Leeds United employee furious at what he spotted Junior Firpo do v Aston Villa
Junior Firpo’s defending was “absolutely criminal” for Aston Villa’s second goal against Leeds United on Thursday, according to Noel Whelan.
The former Leeds striker and club ambassador, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, tore into the 25-year-old’s positioning and reading of the game during the 3-0 defeat.
Firpo was caught under Danny Ing’s cross-field pass and failed to stop Matty Cash from firing past Illan Meslier just after the hour mark.
The Leeds left-back was stretchered off late on at Elland Road after a collision with Emi Buendia.
However, Whelan showed no sympathy with his assessment of the summer signing’s performance.
Whelan told Football Insider’s Russell Edge: “You’ve got to cut out mistakes. Firpo, to me, that’s criminal, the second goal is absolutely criminal.
“He’s got absolutely no idea what’s around him, he’s never got his body position in the right place. He’s not even had a look behind him for about 20 seconds while Matty Cash was making his way into that area.
“Then the defending was very, very poor. You’ve ran straight past the man and not even slowed him down. I mean, you teach kids that. Put the brakes on, hold them up, make them work to get past you.
“That was too easy again. So there are lots of things that need to improve because defensively we’re the worst in the league.”
Firpo has played 22 times for Leeds since joining the club from Barcelona.
Stuart Dallas, who started at right-back against Villa, has also featured regularly at left-back.
In other news, pundit drops “astronomical” Leeds United player verdict after Marsch update.