CalverleyBoy
20-07-2017, 06:09 PM
Top three players today - Leeds now report
Ezgjan Alioski – Alioski and Roofe started the game in the wide positions and it’s worth mentioning we have much more width as a team under Christiansen so far than we did under Monk. Roofe was by no means poor, but Alioski showed some ridiculous pace and trickery, with the final delivery to match. More surprisingly, he had no issues with the boring side of the game either. You can tell he used to play left-back, he tracked back well and put in some tackles, although one resulted in a freekick which was superbly put away. For a real first opinion of him, he looks good.
Kalvin Phillips – Phillips started alongside Eunan O’Kane in the midfield and put in a strong showing. The first half was by far the better of the game, before the sheer amount of subs ruined it slightly. Kalvin was a major reason for Leeds’ dominance in that half, he kept things ticking and played a lot further forward than he was doing last season. If you’d only watched Phillips last season you might think he doesn’t have any prowess going forward but that simply isn’t the case, he possesses a great shot and on his day is one of the better passers in the squad. He hit the bar with a freekick that would have been an absolute peach if it had been a few inches to the right, which Chris Wood somehow failed to convert from the rebound.
Matthew Pennington – He came on at half-time and he just looked almost like it was easy for him. You could tell from the get-go that he’s extremely comfortable on the ball for a centre-back and very solid in the air. He definitely looks a step ahead of Cooper, which may be harsh after just 45 minutes of football, but that’s the impression I get. There was a moment where Cooper headed the ball clumsily towards his own area and Pennington absolutely dominated his opponent in the air and won the ball, that sold him to me.
Ezgjan Alioski – Alioski and Roofe started the game in the wide positions and it’s worth mentioning we have much more width as a team under Christiansen so far than we did under Monk. Roofe was by no means poor, but Alioski showed some ridiculous pace and trickery, with the final delivery to match. More surprisingly, he had no issues with the boring side of the game either. You can tell he used to play left-back, he tracked back well and put in some tackles, although one resulted in a freekick which was superbly put away. For a real first opinion of him, he looks good.
Kalvin Phillips – Phillips started alongside Eunan O’Kane in the midfield and put in a strong showing. The first half was by far the better of the game, before the sheer amount of subs ruined it slightly. Kalvin was a major reason for Leeds’ dominance in that half, he kept things ticking and played a lot further forward than he was doing last season. If you’d only watched Phillips last season you might think he doesn’t have any prowess going forward but that simply isn’t the case, he possesses a great shot and on his day is one of the better passers in the squad. He hit the bar with a freekick that would have been an absolute peach if it had been a few inches to the right, which Chris Wood somehow failed to convert from the rebound.
Matthew Pennington – He came on at half-time and he just looked almost like it was easy for him. You could tell from the get-go that he’s extremely comfortable on the ball for a centre-back and very solid in the air. He definitely looks a step ahead of Cooper, which may be harsh after just 45 minutes of football, but that’s the impression I get. There was a moment where Cooper headed the ball clumsily towards his own area and Pennington absolutely dominated his opponent in the air and won the ball, that sold him to me.