Craig Scott

Wed 9 February 2022 21:56, UK

Leeds United clinch a great point away at Aston Villa as they drew 3-3 at Villa Park in the Premier League on Wednesday night.

Daniel James opened the scoring with a superb goal but Leeds found themselves 3-1 down by the 43rd minute when Philippe Coutinho scored before assisting two goals by Jacob Ramsey.

James then grabbed a goal just before half-time before Diego Llorente took advantge of some slack Villa defending to score the sixth and final goal of the game in the 63rd minute.

Here, MOT Leeds News has rated the players out of 10 for their performances:

Illan Meslier – 4

Meslier fills us with fear every time the ball goes near him. From passing the ball out for a corner under no pressure in the first half to flapping at crosses into the box and conceding three goals. We need a second goalkeeper to at least put some pressure on Meslier.

Luke Ayling – 3

What a rotten performance that was by Ayling. He was completely outclassed by Coutinho on more than one occasion and we’d lost count of how many fouls the right-back committed throughout the game because he couldn’t cope with Villa’s attackers. He and Raphinha had a shocker on the right-hand side.

Diego Llorente – 6

Llorente completely lost Coutinho for Villa’s first goal and didn’t really impress throughout the night at Villa Park in a defensive sense. He took his goal well to get the game back to 3-3 but was helped out by some bad Villa defending.

Pascal Struijk – 6

Struijk can’t really be blamed for any of the three goals that Aston Villa scored as mistakes came from his teammates. He can do better than he did at Villa Park but he wasn’t bad.

Stuart Dallas – 5

Dallas needs to be playing in the middle, he’s wasted at left-back. He got better as the game went on but we know that Dallas can offer us way more than he did against the Villans.

Robin Koch – 6

He was a lot better after the break than he was in the first half but we’d still rather see Adam Forshaw playing aheas of Koch in the midfield.

Mateusz Klich – 6

Klich has been a lot better lately and he was sublime in the build-up to James’ second goal when he back-heeled the ball through to Rodrigo.

Raphinha – 4

Raphinha looked exhausted. He’s our best player, yes. But could he have done with the night off after a busy spell away with Brazil in World Cup qualifying? Leeds had options to replace him on the right-wing but ultimately, it was a dire display by the ex-Rennes winger. It was probably his worst performances in a Leeds United shirt.

Rodrigo – 7

It was one of Rodrigo’s best performances this season against Villa with the Spain international constantly creating and constantly getting involved. He struck a chord with his attacking teammates and really threatened. More of this, please.

Jack Harrison – 5

Not his best performance and not his worse. We’d like to see Harrison getting more involved than he did, especially when Rodrigo and James played so well around him.

Daniel James – 9

One superb goal, one superb effort that hit the woodwork and one scrappy yet impressive goal. Finally, we saw a clinical performance by James in the centre-forward role. We still don’t think Bielsa should persist with James up front but we were more than happy with his display. Leeds’ man of the match, easily.

Substitutes:

Adam Forshaw (on for Klich, 85′) – N/A

In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay is baffled by this back-to-front Leeds transfer stance.