England international visibly moved his arm to the ball and from there it bounced directly into the path of Salah. Leeds players protested but referee Craig Pawson let play continue and VAR seemed to make no attempt to intervene before play restarted.

There can be no arguments that Leeds should have done more to prevent the ball hitting the back of the net, but they were let down by VAR. Ultimately, that goal set Liverpool on their way.

Patrick Bamford

The striker dropped out of Gracia’s line-up and out of the squad altogether on Monday night after picking up a calf injury. The striker has struggled with injuries all season and this is just the latest issue but it opened the door for Rodrigo to make his first start since January.

Gracia was unable to clear up whether the striker would be fit enough to be involved on Saturday at Fulham.

"After the last game some players had some issues, some little problems,” Gracia said pre-match. “One of them was Patrick, he had problems in his calf and we'll see his evolution if he will be ready for the next match."

Javi Gracia

Gracia clearly didn’t have the answers to prevent his side from crumbling to their second hiding in the space of eight days. The Whites boss cut a lonely figure as he stood on the sidelines and he’ll know the task facing him to restore some mental strength this week is now monumental.

The Spaniard clearly set his side up to be solid from the start and hit Liverpool on the counter and for 35 minutes it worked as Leeds frustrated the visitors and limited their chances. The first goal opened the floodgates, though, and by the end it seemed Liverpool couldn’t miss.

Goal difference

After conceding 16 goals in their last four games, Leeds now have the worst defensive record in the Premier League. They’ve shipped 60 goals in 31 games and their goal difference now stands at -20.

Before this month Leeds were able to class their goal difference as an advantage over their relegation rivals but that is no longer the case and these defeats could prove costly should it go down to the wire in the battle against relegation. Nottingham Forest have the worst goal difference with -32, but both Leicester City (-14) and West Ham United (-12) are able to boast superior records.

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