By George Overhill

14th Nov, 2022 | 9:10pm

BBC Sport pundit accuses Leeds United flops of outrageous demands from teammates at Tottenham

Leeds United defenders gave their attacking teammates unrealistic demands in the 4-3 defeat at Tottenham, according to Garth Crooks.

Three times the Whites went ahead in their final game before the World Cup break, with Crysencio Summerville and Rodrigo excellent in attack, and three times they were pegged back before finally surrendering the lead as the defence fell apart.

There was a helping hand from the officials for the first Spurs goal, but the capitulation to Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur from the likes of Robin Koch and Liam Cooper at the end rendered all the good work from the forwards moot, which Crooks felt was unreasonable.

In his BBC Sport Team of the Week, where he picked Kulusevski, he said: “Leeds United cannot be expected to score four goals to get a point away from home and five to win a match.

“They were the demands imposed by their defence on their strikers against a Tottenham side full of errors.”

Spot on

Crooks is no stranger to some pretty bombastic assertions in his team of the week choices, but he is absolutely right on this occasion.

The Whites on the whole have been far better against the bigger sides this year than the smaller ones, and that was once again the case in north London on Saturday (12 November).

But that doesn’t diminish the fact that the three goals they scored were excellent quality, and there aren’t many teams that can rely on that in any game, let alone in an away trip to a side in the top four.

Rodrigo’s in particular were memorable, and should have been enough for a point at a minimum, so for the defence to let Kulusevski waltz into the area with so little resistance to set up the late winner must have been particularly demoralising for the attackers.

They held up their end of the bargain to a greater degree than could really have been expected and were let down by sloppiness at the back.

Rasmus Kristensen even had one of his better games in a Whites shirt but couldn’t make up for the lack of support in the centre, and it is ridiculous to expect the forwards to bail them out every week.

Victor Orta already needs to be looking for an actual left-back, and it appears he is going to need to do something about the middle of the back line as well, because shifting Pascal Struijk across may not be enough on its own to address these problems.

In other Leeds United news, a highly-rated Elland Road talent could be on his way out of the club in January as clubs queue up to sign him.