Leeds leave it late against Crewe
25 Aug 2021 07:52 am, by Ellandback1
Good Morning. It's Wednesday 25th August, and here the the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Leeds leave it late against Crewe
League One outfit Crewe Alexandra held out for almost 80 minutes last night in front of a sell out crowd at Elland Road in the second round of the League Cup. As to be expected, Bielsa made wholesale changes to the starting line up, with Forshaw, Llorente, Roberts, Costa, Shackleton and Rodrigo all starting. Forshaw in particular looked especially comfortable, even after a 697 day lay off.
A mixture of fine saves and last ditch defending frustrated the home side as they laid siege on William Jääskeläinen's goal. The deadlock was finally broken eleven minutes from time from the most unlikely source! Harrison's in-swinging corner was met by Kalvin Phillips. The 25 year old England star lost his marker before glancing the ball past the Finnish keeper. Once penetrated, the floodgates opened. Six minutes later Klich's carved the Crewe midfield open with a 25 yard diagonal pass towards Bamford. Just like he did on Saturday, the unselfish number 9 found a player in a better position. He squared the ball to Harrison, who had time to take a touch before dinking the ball over the keeper.
Harrison doubled his account for the season in the closing stages. Ayling's long range pass from the edge of his own box once again found Bamford. He beat his defender before laying the ball back for Roberts to take a strike at goal. Although his effort was initially saved, Harrison's rebound wasn't!
Bielsa's post match presser
Are the Leeds fringe players good enough?
It was comfortable in the end, but Leeds needed Patrick Bamfords help to unlock Crewe's defence. Would Leeds have won without him - probably in the end! They had 28 shots at goal with nine efforts on target. They dominated 75% of the possession and had nine corners to Crewe's one.
It was nice to see Forshaw and Llorente both on the path to fitness following their respective injuries, but it was concerning that none of the U23's were given a run out. I understand that most of them had played against Spurs the day before, but these are young lads; with their stamina at that age, it shouldn't be a problem against lowly opposition, even for 30 minutes!
Crewe haven't had the best start to the season. They have lost three, and drawn once, yet it took almost an entire first team to beat them! Are Leeds fringe players good enough? Would it be better if players like Roberts and Costa were sent out on loan to get lots of game time, or do Leeds not have the luxury to be able to do that? Interestingly, Harrison commented after the game that Bielsa was taking the League Cup very seriously this season - is that the real reason why no U23's took part in the game?