Former Leeds United player and current Sky Sports pundit David Prutton has highlighted the lack of intensity shown by his former side in recent matches as the main problem as he predicts the clash against Ipswich Town in midweek.
The Whites succumbed to their second defeat of the season with a loss against Blackburn Rovers, which means that Marcelo Bielsa’s side have won just two of their last nine matches across all competitions after what was a dazzling start to the new Championship campaign.
Prutton picked out their previous high-energy performances and insisted those displays have been missing of late, although suggested it would not matter against a poor Ipswich side on Wednesday.
Predicting a 2-0 win for Leeds, he wrote in his Sky Sports column: “Leeds seem to have hit a little bit of a bump in the road and aren’t quite playing with the same intensity as they were at the start of the season, even with Kemar Roofe back they still lost at Blackburn on Saturday.
“This should be a straightforward victory at Elland Road for Marcelo Bielsa’s side, because Ipswich don’t look good enough right now. They were so poor against QPR. Home win.”
Opinion
Leeds were so impressive when they kicked off the new season against recently relegated Stoke, putting the Potters to the sword with an all-action display which caught everyone off guard. Bielsa has obviously drilled these players to be as fit as they ever have been and it showed signs of success in the early stages, but now things are not going as well as they were. Could it be a case of the players struggling to keep up with the immense demands set on their heads by their manager and are already suffering a case of burn out? The fans will hope not, otherwise their hopes of a promotion hunt will go up in flames early on. Still, victory against a disappointing Ipswich side should get things back on track and calm the fears that might be starting to spread around Elland Road. Defeat though, and there could be a sense of deja vu after last season, when their bright start collapsed in spectacular fashion.