‘He Struggles’ – Leeds United Legend Makes Admission On Whites Star But Understands | OneFootball

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Leeds United legend Jon Newsome has stressed that it cannot be expected of Daniel James to be a defender, but feels Daniel Farke did not have any other options against Chelsea amid his rotation.

On Wednesday night, the Whites made a brilliant start to the night with an early lead at Stamford Bridge with Tarik Muharemovic’s goal in the 23rd minute and then Brenden Aaronson doubled the lead at the beginning of the second half.

When it looked like Farke’s side were going to cruise through to the next round of the EFL Cup, James’ foul on Chelsea’s Pep Chavarria, which resulted in a penalty and Cole Palmer converting, turned the tide of the game.

After Palmer’s penalty the Blues stormed Leeds’ defence and managed to turn the scoreline 4-2 in their favour, although Dominic Calvert Lewin tried to bring the Whites back into the game with his 75th minute strike, Xabi Alonso’s side came out victorious, ending the game with 6-3 scoreline.

Farke went with a back five in the game and used James as a right-wing-back and later substituted him in the 66th minute of the game as he brought on Anton Stach.

It was James’ foul that helped Chelsea to get back into the game and Newsome stated that the 28-year-old has exceeded his expectations in the right wing-back role, while stressing that he is simply not a defender.

He pointed out that putting James in the right wing-back role is like sticking a defender or a goalkeeper in James’ area while asking them to take on opposition attackers, but the ex-Leeds defender admitted that Farke had no other options at his disposal.

“Going forward he’s great”, Newsome said on BBC Radio Leeds (9th September, 22:24).

“For the majority of the time defensively he’s quite good, better than I expected him to do, but he’s not a defender.

“And sometimes when he gets in those positions, he struggles, just like you stick a centre-half or a goalkeeper on the right wing and ask them to drop their shoulder and take someone on, they struggle.

“Some people it is horses for courses.

“I do agree it is putting square pegs in round holes and it’s not ideal, but what was the other option this evening?”

Gabriel Gudmundsson came on as a substitute in the second half and Newsome thinks Chelsea star Pedro Neto got the better of the Leeds defender during Danny Welbeck’s second goal.