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'Incredible, very special' – Palace star man drools over Leeds, gives verdict on Bamford 'goal'
Crystal Palace star Andros Townsend has heaped praise on Leeds United and said it was “great” to experience them “in the flesh” after the game on Saturday.
Palace ran out 4-1 winners but Townsend said that Leeds are “incredible… very special”.
Talking on the Breakfast show (talkSPORT, Tuesday, 7am) Townsend said, “Everyone’s been fascinated by Leeds and Bielsa this season.
“We had the luxury of watching Leicester the week before. Hats off to Roy Hodgson, they had us set up perfectly to counter Leeds.
“When you watch on TV you don’t get the full view of the way they play. They’re incredible, very special. It was great to experience it live in the flesh.”
Townsend also delivered his verdict on the Patrick Bamford goal that was ruled offside controversially.
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“I sympathise with him [Bamford]. I’m not VAR’s biggest fan but if you’re going to use VAR you’ve got to use it.
“If the t-shirt line is the limit, it’s offside. I’m not just saying it because it’s Crystal Palace, it’s either offside or it’s not.”
Look to the metrics
Leeds fans can take some solace from what Townsend has said here – you don’t get many promoted teams that are hailed as so special to play against. (Although we also know Townsend wants to get back in the Leeds fans’ good books after his ill-fated loan spell at Elland Road.)
We’re not sure he’d feel the same way about VAR if it was a Palace goal that had been disallowed before Leeds went on to win 4-1, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt after his kind words.
We hate the words ‘found out’ because it’s such a lazy way to describe football but Marcelo Bielsa will no doubt be working on the fact that teams are studying how to play and beat Leeds.
Palace were at it from the start on Saturday but the 4-1 scoreline really flattered them.
The goal from the Eberechi Eze free-kick was a moment of sublime quality, the own goal from Helder Costa was a freak.
Understat had the game at 1.3 v 0.8 in terms of xG and that’s a much better reflection of the match we were watching.
In other Leeds United news, ‘Snake’, ‘Reap what you sow’ – Latest Phil Hay tweet has got plenty of Leeds fans talking