Leeds United star Brenden Aaronson has demanded Jesse Marsch’s team ‘get better’ after losing 3-1 to Manchester City. He also feels the timing of Rodri’s opener was a ‘gut punch’.
Rodri broke the deadlock for Pep Guardiola’s side in the first minute of first-half stoppage-time at Elland Road on Wednesday. Erling Haaland would then strike twice after the break before Pascal Struijk pulled a goal back. But the defender’s header came too late for Leeds.
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Joe Gelhardt enjoyed a number of chances to get another goal for the Whites. But his best chance of the night trickled just wide of the post. Leeds now sit 15th in the Premier League table and are only two points from the relegation zone although they have a game in hand.
Leeds had managed to frustrate Manchester City before Rodri broke the deadlock. The 26-year-old turned the ball in after Illan Meslier could only spill Riyad Mahrez’s shot back into the centre of the box. His goal came from what was set to be the final shot of the first half.
Haaland then put some distance between Leeds and Manchester City after seeing Meslier save his earlier chances. The Norwegian was not going to miss when Jack Grealish set him up to strike into an empty goal. Grealish also assisted Haaland’s second from close range.
Aaronson wants Leeds to improve in three areas after losing to Manchester City
Aaronson saw plenty of faults with Leeds’ performance against Manchester City as he tore into their defeat at full-time. Now, Marsch’s £25m summer signing from RB Salzburg wants to see a response in three primary areas having put themselves in questionable situations.
“It’s tough because that goal at the end of the first half was a gut punch,” Aaronson told BBC Sport. “We need to get better in some instances. There’s a lot of what-ifs but we are getting themselves into these situations and we need to get ourselves out of them.
“We need to get better in the transitions and I think we have longer on the ball than we think we do. We’re not focused on the table, we need to get better. I think with the ball we can work on some things.”
Per WhoScored, Leeds saw 31% of the possession against Manchester City with Aaronson receiving the second-least by a Whites star who started. His and Rasmus Kristensen’s 1.4% share of the possession was also less than half of the 3% that Meslier recorded in their net.
With their possession, Leeds also recorded just a 73% pass success rate with 225 accurate efforts from 307 attempts. Aaronson completed just 12 of his 14 passes, no Leeds player attempted fewer. While Meslier played 25 passes for the sixth-most by any Whites player.
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