The QPR midfielder put in a superb performance to keep Leeds United quiet last weekend.
If there is one glaring weakness in a Leeds United side described by Liam Bridcutt as the club’s best in 15 years, as reported by the Yorkshire Evening Post, it’s perhaps the lack of creativity in central midfield.
Not for the first time in recent weeks, The Whites huffed and puffed without reward against a deep lying defensive block. Ian Holloway’s QPR, like Neil Warnock’s Cardiff and Mick McCarthy’s Ipswich, set up to destroy and restrict. And, crucially, Leeds will view those three frustrating fixtures as seven points dropped in the race for promotion.
Furthermore, they also highlighted the worrying dependency on Pablo Hernandez. No other Leeds player can match the diminutive Spaniard’s eight league assists but, the 31-year-old visibly flagging in the final stretch of a gruelling season, Garry Monk has a challenge on his hands to ensure the Yorkshire giants do not suffer a heart-breaking loss of form with just two months remaining.
But who does he turn to? The wingers at Leeds’ disposal are erratic at best and, in central midfield, the club is well stocked with workhorses and wrecking balls, a la Eunan O’Kane, Liam Bridcutt and Ronaldo Vieira, rather than architects and visionaries.
The trio have produced just four assists between them all season, a tally that, with Hernandez struggling, comes under scrutiny.
Therefore, Monk could have been forgiven for glancing across at Holloway with envy as Massimo Luongo produced one of the most impressive midfield performances of the season at Elland Road. Deployed in a deeper midfield position in recent months, the Australian international covered every blade of glass.
Four tackles and four interceptions coupled with three key passes in the final third against Leeds, Luongo combines both grit and guile in midfield. The former Tottenham and Swindon midfielder silenced the crowd, appeared QPR’s most impressive defender and their most dangerous attacker too.
He may have only contributed two assists, and no goals, all season but he so often provides the pass that starts attacks while controlling the play from deep.
In short, he could be exactly what Monk’s Leeds are crying out for.
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