It was a baffling line up. After Casilla’s dreadful performance at Crawley he is promoted to first team in a league match. What happened to our number one keeper Meslier who is not even on the bench? Llorente only makes it to the bench and the absence of Phillips points to, again, defensive weaknesses. Apart from the ageing Hernandez Leeds rely on youngsters as their impact substitutes with Jenkins on the bench. Leeds seriously lack depth in their squad.
Lots of media talk about Ben White and Leeds – the media need to move on with Leeds recruiting to defence since then with Koch.
The fact that from a silly mistake by Raphinea that White can then charge through the Leeds defence in to the Leeds penalty area and shoot shows how far from their initial attacking form they have fallen. Brighton like teams before them happy to sit back and let Leeds take the possession and then counter attack. Ayling again in Defence but kept bringing the ball forward.
An early goal by Brighton at 16 minutes followed by hitting the crossbar within minutes showed how lacking in confidence Leeds are at the moment. 61% possession in the first half hour translated in to one wild shot by Klich, with Brighton looking more dangerous. Every Leeds pass into the Brighton penalty area was easily defended to stop Bamford. Too many midfield build ups came to nothing. Having the possession is nothing with having meaning to it. When Brighton launch into the Leeds box I worry about our poor defending.
A much brighter second half with more purpose and Rodrigo playing more upfront but shots on goal still eluded Leeds. The game was crying out for Hernandez. A good example of the 55th minute we had more players in the Brighton penalty box but the final ball from Raphinea flew past them all.
The second half saw both the big signings this season, Raphinea and Rodrigo substituted. Replacement Roberts, who went AWOL recently, and has not delivered this season but finally gets Leeds a shot on target. Finally in the 78th minute Leeds put Brighton under sustained pressure. What is worrying is how the shots on goal have dried up. With opportunities eluding us Brighton’s early goal and solid defending did a job on us.
Man of the match: Luke Ayling
