‘In my opinion…’ – Beckford makes claim about Leeds players and Cardiff fans
Jermaine Beckford has suggested that Cardiff City could have lost an advantage over Leeds United with their fans not being present on Sunday afternoon.
The former Whites forward did admit that he believes there is only one winner of this game, and that is Marcelo Bielsa’s squad.
It won’t be one-sided though, with memories of the 3-3 draw back in December still strong in the memory of everyone at Elland Road.
Beckford claimed the Welsh capital is an intimidating place to play at times, but without fans, that feeling could be lost on the home side.
“Well, the Cardiff fans are an intimidating bunch as well,” he told LUTV.
“You can look at it from a similar perspective to this place (Elland Road), the fans play a massive part whichever stadium is going to be hosting the game, so it’s just going to be 11 men against 11 men.
“The best team will win on the day, and in my opinion, the way Leeds set up, the way that Leeds play and the mentality of the Leeds United players, for me, there’s only going to be one winner.”
There will be a lot made out of the reverse fixture in this one, and how Leeds managed to throw away their three-goal lead to draw that game.
Cardiff’s physicality was obviously a big issue, but one thing many seem to forget is the absence of Liam Cooper, something which won’t be missing on Sunday.
If Leeds can deal with that, they could fly past the Bluebirds. The Whites kept 69.3% possession of the ball, as well as completing more than 300 passes according to WhoScored.
Should Cardiff allow that to happen once again on Sunday, they could be in for a very long afternoon.
In other Leeds United news, Paul Robinson has made a big promotion claim on Whites with restart around the corner