Leeds United and Newcastle United played out a thrilling 2-2 draw at Elland Road which was little help to either side in the Premier League.
Luke Ayling opened the scoring inside 10 minutes but Patrick Bamford missed the opportunity to make it two from the spot. Just minutes later Callum Wilson scored a penalty of his own, and put Newcastle ahead in the second half with another spot-kick.
The point was rescued by Rasmus Kristensen’s deflected effort for Leeds, who ended with 10 men after Junior Firpo’s red card, but they remain in the relegation zone while Newcastle’s grip on a top four finish has loosened slightly.
Here’s how the players rated at Elland Road:
Leeds
Joel Robles – 7 – Commanded his box well and the Leeds backline look confident with him in the net. Beaten by Wilson’s penalties but they were both well-placed, the second despite him trying his best in the mind games.
Luke Ayling – 7 – Showed great awareness to follow in after Nick Pope had saved Rodrigo’s shot to open the scoring, giving Elland Road the boost it needed. Was playing with confidence up until Leeds missed the opportunity to go 2-0 up and had his work cut out for him against Willock, Isak and then Saint-Maximin. Still worked hard and did well.
Rasmus Kristensen – 8 – If you take out his goal, Kristensen still put in a very good performance at the heart of Leeds’ defence, holding it tight at times when others were faltering. If Leeds had gone on to lose, Kristensen still could have held his head high but he was also the reason they came away with a point, as his half volley was deflected in via Trippier. A cherry on top of a great game.
Maximilian Wober – 5 – When your centre-back partner has the kind of game Kristensen did, you’ll have high standards to live up to, and unfortunately Wober didn’t come out of the game looking too good. While most of his match was error free, Wober was the man to concede the first-half penalty, clearing out Isak and completely missing the ball, almost as if he didn’t know the Swede was there.
Junior Firpo – 3 – His game could have been so much different had Bamford converted his penalty. Firpo’s first touch from a Greenwood pass was excellent to get himself in front of Joelinton to win the penalty, forcing the Brazilian into his clumsy challenge. But he also had a role in Newcastle’s two penalties. For the first, Firpo slipped (not his fault) which made Wober come over to make his tackle, but the second he got his fingertips onto a cross just ahead of Isak. Was perhaps fortunate not to be sent off, having already been booked for a lunging challenge on Bruno that was also checked by VAR for a red. An extremely eventful afternoon that did finally end with a red, shown a second yellow card for a foul on Gordon.
Weston McKennie – 7 – The most involved of the Leeds midfield as the box-to-box man, McKennie led the press and never seemed to be too far from a loose ball.
Robin Koch – 6 – When the teams were first announced, Koch was expected to be part of the back three but instead he played slightly further at the heart of the midfield. And he did pretty well, especially in the second half when Allardyce shifted things slightly.
Sam Greenwood – 5 – Playing deeper in central midfield, Greenwood didn’t really get into the game but he did show neat footwork to dance through a couple of defenders before playing in Firpo for Leeds’ penalty.
Rodrigo – 7 – Rose high to test Pope with a header which led to Leeds’ opener and ran himself into the ground. A real threat.
Jack Harrison – 6 – Linked up well with Bamford on the flank in the build up to the opener but his game really peaked there, not making too much of an impact on the attack afterwards.
Patrick Bamford – 4 – Started the game really well with an excellent cross into the box, placed perfectly between Burn and Botman, which set up Ayling’s goal. A nuisance out wide but he wasn’t the goalscoring striker Leeds need, as shown by his poor penalty with no power and poor placement.
Substitutes:
Adam Forshaw (for Greenwood 45) – 7 – Really good after coming on, giving Leeds control in the midfield.
Wilfried Gnonto (for Harrison 64) – 5 – Couldn’t really get into the game after coming on.
Brenden Aaronson (for Rodrigo 87) – N/A – A late sub.
Pascal Struijk (for Bamford 90) – N/A – A late sub.
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Newcastle
Nick Pope – 6 – Produced a good save to deny Rodrigo and was unlucky with where it dropped. Another good stop on Bamford’s tame penalty and then to push the rebound away. Beaten by a deflection for Leeds’ equaliser, which he couldn’t do anything about.
Kieran Trippier – 5 – Had more touches than any other player by some distance, and was the main starting point of Newcastle’s attacks, but you’d have expected more from him. Could have done more to stop Bamford’s cross and his set-piece deliveries were off the mark.
Fabian Schar – 6 – Didn’t really have too much to do defensively, but held his line relatively well.
Sven Botman – 6 – Caught out by the flight of Bamford’s cross for the Leeds opener but you might look more at the man behind him if you wanted to blame a Newcastle man.
Dan Burn – 5 – He was the defender with the full view of who was running in behind Botman, so you’d perhaps have expected him to step forward to challenge for the ball in the build up to Leeds’ opener, or at least tell his teammate to step back.
Joelinton – 4 – Struggled in the middle of the pitch today and conceded the Leeds penalty, letting Firpo get in front of him and then making a rash challenge. Nothing worked out for him.
Bruno Guimaraes – 4 – Like Joelinton, this was one of the worst games Bruno has played for Newcastle, losing the midfield battle. A yellow card for diving in the middle of the pitch summed up his performance.
Joe Willock – 6 – Newcastle’s best attacking outlet and caused some problems but he was missing the killer moment in the final third which did hamper his side.
Miguel Almiron – 5 – Did very well defensively but it took him some time to get into the game in attack, with a good curling effort going wide just before half time. Very quiet in the second half before being taken off.
Callum Wilson – 7 – This was a weird game for Wilson as he wasn’t really involved from open play after having an early chance easily saved by Robles. However, he did what Bamford couldn’t and scored from the spot twice. His first was neatly slotted low into the corner of the net, and the second with more power down the middle.
Alexander Isak – 5 – Defensively let Ayling run in unnoticed for Leeds’ opener and wasn’t really the attacking threat Newcastle needed.
Substitutes:
Anthony Gordon (for Almiron 72) – 4 – Made no impact after coming on except for being fouled by Firpo for the Leeds’ defender’s red card. But that was more because of Firpo than Gordon.
Allan Saint-Maximin (for Wilson 73) – 4 – Like Gordon, had little influence from the bench.
Elliot Anderson (for Willock 86) – N/A – A late sub.