Phil Hay has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show, and he has been talking about all things Leeds United.
One of the topics that The Athletic reporter spent some time on was the performance of Pascal Struijk, who made his second Premier League appearance in the Whites’ 1-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
This led to Hay discussing his performance for the Whites in that game, and it seems as if he impressed him despite playing a role in the goal that Leeds conceded.
He said: “I thought he played well again, and I think the crucial thing with Struijk is that he’s not looking out of his depth at all.
“Again, like everybody else, it became difficult [for him] in the second half, and he was involved in the lead up to the goal losing his footing, but even after that there was ample opportunity to shut Jimenez out as he ran across the edge of the box and I don’t think that really falls to Struijk as being his fault.”
Do you think Struijk will be a good replacement for Phillips?
No, he will be exposed
Yes, he will do a job
TIF Thoughts on Hay’s view on Struijk…
Struijk, in the build-up to Raul Jimenez’s deflected goal, slipped as he was trying to deal with the ball aimed towards the Mexican, and though that did help lead to the goal, Hay doesn’t think that the 21-year-old should be blamed.
The 21-year-old was actually quite poor against Wolves as he earned a 6.16 rating from WhoScored.
Despite this, though, Struijk will also be involved in tonight’s game with Aston Villa as he is set to replace Kalvin Phillips, who is out injured.
So, though Struijk has played all of his Premier League appearances this season as a centre-back, he will be playing in Phillips’ main position instead, and it will be interesting to see how he gets on.
Hay, though, was impressed by Struijk and seemed pleased with how the 21-year-old is handling the Premier League.