Samu Saiz gave a good account of himself for Leeds United on Saturday, despite the defeat.
There were far more negatives than there were positives for Leeds United on Saturday afternoon.
The Whites slumped to a third successive Championship defeat by going down 1-0 to Reading at Elland Road yesterday.
Thomas Christiansen’s side dropped to sixth as a result of the defeat and it seems like the 44-year-old head coach has a lot of work to do if Leeds are to fulfill their early-season potential and wind up reaching the Premier League come May.
The decision to replace under-fire goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald with Andy Lonergan paid off for Christiansen, with the former Wolves man impressing between the sticks, but another man who gave a good account of himself was Samu Saiz.
The Spanish maestro was one of very few outfield players who could have left Elland Road with his head held high yesterday, and fans of the West Yorkshire side certainly acknowledged his performance on Twitter afterwards.
Leeds fans will argue that referee Jeremy Simpson overlooked a foul on Pablo Hernandez in the build-up to Modou Barrow’s 84th-minute winner, which might be the case, but Christiansen’s side – who missed a last-minute penalty from Pablo Hernandez – simply didn’t deserve anything and a point would have papered over the cracks in a big way.
On the back of that, Saiz, a £3.1 million signing from Huesca in the summer, is the only outfield figure who should be guaranteed a shirt when United visit Bristol City next week.
The rest might not be as talented as the former Real Madrid B man, but they also didn’t show the same heart as him and there is little excuse for that.
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