Sam Matterface slams ‘Petulant’ Raphinha in Leeds United defeat v Manchester United
TalkSPORT commentator Sam Matterface blasted Raphinha for a “petulant” foul on Luke Shaw as Leeds United lost 5-1 to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Leeds’ second season back in the Premier League started on a grim note with Marcelo Bielsa’s men being torn apart by Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes, who grabbed a hat-trick.
Bielsa’s attackers fed off scraps throughout the 90 minutes and Raphina, in particular, struggled and seemed to take out his aggression on Shaw when he was booked in the second half.
“Foul by Raphinha on halfway on Luke Shaw – it was a petulant one,” said Matterface on talkSPORT on Saturday [01:48pm].
“It was a rather aggressive, lash out on Luke Shaw after the ball had gone. He caught him and the referee produces a yellow card.”
Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Graham Smyth said it looked as though Raphinha’s head had gone after the incident.
A day to forget
Leeds fans won’t want to remember their two visits back to Old Trafford since returning to the Premier League.
Both matches have seen the Whites lose by four goals with the defensive performances being nothing short of embarrassing.
We massively missed Kalvin Phillips at the base of the midfield as the back-line had next to no protection from Robin Koch.
Liam Cooper and Pascsal Struijk didn’t cover themselves in glory but Koch’s defensive midfield display was woeful.
And it didn’t help that Leeds had no output going forward with the likes of Raphinha really struggling.
Man United played well, we have to admit.
However, that was not good enough for Leeds and we’ll expect a massive improvement next week when Everton are welcomed to Elland Road.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has named the most likely new signing for the first team at Elland Road.