Sky Sports pundit: This is what Leeds ace Lasogga lacks in comparison to Wood

Sat 21 October 2017 8:28, UK

By Danny Wright

Sky Sports pundit David Prutton believes that Leeds United striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga is lacking the physical presence that Chris Wood brought to the side before he left in the summer.

Lasogga, 25, was snapped up from Hamburg as a replacement for Wood, 25, after he left for Burnley for £15million in August.

However the German powerhouse is yet to have the impact of Wood, having scored just three times in his first seven appearances for the Whites, with two of them coming on his debut against Burton in September.

Ex-Leeds midfielder Prutton doesn’t believe it’s his goalscoring record that is the problem though, and instead thinks that Lasogga’s hold-up play that is the major difference between him and Wood.

“If you look at Pierre-Michel Lasogga as well, then he is always going to be looked at as a ready made replacement for Chris Wood. But he’s a different player,” said Prutton on the Yorkshire Evening Post website.

“Maybe what we have seen is a great reaction to Chris going but then we have perhaps seen the longer term impact that losing Chris does have because he was a big physical player that held the ball up and he has got a sharpness in his game that perhaps Lasogga hasn’t got.

“Chris obviously had such a wonderful season last year. Maybe it’s a sense of getting the best out of being able to utilise Lasogga and getting the best out of him as the players get used to him.”