BBC Radio Leeds pundit Noel Whelan has slammed centre-back Pontus Jansson after his part in a catastrophic 2-0 defeat to Brentford on Monday evening.
The loss, on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Wigan, means that Leeds’ hopes of going up automatically are hanging by a thread.
Sheffield United need just one win from their last two games to condemn Leeds to the play-offs.
Talking to Football Insider, Whelan said, “The defence has been all over the place and Jansson, he’s been part of the problem.
“Suddenly, we look disjointed and vulnerable. Jansson was wrong side and ball watching for the second Wigan goal and for Maupay’s goal.
“It was schoolboy defending. Liam Cooper was a massive miss against Wigan but he played against Brentford and his return didn’t have the effect everyone would have hoped.”
OPINION
Jansson has been a rock this season but has dropped in form just at the wrong time. He was poor against Wigan and seemed off-the-pace against Brentford. He let Neal Maupay in for their first goal and was also to blame for Brentford’s second that killed off any hopes of getting back into the game. Leeds fans would have taken the play-offs at the start of the season, but after being in the top-two for most of the season, it’s set to be a real disappointment and Marcelo Bielsa will have a huge job to lift his players ahead of the play-offs – unless Sheffield United suffer their own meltdown over the next week-and-a-half. Whelan is right – Jansson is a big part of the problem at the moment and needs to get his head back in the game ahead of what could be the biggest three games in Leeds’ season.