Leeds United produced a gutsy performance with 10 men to earn a hard-fought 0-0 draw with Aston Villa at Elland Road. Though a game in which they would’ve been targeting three points from, a draw in the end represented a good result following Luis Sinisterra’s red card four minutes into the second half.
Sinisterra was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence after preventing Villa from taking a quick free-kick. Leeds were forced to show a different side of their game and defend for their lives to earn a point, which was all the more impressive considering the horror show at the back last time out against Brentford.
Here is how the national media reported the match.
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‘Leeds allowed themselves to be wound up far too easily’
Louise Taylor of the Guardian wrote: “The puzzling thing is that, along the way to collecting an Ivy League history degree from Princeton University, Jesse Marsch produced an 117-page dissertation entitled: “Shaken, not stirred; an evaluation of earthquake awareness in California.”
“With that background, the Leeds manager might have been expected to be a little more conscious of the disciplinary fault lines which, quite apart from preventing his side displaying their true abilities, prompted a few alarming tremors on Sunday.
“Ultimately an often ill-tempered contest involving two feisty yet inherently fragile teams – if the jury remains out on Marsch, Steven Gerrard’s Villa tenure also seems perched on the delicate cusp between impending calamity and mid-table stability – concluded with just the one sending off, namely Leeds’ Luis Sinisterra for a ludicrous second bookable offence.
“There were though moments when a game sporadically illuminated by Philippe Coutinho’s skill threatened to descend into a full on brawl. If a Villa ensemble prone to time wasting at every opportunity played their part in provoking that, Leeds allowed themselves to be wound up far too easily; aggression may be a vital part of their pressing game but they need to be much better at controlling it.”
‘The trampling of any hope of witnessing a game of free-flowing football’
Jason Mellor of the Telegraph said: “The bad blood engendered during a feisty pre-season match between the sides in Australia in July remained viscerally evident through a string of ugly late challenges, leading to five bookings – three for the hosts – in addition to Sinisterra’s red, and with it the trampling of any hope of witnessing a game of free-flowing football.
“Attwell earned his money trying to maintain control as emotions threatened to boil over, with memories clearly still fresh from the summer when a reckless tackle by Villa captain McGinn on Archie Gray saw Leeds’ England youth international carried off.
“Philippe Coutinho came closest to exploiting his side’s numerical advantage when the Brazilian struck a post with an acrobatic volley from a Leon Bailey cross barely a minute after Sinisterra’s enforced early departure. Emiliano Buendia curled a shot narrowly wide from 20 yards, Coutinho fired across the face of goal and Illan Meslier saved well from Ollie Watkins as some increasingly desperate Leeds defending bore fruit.
“Ultimately, Villa lacked the guile to deserve victory, and the hosts’ reward could have been even greater as substitutes Patrick Bamford and Mateusz Klich both came close to snatching maximum points late on.”
‘Villa’s strategy to eat up time from the first whistle felt somewhat bizarre’
Craig Hope of the Daily Mail said: “Once their anger had subsided, the Leeds supporters rightly applauded those players who had fought their way to a point. The closest they came to losing that was when a Coutinho volley rebounded off the post and Watkins followed up to stab wide on 50 minutes.
“It was ironic that one of the tactics they employed was, understandably, wasting time. Ironic in that they had been so irked by Villa’s attempts to do similar before the red card.
“But it should also be said, Villa’s strategy to eat up time from the first whistle felt somewhat bizarre. This was the all white of Leeds United they were playing, not Real Madrid. Surely, a team with the supposed attacking talent of Coutinho, Watkins and John McGinn should show a little more faith in their ability to go out and win a game?”
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