Leeds United winners and losers as Jesse Marsch's…

Leeds United winners and losers as Jesse Marsch's Whites fail to impress at Brighton

Leeds United fell to their first defeat of the season as they lost 1-0 to Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium.

The Whites struggled to impress on the south coast and Pascal Gross’ second half effort proved to be the difference on the day.

Here’s a look at the winners and losers.

Winners

Illan Meslier

The Frenchman was arguably Leeds’ best on the day as he produced a number of fine saves. The Whites struggled to get going at times, particularly in the first half at the Amex and Brighton dominated possession.

Graham Potter’s men carved out a number of openings, too, with Solly March, Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard looking the most lively in and around the box. However, Meslier was more than a match to everything Brighton threw at him in the first half.

He could do little about the goal that finally went in as Gross found the bottom corner of the net.

Losers

Liam Cooper

Cooper made his first appearance of the season on Wednesday night as the Whites took on Barnsley in the Carabao Cup at Elland Road. The defender has struggled with a niggling Achilles injury so far this season but he got 45 minutes against the Tykes and he was expected to be involved in some capacity at the Amex.

However, Cooper was left out of the trip to the south coast, with Leo Hjelde getting the nod to sit on the bench, fresh from his own Cup outing. Patrick Bamford was another name missing in Brighton as he continues to recover from the groin injury he picked up a fortnight ago against Southampton.

Jesse Marsch

The head coach was particularly animated on the Brighton touchline as he grew increasingly frustrated with the performances of his side and the referee. Leeds struggled to execute the game plan well enough during the first half as Brighton managed to negate the press and get forward with ease.

Marsch got himself booked in the second half for showing his frustration and things didn’t improve as Brighton made their superiority count.

Dan James

The winger couldn’t make an impact on the south coast as he cut a frustrated figure on the right hand side. He tried hard and ran plenty but he couldn’t produce the goods on a difficult afternoon.

James was under pressure to perform with Luis Sinisterra breathing down his neck and the Colombian’s entrance seemed to give Leeds more of a lift in attacking areas. It was a frustrating day for all of Leeds’ frontmen, ultimately, though, as they failed to really work Rob Sanchez between the hosts’ sticks.

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