Jamie Carragher a fan of ‘fantastic’ Leeds player who let himself down vs Burnley
Jamie Carragher had high praise for one Leeds United man, despite the Whites’ disappointing loss at the hands of Burnley.
Leeds were beaten 2-0 by Burnley on Saturday, with Daniel Farke‘s side failing to find the net from a whole host of chances.
The visitors created more expected goals and had far more shots than the Clarets, but struggled to convert from their dominance.
Brenden Aaronson was slammed for his performance against Burnley, with the American only finding the legs of Martin Dubravka when played through on goal in the first half.
And Jayden Bogle was criticised for his miss against Burnley, too, after the defender inexplicably fired over when mere inches away from goal.
Jamie Carragher in high praise of Karl Darlow
A Leeds staff member was seen smashing his desk when Karl Darlow gave the ball away against Burnley, with the goalkeeper appearing to struggle with the ball at his feet on the day.
The Wales international completed just two of his long balls, and gave away 10 of his 25 attempted passes.
But Carragher had a very different view of the goalkeeper’s performance, paying particular focus to his passing.
“We’re looking at the goalkeeper comparison here with Darlow and Lucas Perri. Darlow is fantastic on the ball,” the former defender told Sky Sports whilst analysing the game on Monday Night Football.
“You can see him here splitting the centre-backs. Perri has actually started the first three, Darlow comes in, but you can see it’s a complete contrast really in terms of what they’re like as a goalkeeper.
“He’s really confident on the ball; he was almost like a centre-back before. He’s now breaking the lines there and this is what made Leeds actually, I’d say, play well in the game [vs Burnley].”
After that praise, Carragher highlighted a poor piece of play from Darlow that led to Burnley’s opening goal.
“We wanted to show the first few clips of Karl Darlow, to actually show he’s more than competent with the ball and that actually is just a poor pass, and he’ll be really disappointed with that,” Carragher added.
Is Carragher right about Darlow?
On the face of it, Darlow’s stats would not appear to back up Carragher’s claims. The goalkeeper has completed just 58.7 per cent of his passes in the Premier League this season, and 31.1 per cent of his long balls.
But looking a little deeper, the former defender may actually have a point. According to FBref, only four goalkeepers in the Premier League are completing more launched passes per game than Darlow this season.
| Karl Darlow | Premier League 2025-26 | Lucas Perri |
| 5 | Appearances | 3 |
| 62% | Save percentage | 38% |
| 0 | Clean sheets | 2 |
| 105 | Accurate passes | 44 |
| 33 | Accurate long balls | 20 |
There’s more – just six goalkeepers attempt more passes than the Leeds man per game, and just four attempt passes with a longer average length than the 35-year-old.
Darlow’s low completion rate likely comes down to a style point, with Farke’s team far more likely to go long since the inclusion of Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
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