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Leeds United: Cross tears into Struijk performance v Villa

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Image for Leeds United: Cross tears into Struijk performance v Villa

Journalist Beren Cross has torn into Leeds United defender Pascal Struijk for his performance against Aston Villa.

The Whites lost 2-1 at Villa Park thanks to goals from Leon Bailey and Emiliano Buendia, however substitute Patrick Bamford grabbed a goal back for Jesse Marsch’s side.

Struijk made two tackles and gave away a foul, as well as making two interceptions and dribbled past once against Villa.

Leeds had a had 16 attempts in total but only hit four of them on target. The creative flair was there but they weren’t able to take their chances.

Writing for Leeds Live, Cross gave Struijk a 3/10 rating for his performance at the back and claimed that Bailey ‘exposed’ him. He also stated that the defender ‘seems to have had the ability sucked out of him in the space of a week’.

He said, ‘Seems to have had the ability sucked out of him in the space of a week. Errors at Cardiff City fed into low confidence at Villa Park where Bailey routinely exposed him as a centre-back playing out of position. Max Wober would be a strong bet to start next week. 3’.

TIF’s view on Cross’ comments…

We believe that it was a day to forget for Struijk who certainly looked off the pace at Villa Park, but it’s certainly not a representation of his form this season.

The defender ranks in the top five performing Leeds players in the Premier League this season on Sofascore, with an average rating of 6.91.

However, he lost the ball 12 times, had just a 71% passing accuracy and lost two duels (Sofascore).

Marsch and the Leeds faithful will hope that Struijk will be able to overcome this blip in form and come back stronger for their FA Cup replay against Cardiff City should he be selected.

Perhaps the 23-year-old will get a rest in the clash with the Bluebirds and bring in new signing Max Wober into the starting eleven.

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