Leeds United came from behind to draw 2-2 with Newcastle United and claim a huge point in their battle for Premier League survival.
Here’s the winners and losers from the contest.
Winners
Luke Ayling
Ayling led his Leeds side out into a raucous atmosphere at Elland Road and his effort in the seventh minute of the game nearly brought the roof off. The right-back was in the right place at the right time, but he needed to keep his cool to finish when Nick Pope pushed Rodrigo’s header into his path.
Read more: Leeds United player ratings as Luke Ayling leads Whites to critical Newcastle draw
The right-back was arguably Leeds’ best against the Magpies, pushing forward well to create an overlap at times, while he managed to handle the threat of Joe Willock and Alexander Isak well down his side. Ayling’s leadership and mindset has the potential to be huge for Leeds over the final two weeks of the season.
Sam Allardyce
Allardyce has only been at Leeds a week and a half, but the impact he has made is clear to see. The former England boss was never going to change too much tactically, he simply doesn’t have the time, but he’s had a big influence when it comes to the mentality on the field.
All of a sudden Leeds are showing the fight and grit that they’ve lacked so desperately in weeks gone by. There’s no doubt about it, Leeds would have crumbled had they fallen behind in such a manner last month and they did so on plenty of occasions.
But, Allardyce’s side kept their cool and played with the character and spirit they needed to pull it back and take a huge point. Leeds are alive and kicking in this battle against the drop.
Losers
Marc Roca
There was a decision to be made in the middle of the park after last weekend’s loss to Manchester City and Allardyce made it, dropping both Roca and Adam Forshaw to bring in Sam Greenwood and Robin Koch. Roca has struggled for form for some time now and he was subpar against the champions, meaning few were surprised to see the Spaniard named on the bench.
A change was made at half-time to shore things up in the middle, but it was Forshaw who the head coach looked to, rather than Roca, who watched the entire game from the dugout.
Patrick Bamford
It’s been a tough week for the striker, who underperformed at Man City and seemed to delete his Twitter account in midweek. Allardyce kept faith with his striker but it’s fair to say it was another damaging performance from the striker, who looked visibly short of confidence at times.
To his credit he claimed the ball when Leeds won a penalty in the first half, but he failed to show any conviction with his effort and Nick Pope was allowed to make a comfortable save from the spot. The striker looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up after that and while he never stopped trying, he struggled to get a foothold in the game as time ticked on.
He was eventually replaced by Pascal Struijk late in the game but it seems the head coach has a decision to make when it comes to who leads the line against West Ham United next week.
Junior Firpo
Firpo started the game well for the Whites and he was the man that won the penalty, being bundled down by Joelinton as he tried to latch onto a Sam Greenwood throughball. But, his performance deteriorated in the second half and he could have cost his side dear.
The left-back was the man who gave away the penalty in the second half for a handball that can only be described as crazy, flailing his arms in the air as he fell under the challenge of Alexander Isak. The referee didn’t initially see it but VAR intervened to make sure the penalty was given and Callum Wilson did the rest.
He struggled to put a foot right in the game after that and on the stroke of the 90 th minute he was shown a second yellow card for bringing Anthony Gordon down on the edge of the area. It was a tough day for the Dominican and his red card means Allardyce will be forced into a change at the back next week.
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