Leeds United journalist Conor McGilligan has claimed that Daniel James could cause their opponents some problems during their upcoming Premier League game.
The 24-year-old Welsh winger has certainly had a bit of a difficult time with Leeds United this season. Having made the move in the summer, two and a half years after he nearly came to Elland Road initially, he has only managed to bag four goals and three assists so far this season, not really justifying the reported £25m that it cost to bring him to the club.
However, according to McGilligan, their game against Aston Villa tomorrow night at Elland Road could provide him with a great opportunity to make an impact on the side, something that he hasn’t done a lot of this season.
Speaking on the Blue, White and Yellow podcast (10:07), McGilligan brought up the previous meeting between the two sides from earlier in the season and claimed that it was one of his best games for the club, and that it if he were to perform the same way again and Leeds United play the same way, it could cause Aston Villa a couple of problems on the night:
“I thought Dan James had a lot of joy in the last game, and it was actually his best game he’s had for Leeds. It does seem that every single time we play against Villa, the pressing system does sort of work against Tyrone Mings in particular, and you do wonder if Leeds are going to target that.”
TIF Thoughts on Conor McGilligan’s comments about Daniel James and Leeds United…
Has Dan James been a success at Leeds?
Yes!
No!
The game McGilligan is referring to certainly was a good one for James, as he scored twice and also hit the bar in the first half as he terrorised the Villa backline all game, getting off a total of four shots, winning two aerial duels and completing 70% of his passes (as per WhoScored).
And running at Mings is certainly something that Leeds United should be looking to do. As the stats from last summer show, Mings’ average speed at the European Championships was 26.5 kph (16.5 mph), whilst James, who has attempted 45 dribbles for Leeds this season (via WhoScored), averaged 31.78 kph (19.7 mph).
So it could very well be a case of history repeating itself if Leeds employ a similar gameplan to the one they utilised last time out, where Leeds will be hoping for a similar outcome in terms of offensive production.
In other news: Left in the summer: £5.85m-rated former Leeds ace now has more G/A than Raphinha