By Craig Scott

18th Jan, 2020 | 4:30pm

MOT View: One player 2/10 in awful 1-0 defeat - Leeds player ratings v QPR

Leeds United were utterly dreadful as they lost 1-0 against QPR at Loftus Road on Saturday as concerns about their promotion bid faltering became a whole lot worse.

Leeds could have moved top of the Championship table with a victory in West London but yet again, the Whites’ capital curse continued courtesy of a controversial winner by Nahki Wells in the first half.

Ebere Eze’s free-kick found it’s way to Wells in the box and the ball clearly made an impact with both of his arms before he stuck the ball past Kiko Casilla.

It was bad enough that goal was allowed but not long before, Helder Costa was the victim of a Lee Wallace foul inside the penalty area that went unpunished.

You could tell it was going to be one of those days early on.

Things failed to improve in the second half either as Leeds struggled to create enough opportunities.

And when they did craft an opening when Patrick Bamford won a penalty kick, the Whites striker saw his soft spot-kick saved by QPR goalkeeper Liam Kelly.

To sum Leeds’ afternoon up, Kalvin Phillips was sent off for a reckless challenge late on and faces a three-match ban.

Here, MOT Leeds News has rated the players out of 10 for their performances at Loftus Road:

Kiko Casilla – 6

Casilla is prone to the odd shocker but that did not happen on Saturday. He could not have done anything about the goal because he was wrong-footed by the deflection and the goal should not have stood anyway. QPR only had one other shot on target and the Spaniard saved it [WhoScored].

Luke Ayling – 5

Leeds’ right-back struggled throughout most of the game. He had one impressive moment in the first half when he stopped Eze with a well-timed challenge in the penalty area, but it was the Rs attacker who won that duel easily.

Liam Cooper – 5

Cooper’s form has been sub-par since he returned from injury last month and yet again, he was poor at QPR on Saturday. He won a few aerial challenges as he always does but overall, the captain’s display was not what we grew used to seeing before his spell on the sidelines.

Ben White – 6

White did not do a lot wrong at Loftus Road and is still one of the best centre-backs in the Championship. QPR’s attacks were mainly focused down the wings and White, really, did not have too much to do.

Stuart Dallas – 5

Bielsa took the decision to hook Dallas at half time and it was not a shock to see that happen. Bright Oyasi-Samuel kept on tearing the Northern Ireland international to shreds. Dallas was booked for being forced into fouling the QPR trickster, who had the better of him in the first half. Ezgjan Alioski replaced Dallas and was a slight improvement.

Kalvin Phillips – 2

Where do we start? Even before his ridiculous red card, Phillips had an awful game. Stats by WhoScored show that Phillips completed just 72 per cent of his passes before his sending off, which was his lowest pass accuracy in a Championship match since October. His red card summed up a lot about his display. Bielsa needs to give him the hairdryer treatment for almost breaking Geoff Cameron’s leg.

Pablo Hernandez – 5

Hernandez’s return from injury was not happy one. It could take a week or so for the Spaniard to get back up to full speed because you get the feeling he might have been rushed back into the starting line-up. We all know Pablo can do better.

Mateusz Klich – 4

Did Klich play? Before being taken off in the 87th minute, the midfielder had just 47 touches of the ball. Hernandez played next to Klich and had more than double the number of touches of the Poland international. Even goalkeeper Kiko Casilla had 43 touches. Klich was anonymous, a passenger.

Helder Costa – 5

Costa was unlucky to have not won a penalty in the first half but he lacked the quality that Leeds needed in their attack. He is yet to really show the consistency that suggests he is worth the fee that Leeds United are willing to sign him on a permanent deal for from Wolves.

Jack Harrison – 5

Harrison – like every other Leeds United player – had a poor game against QPR. He had a chance to get on the scoresheet in the second half but failed to take that opportunity. We needed more from the 23-year-old at Loftus Road.

Patrick Bamford – 3

Bamford had six shots on goal at Loftus Road – which is the joint-most he’s managed in a league game this season – but only managed to get two of them on target and failed to score. One of those shots on target was a missed penalty that was saved by Kelly and he almost missed a golden opportunity to score in the first half. Bamford was next to useless at QPR.

Substitutes

Ezgjan Alioski (for Dallas 46 minutes) – 5

Jordan Stevens (for Klich 87 minutes) – N/A

In other Leeds United news, fans were furious with this pre-match announcement on Twitter.