BBC pundit Noel Whelan has labelled Stuart Dallas as “shocking” but also let rip at the rest of the Leeds team after their disappointing end to the season.
Leeds missed out on the top-two with Norwich and Sheffield United going up automatically, and Leeds play-off hopes weren’t improved after they lost 3-2 to 10-man Ipswich on the last day of the Championship.
Whelan said that only Kalvin Phillips could hold his head high after that game and singled out Dallas for criticism.
And he criticised the defence that has let seven goals in against Ipswich, Wigan Athletic and Brentford recently.
“The seven goals conceded all came from schoolboy errors,” Whelan said to Football Insider.
“We (Leeds) have to score a very well-worked goal and have to really work for our goals, whereas the opposition are being granted them so easily.
“Dallas was shocking at Ipswich. He was nowhere to be seen for one of the Dozell goals, got caught completely out of position. That’s the problem when you have an attacking left-back who likes to go forward.”
OPINION
Leeds have problems at both ends at the moment. They key issue all season is they haven’t been able to convert the chances the’ve created. They’ve dominated pretty much every game they’ve played this season in terms of possession, but they’ve scored fewer goals than any other team in the top five, and 20 less than Norwich who ended up winning the league. They’ve been getting away with that because of their defence, but now that’s started leaking stupid goals. The hope will be that Leeds won’t need any motivation to get themselves up for a two-legged game against Derby in the semi-finals, or in the richest game of the season at Wembley. However, the pressure is enormous and Marcelo Bielsa will need to call on all his man-management skills to help his side get over the line. He confirmed that Stuart Dallas would play again on Saturday and he’ll need to be better than he was in his last outing in a Leeds shirt.