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News
Jamie Redknapp tears into Diego Llorente after Leeds loss at Elland Road
Jamie Redknapp (broadcast on 20/2; 19:11) that there was no excuse for the way Diego Llorente was beaten by Harry Maguire for the opening goal in Leeds United’s defeat to Manchester United on Sunday.
Marcelo Bielsa’s men were dealt an agonising loss at Elland Road. A stunning fightback at the start of the second-half looked set to set up a dramatic finish as Leeds went from 2-0 down to 2-2.
However, it was the visitors who got the final two goals. A recurring theme for all of the goals Leeds conceded were defensive mistakes.
Junior Firpo made a couple of errors. And Pascal Struijk failed to win possession for the final goal of the game. But it was Llorente who made a real mistake for the opener.
The Spaniard was tasked with marking Maguire at corners. And ultimately, he made the centre-back’s task all too easy for the header that broke the deadlock.
Llorente seemed to pay no attention to the ball coming into the box. Instead, he continued to focus on Maguire. And that decision meant that the Manchester United captain did not even need to jump to find the back of the net.
‘No excuse’
And Redknapp slammed the Leeds centre-back as he analysed the opening goal.
“The player I really want to focus on is Llorente. Now, I can’t stand it,” .
“When the corner’s coming in, you have to obviously be able to see the ball and look at the man. But what Llorente does, there’s no excuse for it, you’ve got to be looking at the ball. As the corner comes in, he never once looks at the ball. All he’s looking at is Maguire. He’s focused so much on him. Not good enough.”
Diego Llorente form a concern as Leeds continue to ship vast number of goals
It was not a huge surprise when Llorente was taken off at half-time on Sunday. Leeds needed to roll the dice. And Llorente has not been in the best form of late.
Of course, Bielsa has made ruthless calls throughout his tenure. Raphinha was the man taken off against Everton last week.
Llorente is not the only one to blame for Leeds’ problems in defence, by any means. And he has been outstanding for the Whites throughout his time at Elland Road when he has been fit.
But Leeds were asking for trouble with the way they attempted to defend corners.
And Bielsa needs to weigh up whether the backline in the second-half would fare better against Liverpool this coming week.