Leeds United

2 players who let Jesse Marsch down during Leeds United’s 5-2 loss at Brentford

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Leeds United were hammered 5-2 to Brentford at the weekend in a hugely disappointing day for Jesse Marsch’s side.

Luis Sinisterra and Marc Roca both got themselves on the scoresheet. Sinisterra particularly impressed as he continued his good form with three goals now in his only three starts for The Whites. Roca opened his account with his first goal in a Leeds shirt but it was a mere consolation. 

Leeds struggled for large parts of the game, with a catalogue of defensive errors at the back in particular. We take a look at two players who let Jesse Marsch down during the game.

Diego Llorente

Sloppy mistakes with the ball, poor defensive positioning, strange decision making, tangled feet at the wrong moment – all of these applied to Diego Llorente. It was a bad day at the office for the Leeds United centre-back. 

Easily his worst display in a Leeds shirt, almost everything that could have gone wrong for him did go wrong.

He will give the Leeds boss a selection headache ahead of the Monday night clash with Nottingham Forest next week. Liam Cooper was on the bench on Saturday, and perhaps Marsch will now turn to his captain.

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Llorente made an appearance for Real Madrid.

Joe Gelhardt

The impact when Patrick Bamford came off the bench was noticeable. Joe Gelhardt is a wonderfully gifted player but his best work is not back-to-goal to hold the ball up. 

His link-up play in the central striker area is questionable, and Marsch admitted he is “more comfortable coming away from defenders and being more underneath (the forwards) than being on the last line.”

He liked the idea of Gelhardt and Bamford playing together with Gelhardt playing in this role, which is undoubtedly better for him. On Saturday the ball stuck to Bamford more, and he also moves the most intelligently of any Leeds striker, which helps the players behind him in finding pockets.

It can’t be much worse than this for Marsch, he will hope to put things right against Nottingham Forest next week.

Should Leeds target a move for Wagner in January?

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