Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman was blown away by the impact that Tyler Roberts had for Leeds United after he came off the bench in the 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at Elland Road on Sunday.
Roberts, 20, failed to make Marcelo Bielsa’s starting line-up for the first time since February 13, but the Wales international proved that the Leeds boss was wrong to make that decision with a wonderful display after he was introduced to the action at half-time.
Leeds-born Goodman was thrilled with how well Roberts came once he came off the bench as Leeds managed to end their losing streak by earning a point against in-form Villa.
“He’s been excellent since coming on the pitch, I have to say,” said Goodman on Sky Sports Football on Sunday [01:42pm]. “He’s been absolutely excellent. He’s caused Aston Villa a real threat.”
OPINION
Roberts was the difference for Leeds. The 20-year-old played a role in the controversy that plagued the second-half as he was the player who set-up Mateusz Klich’s goal. Klich scored when Jonathan Kodjia was down on the ground with an injury. Roberts looked as though he was going to stop play and put the ball out for a throw-in but instead he saw Klich in a good position and passed the ball to him to score. It was not the most sporting of thing to do, but there was nothing in the rules to suggest that what Roberts and Klich did was wrong. Bielsa decided to let Villa score a goal to cancel out the immoral Leeds goal, which was perhaps the best thing to do in order to avoid things really escalating more than they did. Roberts did play well though and even though he probably shouldn’t have, he deserved to have an assist to his name to show for his excellent 45 minutes.