Match of The Day pundit Martin Keown slammed Leeds United’s Daniel James for his ‘unbelievable’ first-half tackle which saw him dismissed as the Whites lost 3-0 to Chelsea on Wednesday night. The Elland Road atmosphere was silenced within four minutes when Mason Mount rifled into the top-corner, before James lunged dangerously into a tackle on Mateo Kovacic - Anthony Taylor instantly brandishing a red card.
It gave Jesse Marsch’s side yet another mountain to climb against a Chelsea side who looked far sharper than they had in recent weeks, and second-half goals from Christian Pulisic and Romelu Lukaku sealed an inevitable win for Thomas Tuchel’s men. And Keown lamented Welshman James for an ‘unbelievable’ tackle.
“Unbelievable. And this is a thing you want your players at boiling point but you don't want them to boil over.” Keown said. “It's something that he didn't really do at Manchester United. I don't know whether it comes with playing for Leeds, a part of that getting stuck in and getting around people, but at the moment it’s costing them.
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“Of course they’ve had a catalogue of injuries, down to 10 men again, I mean everything that could go wrong in this game went wrong. You look at it and you look at the fixtures that’s coming up and it does feel like now it's starting to fall apart for Leeds.”
The former Arsenal defender added that Leeds look ‘doomed’ at the moment, with a combination of suspensions and injuries coming at the worst possible time.
“The manager can talk as much as he wants, but he's losing players through suspension through injury and they're losing their heads.” He added. “That is really difficult. Dallas, a real good club man not available. Harrison limped off today, Raphinha as well, Bamford not available for such long periods. It's going really wrong for them and they look pretty well doomed at the moment.”
Former Swansea and Wales defender Ashley Williams added that Chelsea had Leeds’ number tactically, with Mount and Pulisic coming inside to find space in behind Kalvin Phillips and Lewis Bate. The two forwards were in acres of space throughout the game, with Mount finding endless joy in the spaces behind an outnumbered midfield.
"It was such a helter-skelter game at the start and Chelsea seemed to have their number tactically a little bit with the two 10s,” Williams added. “Especially Pulisic and Mount playing so cleverly, Leeds just couldn't get to grips with it.
“They didn't know whether to sit with the two behind them or push forward and whichever one they did Chelsea exploited.”
The defeat was another gut-punching blow for Leeds fans, who were hoping a combination of the Elland Road atmosphere and Chelsea’s FA Cup final on Saturday may have conjured a miracle. But the writing was on the wall after just four minutes, and James’ red-card only confirmed it further.
The Whites remain in the bottom three, level on points with Burnley who play Tottenham on Saturday for their game in hand. Everton’s 0-0 draw at Watford leaves them two points clear and also with a game in hand.
