The 31-year-old seemingly “fell asleep” when the two sides last met back in February
Leeds United’s 4-1 defeat to Arsenal on Saturday evening proved a miserable return to north London for former Gunner’s youth product, Luke Ayling, with the experienced defender having been something of a liability for Javi Gracia’s side at right-back.
The 31-year-old – who failed to make an appearance for the Emirates outfit after rising through the club’s youth ranks – notably gave away what could be considered a soft penalty to allow Gabriel Jesus to fire the hosts ahead before also being beaten by Gabriel Martinelli as Mikel Arteta’s men powered home a second through Ben White just after the break.
As Leeds Live’s Beren Cross noted, the Brazilian winger had Ayling ‘on toast all afternoon’, with the latter man having undoubtedly “struggled” to shackle the dynamic and relentless youngster, as per journalist Joe Donohue.
Those woes were also reflected by the fact that the Whites’ stand-in skipper won just four of his 11 duels and lost possession on 11 occasions, while also being dribbled past five times as a marker of his defensive shortcomings.
Such a grim performance saw the Lamberth-born dud record a match rating of just 5.6, as per Sofascore, with that the joint-lowest of any player for either side, alongside teammate Illan Meslier.
With the Yorkshire outfit back in Premier League action against fellow relegation strugglers Nottingham Forest this evening, Gracia must surely be considering whether to ditch Ayling for the visit of Steve Cooper’s men, particularly with the Englishman having also previously underwhelmed against the Garibaldi earlier this season.
Will Ayling start against Forest?
Ahead of what will be a potentially crucial clash with Forest at Elland Road later today, the Leeds boss may need to reflect on Ayling’s dour display when the two sides met in the reverse fixture back in February.
That meeting at the City Ground saw the £20k-per-week man prove somewhat culpable for the game’s only goal, as the long-serving asset arguably “fell asleep” after losing his man in the build-up to Brennan Johnson’s winner, as per pundit Shaun Wright-Phillips.
That lapse in concentration epitomized what was a rather dour outing for the former Bristol City man, as he again proved rather lightweight in a defensive sense after winning just four of his 12 total duels while being dribbled past on two occasions.
The 6-foot menace was not just a liability out of possession, however, having also failed to make his mark on the ball, regularly playing his side into trouble after losing the ball on 27 occasions and completing just five of his 12 attempted long balls.
While that might have been part of Ayling’s desire to ‘get forward and create’ – as noted at the time by Yorkshire Evening Post’s Graham Smyth – it remains rather worrying for a defender to be so erratic when attempting to play out from the back.
Gracia – who wasn’t in charge at the time of the trip to Nottingham – can likely ill-afford another error-strewn performance from the struggling asset this time around, with it perhaps for the best that Ayling sits this one out.
Leave a Reply