Smith ‘really impressed’ by Leeds player despite testing night in 1-0 win v Boro
Sue Smith was delighted with what she saw from Ben White on Wednesday night as Leeds United won 1-0 away at Middlesbrough.
White, 22, has played every minute of every Championship fixture for Leeds this season with the majority of those minutes coming at centre-back.
However the on-loan Brighton defender was forced to play out of his comfort zone at the Riverside Stadium on Wednesday with Kalvin Phillips injured.
Marcelo Bielsa called upon White to play as the defensive midfielder in his formation to make up for the fact that Phillips had been forced to sit out of the Championship showdown.
White took that change in his stride though, according to ex-Leeds Women player Smith.
“I’ve been really impressed by Ben White,” she said on Sky Sports News on Wednesday night [09:23pm].
“He’s come in for Phillips and had to do a job in there.
“He just reads the game so, so well.”
White has been fantastic for Leeds this season and it says a lot about him that he was able to slot in seamlessly in the midfield against Middlesbrough.
Bielsa has been forced to make a similar change already this season but on that occasion, Leeds lost 2-0 to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
White looked a lot more comfortable against Boro than he did Forest.
It remains to be seen whether or not that was just because Forest are a much better team than Boro, who have not won in the Championship since January 1.
However it was still great to see Leeds not miss Phillips as much as they did earlier in the campaign because White played so well.
In other Leeds United news, it has been explained why Bielsa was booked in the win at Middlesbrough.