Daniel Feliciano

Sat 30 September 2023 14:29, UK

Leeds United fell to a humbling 3-1 defeat to Southampton at St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon to end a six-game unbeaten run in the Championship.

Southampton took the lead inside two minutes when Adam Armstrong was put through one one-on-one and dinked the ball over Illan Meslier from a tight angle. Leeds then collapsed as Will Smallbone and Armstrong again tripled their lead before half-time with goals four minutes apart.

Pascal Struijk pulled one back on the hour with a stunning strike, but ultimately the Whites just weren’t at the races and fell to a comfortable defeat at St Mary’s.

Here is how MOT Leeds News rated the performance of every Whites ace in the game today.

Illan Meslier – 4/10

The goalkeeper couldn’t do much about any of the goals but he had a shaky moment at 1-0 down and it won’t have helped the confidence of the rest of the team. Didn’t look as stable as he has done in recent games and we really needed him to be better today.

Jamie Shackleton – 3/10

As usual he gave absolutely everything but the unnatural position he was in showed against a top winger in Kamaldeen Sulemana. He was run ragged for much of the game and you can expect Ayling back in for the next fixture.

Liam Cooper – 4/10

Surprisingly got the nod over an available-again Joe Rodon and was at fault for the first goal as he stepped up when nobody else did to try and play offside. He didn’t look as comfortable on the ball and had a rough game throughout.

Pascal Struijk – 6/10

Struijk was the best of a bad bunch on the day and honestly deserved more. He made some crucial interventions defensively down his side and got a brilliant goal in the process too but ultimately couldn’t effect the outcome on his own.

Sam Byram – 4/10

Byram was given the run-around by Armstrong and Sulemana in the wide positions and was summed up by being left on his back side for the third goal. Not the best showing from the full-back.

Ethan Ampadu – 5/10

Ampadu didn’t do much wrong during the game, but he was certainly a level or two below his usual standard on the day. He didn’t have his usual influence on Leeds’ attacking game and it showed over the 90 minutes, leading to a poor performance in the attacking third.

Glen Kamara – 5/10

Kamara had good energy off the ball and was restricted by his first-half yellow card at times, but Archie Gray’s composure and quality on the ball was a big miss in the middle of the park for this game.

Daniel James – 4/10

Wasteful performance from the Welshman as he ran into traffic a lot and once again displayed his lack of final ball in the final third. Not good enough as he tries to cement himself in Farke’s plans.

Joel Piroe – 4/10

An off-game from the Dutch forward as his touch let him down regularly and he looked lethargic. He couldn’t get on the ball much and when he did he didn’t link with his teammates nearly enough, and it was a poor display.

Crysencio Summerville – 2/10

An abysmal showing from the Duthc winger. Couldn’t beat his man to save his life and was lackluster when tracking backtoo, allowing Kyle Walker-Peters the freedom of the wing. One of the worst performances of the season.

Georginio Rutter – 3/10

Rutter came into the game in good form but this was a poor showing from the Leeds youngster. He looked half-a-yard slower than usual, his touch was poor, his eye for goal was missing and he lacked the intensity when pressing to really pressure the opponents.

Substitutes

Archie Gray – N/A

Jaidon Anthony – N/A

Patrick Bamford – N/A

In other Leeds news, international manager lauds “perfect” summer development and drops promotion verdict.