Alex Bruce: Ridiculous decision from Luis Sinisterra in Leeds United draw v Aston Villa
BBC pundit Alex Bruce slammed Luis Sinisterra after the Colombian was sent off for Leeds United in their draw against Aston Villa.
The 23-year-old was given his marching orders after deliberately preventing a free kick from being taken in the second half.
Bruce didn’t hold back in his assessment of Sinisterra’s actions and felt that he was lucky that Jesse Marsch wasn’t on the sidelines.
Talking on BBC Sounds Football Daily podcast [27:34, 3 October] Bruce said: “It was ridiculous, and I am sure if Jesse Marsch was on the touchline he would’ve wanted to strangle him because he’s put his teammates under pressure, but fair play to Leeds they dug in and got a valuable point.”
Bad decision
As much as Stuart Attwell was extremely poor during Sunday afternoon’s clash, it’s hard to argue that he got the red card decision wrong. If the ball had been hit at Sinisterra and he hadn’t moved it would’ve been a different story, but the fact that he has deliberately extended his leg out to stop the ball means it’s a yellow card offence.
After a good start to life in Yorkshire, this was the first setback for the Colombian and hopefully a big learning curve moving forward. In a high-stakes game with little between the sides, gifting the opposition a man advantage can often be the difference.
Luckily for the 23-year-old Leeds held firm to ensure they picked up a valuable point to maintain their solid start to the 2022/23 season.
If he had stayed on the pitch then the outcome could well have been different. Picking up wins against close rivals such as Villa at Elland Road is a must for Leeds and more discipline from Sinisterra could well have seen them get over the line againts Gerrard’s team.
In other Leeds United news, European newspapers are raving over the “animalistic’” performance of one Whites star on international duty.