BBC pundit rips into spineless Leeds players after he noticed one 'shocking' thing v Preston
Former Leeds striker and BBC pundit Noel Whelan ripped into the Leeds players after yet another defeat on the road for manager Paul Heckingbottom.
Whelan didn't mince his words as he gave his verdict on the Leeds players after the game on BBC Radio Leeds.
He said that the side lacks mental strength and the characters to get themselves through tough spots, and he labelled the body language from the players as "shocking".
"We keep coming back to it week in and week out," Whelan said.
"We started off slow, first 7 minutes, we then managed to get ourselves back into it, string a few passes together, and then we got the breakthrough… a fantastic goal.
"We got ourselves that lead but didn’t build on it.
"We rode our luck but the second half was disappointing, we just collapsed.
"We’ve seen it time and time again. We pull out the white flag, we can’t seem to fight our way back into it. We don’t have the mental strength or characters or toughness to ride that bit of time out and build another attack. It went from bad to worse.
"From then on the body language was shocking."
Football Insider verdict:
Whelan has got this spot on. The big issue is that Leeds don't have a leader on the pitch, someone who can crack heads if needed and someone who can be a leader and inspire the other players. Heckingbottom is experimenting with youth, which is fine, but he needs someone who has experience and mental toughness. Pontus Jansson should be that player, but he went off injured last night, with Leeds fans – perhaps unfairly – accusing him of bottling it. Heckingbottom has got a big job to do in the summer and the first job should be to find someone who can pull his Leeds side into shape on the pitch.