Danny Murphy frustrated by Leeds United trio for throwing away early good work against Man City
Danny Murphy was unimpressed by Leeds United players who wasted key early opportunities to put pressure on Manchester City in the 4-0 loss at Elland Road.
Despite working a number of dangerous breaks against the illustrious league-leaders Jesse Marsch’s men failed to take any of the chances and were punished.
The heavy defeat ended a run of five games unbeaten and allowed Burnley to climb above United on goal difference in the relegation battle, with Everton five points back having played two games fewer ahead of their Sunday meeting with Chelsea (1 May).
Speaking on Match of the Day on Saturday night (30 April) the pundit said: “High up the pitch they lacked a bit of quality at times but to get there they played some good stuff.
“These are the moments against the top teams you don’t get very often and in the first half they had quite a few of them.”
On a Rodrigo break in the first half where he could have squared for a Raphinha tap-in he dismissed the Spaniard as having “no awareness” and said: “I don’t even think he knew he was there.”
As Mateusz Klich played a pass straight out of play when looking for the Brazilian with a through-ball inside the full-back on another counter Murphy said: “This isn’t a difficult ball, it’s just sloppy.”
And when Junior Firpo blazed over with Rodrigo and Jack Harrison free in the middle he again bemoaned the United man for having “no awareness”.
Went begging
With the manager-less Clarets suddenly putting serious pressure on the Whites, no lost points can be easily ignored.
The performance was encouraging in many ways, and a far cry from the confused collapses that became common a couple of months ago.
The Elland Road crowd’s loud support signified just that, but there could have been a lot more for them to cheer had the players got it right in the final third.
Against a side possessing the quality that Pep Guardiola’s does there is little margin for error, but having worked a number of chances, errors did follow and the harsh scoreline was the result.
The loss started a three game run against “Big Six” opposition, where improvement will be vital if much-needed points are going to taken.
Frank Lampard’s Toffees side are currently the ones deepest in trouble in fight for survival, but any revival from them could make things seriously uncomfortable around Leeds.
A major injury to Stuart Dallas, and a set back for Liam Cooper are also cause for concern, with the heat suddenly back on in a big way.
In other Leeds United news, the proposed new agent for Kalvin Phillips has recent experience of sorting out a big money move for an England star to a Premier League giant.