Keith Andrews (ex-WBA) and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (ex-Leeds) spoke after the Baggies lost 4-0 against the Whites.
West Bromwich Albion endured a bad day at the office on Friday night as their trip to Elland Road culminated in Leeds United running out 4-0 winners on Friday night.
The Baggies had routed the Whites 4-1 in the Championship reverse fixture at the Hawthorns but they ended up with a mountain to climb early on as Pablo Hernandez netted 16 seconds in.
Marcelo Bielsa‘s charges then doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark when Patrick Bamford slotted past Sam Johnstone after connecting with a through-ball from ex-Baggies man Tyler Roberts.
The hosts, who had lost to Queens Park Rangers in midweek, then extended their lead further on 64 minutes through Bamford, before Ezgjan Alioski compounded the visitors’ misery with a late fourth.
Dwight Gayle, one of the Championship’s most in-form attackers with 16 goals in 23 league starts this term, was deployed on the left side of a 4-3-3 and failed to impress against Leeds, as shown by his 5.9 rating on Whoscored.
Darren Moore has utilised the Newcastle United loanee on the wing in recent weeks, with Jay Rodriguez taking the centre-forward slot, and two pundits – one ex-Leeds, one ex-WBA – believe the forward is being wasted in that position.
Keith Andrews, who had a stint at the Hawthorns in 2012, is quoted by the Birmingham Mail as saying: “Don’t like him, don’t like him at all out there. I said it as soon as he went there. He’s one of the best strikers in the division. When you give him the right type of service he is lethal, that’s why I don’t like him on the wing.”
Meanwhile, one-time Leeds man Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink added: “I have to agree with Keith. When he’s on the wing he’s not as effective as he can be. When he has to provide for others that’s not his strongest quality. When he’s in the box he is dangerous and one of the best.”
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