Leeds United continued their poor type within the Premier League this yr as they have been crushed 1-0 by Nottingham Forest on the Metropolis Floor on Sunday.
Jesse Marsch’s final win within the top-flight got here at first of November, earlier than the 2022 World Cup, in a 4-3 win over Bournemouth and this newest loss implies that his aspect are solely forward of the underside three on aim distinction.
The Whites are firmly in a relegation scrap and Brennan Johnson’s early screamer to safe all three factors for Steve Cooper’s aspect this weekend did them no favours.
Pascal Struijk’s weak, headed, clearance fell to the toes of the winger and allowed the ahead to rifle a terrific volley into the underside nook – giving Illan Meslier no probability.
Marsch made a number of massive calls along with his workforce choice, together with leaving new signings Georginio Rutter and Weston McKennie on the bench, and certainly one of them was the selection to go along with the skilled Luke Ayling at right-back over Rasmus Kristensen.
Was deciding on Luke Ayling the precise determination?
Sure
No
The Danish defender put in an honest show towards Accrington Stanley, recording a Sofascore rating of 7.00, within the FA Cup final weekend and loved a stable begin to the Premier League marketing campaign – beginning 13 matches and averaging a score of 6.91.
Kristensen has made 4.3 tackles and interceptions per match and received 59% of his duels, while dropping possession 15 occasions per sport, within the division this time period, which exhibits that the full-back has been a stable operator on the again.
Ayling, who has comparatively averaged a dismal score of 6.61 within the prime flight, was chosen forward of the Dane and let Marsch down having put in a poor show on the again.
As per Sofascore, the Englishman solely accomplished 52% of his tried passes and gifted possession again to Nottingham Forest a whopping 27 occasions, while additionally failing in two of his three tried dribbles over the course of the 90 minutes.
It signifies that the 31-year-old was an enormous legal responsibility on the ball as he constantly let his workforce down by failing to discover a teammate.
The veteran was additionally unable to make a single clearance, sort out, or interception, while being dribbled previous twice, and dropping eight of his 12 (66%) particular person battles, which exhibits that Ayling didn’t make up for his play in possession by being a stable defender on the again.
Subsequently, the right-back let Marsch down badly with the statistics suggesting that the previous Yeovil man mustn’t have been chosen forward of Kristensen, whose performances have been considerably higher than the one Ayling produced on Sunday.