Danny Mills: This is what has happened between Jansson and Monk at Leeds
By Alex Stevens
BBC pundit Danny Mills has insisted that Pontus Jansson’s withdrawal from the Leeds squad “obviously” did not happen until the morning of their 1-0 defeat at Reading.
The Yorkshire giants’ seven-match unbeaten run came to an end as they fell to a deserved loss in the Championship clash at the Madejski Stadium against their fellow promotion hopefuls.
A superb first-half strike from Yann Kermorgant was enough to secure the three points in a match totally dominated by Jaap Stam’s side.
One of the main talking points surrounded the omission of Pontus Jansson, who did not even make the matchday 18 as manager Garry Monk did not name a single defender on his substitute’s bench.
Former Leeds defender Mills regarded this as a big tell-tale sign in what had gone on behind the scenes in the build-up to the match in Berkshire.
The ex-England international is convinced that the plan just hours before kick-off was for Jansson to be in the squad and that his late pull-out had taken the manager by surprise.
“It’s a little bit strange that there is no other defender on the bench,” said Mills to Sky Sports 1’s live coverage of Leeds defeat to Reading on Saturday night. “Clearly, this is a big surprise. Whether he was feeling it yesterday? He’s only obviously told the manager this morning.
“If there is an injury to a defender at Leeds, it leaves them a little bit light at the back.”
For the second consecutive match, Liam Cooper was named by Garry Monk in the starting XI alongside mainstay Kyle Bartley.
Cooper had been controversially preferred to a fit and available Jansson for Leeds’ 2-0 win against Brighton before the international break.
The Sweden international insisted while on international duty that he had no problem with Monk’s decision for the Brighton match as he declined the opportunity to criticise his omission.
In other Leeds transfer news, the club have sealed an out-of-window midfielder transfer.
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