Here are the latest Leeds United morning headlines on Sunday, May 1.
Jermaine Beckford says Leeds missed Liam Cooper
Former Leeds United striker Jermaine Beckford pinpointed the absence of Liam Cooper as a major factor in the Whites losing 4-0 to Manchester City yesterday. The Scotland international had to pull out of the match after feeling something was not right during the warm-up.
Cooper missed most of the second half of the season during which Leeds leaked goals. He returned in April and played for two draws and a win, but he missed the entirety of yesterday's loss at Elland Road.
READ MORE: Player ratings after 4-0 loss to Manchester City
After the match, manager Jesse Marsch said: “We’re hopeful that Coops isn’t so bad. He just felt something in his knee in warm-up that didn’t feel right."
Beckford said the absence of Cooper led to some sloppy defending, particularly for the first goal, scored by Rodri after just 13 minutes. Speaking on PL Extra, Beckford said : “It was a beautiful, beautiful cross from Phil Foden. The marking you have to asks questions about it.
"There are three players here who are holding the line and then we’ve got the rest of the team are dropping deep. That is a huge lack of communication between everybody and that’s something that I feel that if Liam Cooper – who incidentally was injured in the warm-up – was on the field he would have made sure everybody stayed up doing the same thing, whether that’s dropping deep or staying high.”
It was also pointed out in the studio that Leeds are the Premier League side who have conceded the most goals from set-pieces, with 18 conceded. Beckford said: "It’s individual mistakes I feel like.
"For example, the first one today was a little bit of miscommunication between quite a few of them incidentally. But the second goal, you look at Junior Firpo’s defending, he’s not staying with the attacker Rodri, and then Pascal Struijk should have put his foot out.
"So there’s a couple of little things there, little errors, which you could improve on.”
Sky Sports pundits skewer Leeds defending
Similar to the thoughts of Beckford, the pundits on Sky Sports were damming of the defending by Leeds United during the 4-0 loss to Manchester City.
Former City defender Michah Richards said: "Some of the defending from Leeds today was just not good enough. They didn’t learn from the first one.
"It’s a beautiful finish from Ake. But again, you can lose the first header, but it’s how you react to the second.
"It’s just not good enough. These sort of moments are why they found themselves where they are.”
Former Leeds striker Robbie Keane said: "Certainly between now and the end of the season, they need to nail this down. Leeds have to defend these better.
"The first goal, if you look at the line, it’s all over the place. If Cooper was playing, would he have marked Dias? Possibly.
“He’s by far the best header of the ball. He was a massive loss. He’s going to be a big miss if he’s not back for these four games.
“They didn’t look like they knew what their jobs were. You have to have a stronger line."
Read more here.
Jesse Marsch update on Stuart Dallas injury
Stuart Dallas is another player who picked up an injury yesterday. The Northern Ireland international had to be stretchered off the pitch during yesterday's match after an awkward tackle on Jack Grealish left both players flat on the grass.
After the match, Jesse Marsch provided an update: "We don't think it's good with his knee and obviously, with where we are in the season, we will miss him very much because he is in many ways the heart and soul of the group and one of the guys that I think is always at the forefront in terms of being a leader and someone who, who can stand up to big challenges.
"So, you know, our hearts and minds are with him and his family and we're hopeful that the prognosis is okay, and that he can have a speedy recovery and get himself healthy and back on the pitch again soon."
Asked for clarification, Marsch said: "So they've had a scan, and I don't want to speak yet exactly about what it is because I haven't gotten enough information. But they say that it's not great. So we'll see."
Read everything Marsch said here.
