Graham Smyth slams what Ethan Ampadu did in Leeds v Millwall – ‘Poor’
Graham Smyth said Ethan Ampadu did not put in a “leader’s performance” as Leeds United were beaten by Millwall in the FA Cup fourth round and one moment came in for particular criticism.
The Whites succumbed to a 2-0 loss at Elland Road with the Welshman putting in one of his worst performances in a Leeds shirt since his arrival last summer.
While there were many moments in the game when Leeds’ captain wasn’t quite up to scratch, it seems that one particularly stood out to Smyth.
Ethan Ampadu needs to get back to his best after Leeds United v Millwall outing
As aforementioned, the underwhelming performance Ampadu put in during their FA Cup clash on Saturday was more than noticeable, which is wildly out of character for the versatile ace.
Playing at centre-back, Ampadu was the only player to stay in the starting XI from Leeds’ victory over Coventry but evidently it wasn’t the right decision for Farke to make.
Femi Azeez’s first goal of the game was when it was first clear that Ampadu wasn’t at his best, the Welshman hovered around the edge of the box rather than trying to close Azeez down, which allowed him enough time to line up a shot.
The goal may have taken a wicked deflection off of Josuha Guilavogui to send it past Karl Darlow but the former Chelsea man should have done a lot more.
Writing for the Yorkshire Evening Post’s website (9 February), Smyth shared his thoughts on Ampadu’s outing.
“The captain was the only man to stay in the starting line-up after the win at Coventry but he did not produce a leader’s display,” he wrote.
“His defending for the first goal was poor and he didn’t do enough to stop the shot for the second.
“In between there was an error of judgement that was only saved by the woodwork.”
Daniel Farke may have to rest Ethan Ampadu
At the moment, Farke is in a bit of a pickle regarding which players make his strongest starting XI.
When Ampadu was sidelined for weeks with an injury, Joe Rothwell and Ao Tanaka managed to more than prove their worth and more or less cemented their places in the starting XI.
However, now that Ampadu is back, it’s created a bit of a question mark regarding who Leeds’ best XI consists of.
Pascal Struijk and Joe Rodon are the other two players in this equation as, to fit the Welshman in, one of Tanaka, Rothwell, Struijk or Rodon needs to be dropped.
Over the last few weeks, this hasn’t been that much of a problem due to Struijk’s injury but now everyone is fit, it feels like the former Chelsea man should be the one to get dropped, especially if he ends up performing like he did against Alex Neil’s men again.