Here are your Leeds United evening headlines for May 22.
'Fragmented' Leeds
Leeds United have been left 'fragmented' by the shifts between Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch. That is the view of former Whites midfielder Shaun Derry, who believes the club's current struggles go far beyond the poor results on the pitch.
Derry told BBC Radio Leeds via Inside Futbol: “What Marcelo Bielsa brought was a culture, an identity and a togetherness between the fans and the players and the city of Leeds. And that’s gone.
“Unfortunately with these amount of changes from Jesse Marsch to leading now to Sam Allardyce, it’s just fragmented and that’s what the football club looks like from the outside. I look and I don’t just see what it means to be a Leeds United team out there and that is the real disappointing part of it.
“It’s not the results, it’s in the culture inside and it’s the belief and that’s not here at the minute.”
Allardyce's philosophical approach
Sam Allardyce took on a philosophical approach as he attempted to digest Leeds United’s 3-1 defeat to West Ham United at the London Stadium. It was a performance and result that offered little encouragement when it comes to Leeds’ survival hopes and with one game remaining they find themselves staring down the barrel of relegation.
United now know there is the possibility that a win on the final day against Tottenham Hotspur might not be enough. They need a number of results to go their way from here on in and that includes tonight’s game between Newcastle United and Leicester City, with the Foxes looking to move out of the relegation zone by collecting three points at St James’ Park.
It always going to be a challenge for Allardyce, who took the Leeds reins with just four Premier League fixtures remaining. The Whites appeared down and out at Bournemouth, just a few days before his arrival, and turning them around in such a small space of time was always going to be one of the trickiest tasks he has taken on during his extensive career.
Unfortunately, Leeds have secured just one point from the 68-year-old’s first three games in charge and that leaves the club in an extremely precarious position. It’s not over just yet and Allardyce will have his fingers and toes crossed that Leeds can get the job done against all the odds, but he doesn’t regret daring to take on the job.
You can read the full story here.
Story of the season
It all started so well at the London Stadium for Sam Allardyce’s Leeds United. They took the lead inside 17 minutes as Rodrigo capitalised on Leeds’ early dominance, volleying Weston McKennie’s long throw home.
As things stood at the time, the goal was enough to see Leeds clamber out of the bottom three and those supporters nervously watching on were, all of a sudden, filled with optimism that Leeds could kick on and claim the three points they so desperately needed. What followed, though, was sadly all too familiar.
Leeds struggled to push on in the minutes after the goal and found themselves retreating to their own penalty area as West Ham responded to going behind. Just 15 minutes after taking the lead United were being pegged back and from that point on only one team looked capable of coming out on top.
That team wasn’t Leeds and they eventually crumbled to a 3-1 defeat in a game that was seen as a huge opportunity for them to breathe life into their survival hopes. West Ham seemed to find things alarmingly easy at times as Leeds simply failed to provide a suitable challenge after taking the lead.
You can read the full story here.
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