Noel Whelan assesses Jay-Roy Grot’s display in Leeds cup defeat

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Leeds United crashed out of the FA Cup as they were beaten by Newport County on Sunday.

Noel Whelan has told BBC Radio Leeds that Jay-Roy Grot failed miserably after being given a chance in Leeds’ FA Cup third round tie with Newport County on Sunday.

Thomas Christiansen made a number of changes for the tie, but still picked a fairly strong side for the trip to Rodney Parade, with Grot playing alongside Pierre-Michel Lasogga up front. And it appeared to all be going to plan for the Whites.

Gaetano Berardi’s great strike nine minutes in gave Leeds the lead, and they would hold onto that lead until the final 20 minutes – but in reality, Newport were knocking on the door long before.

The League Two side would score twice to turn the game on its head, and book their place in the fourth round, leaving the majority of the Leeds side – barring Berardi perhaps – to come in for plenty of criticism.

Grot has had to face a lot of criticism this season as he has struggled to make an impact when he has been given a chance. And when Whelan was asked whether the Dutchman needs to drop down into the under-23s for game-time, Whelan pointed out that he has had the chances – and was in no doubt that he had not taken them.

“Had it today [game-time]. Failed miserably. Very few times did he trouble their defence, get in behind, create anything, hold the ball, win headers. I’m all about quality rather than quantity. We’ve bought quantity,” he told BBC Radio Leeds.

Christiansen may be wishing that he could loan the 19-year-old out for the rest of the season to get him a run of games at a lower level where he could hopefully get his confidence up, but unfortunately for Grot, he is unable to play for another side this season having already played for two teams – so it may not surprise many if the next few months are frustrating ones for the forward.