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‘Another brilliant showing’ – These Leeds fans discuss player who blocked more shots than any other in win at Aston Villa

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A number of Leeds United fans have been singing the praises of Luke Ayling on Twitter, following the defender’s performance in his side’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Friday.

Ayling found himself playing in a less central defensive position at Villa Park, but coped admirably with that challenge, as Patrick Bamford’s hat-trick saw Leeds return to winning ways and move third in the early Premier League standings.

With Pascal Struijk moved into central midfield to cope with the absence of Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper and Diego Llorente both absent through injury, Ayling was moved from his natural right-back position into the centre of Leeds’ defence in the Midlands.

Despite his lack of familiarity in that position, Ayling acquitted himself perfectly in the centre of defence, producing a crucial goal-line clearance to deny Jack Grealish with the score at 0-0, while WhoScored reports that Ayling’s three shots blocked in the game was more than any other player on the pitch.

That contribution from Ayling is something that did not go unnoticed by a number of Leeds supporters, with plenty keen to pay tribute to the 29-year-ols as they took to Twitter to give their thoughts on the game.

Here, we take a look at what some of them had to say.

It is good to see Ayling get some recognition here.

Bamford will rightly take plenty of plaudits for his efforts at the other end of the pitch, but Ayling’s contribution in keeping Villa out is arguably just as important.

The fact that he was making such an impact in an unnatural position for him just makes what Ayling did all the more impressive, and yet again highlights just how crucial he is to Marcelo Bielsa’s side.

As a result of this, you feel that any central defensive injury concerns Leeds might have will have been eased further by this performance, and that feels like yet another lift in what is already a hugely impressive and promising start to the season for the Whites.

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UCLan Sports Journalism graduate. Have been working for Leeds All Over since summer 2020, and can only be found writing on Football League World.