'It stinks' - Brenden Aaronson breaks down crucial Leeds United chance vs Chelsea as Burnley warning sent
The American missed a huge early chance during Leeds United's FA Cup semi-final defeat on Sunday.
Leeds United forward Brenden Aaronson had his Wembley miss on repeat in the dressing room following Sunday’s 1-0 FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea.
Aaronson was handed a huge chance to put Leeds ahead inside 15 minutes, intercepting a loose Chelsea pass before a deft Dominic Calvert-Lewin touch played him through. The American opted to shoot first time but his right-footed effort across goal was blocked by Robert Sanchez.
Chelsea scored less than 10 minutes later when Pedro Neto pounced on a Pascal Struijk error to cross for Enzo Fernandez, with Leeds struggling. The Whites got more of a foothold in the game after half-time but were unable to build any serious momentum, thanks in part to their opponent’s game-management tactics.
“We started a bit slow, which stinks,” Aronson told ESPN. “We didn’t play our best like we know we can in the first half. But that’s football, they also came out really well. Of course we had our chance in the first half.
“To be honest I thought it was a goal, I thought I couldn’t have done much better. But it was a great save. I think I’ve already watched it like three times already on my phone. But I always want to get better, I always want to see how I can get better with my finishing. I work on it a lot. So I’ll watch it back.
“I know in that moment in time I was confident over the ball. I knew where I wanted to put it and I put it in the right spot but sometimes you’ve got to put your hands up to the goalkeeper.”
Brenden Aaronson: Four more finals for Leeds United
That proved to be Leeds’ best chance of the game but Sanchez was called into action more often after half-time. The Chelsea goalkeeper parried clear a rifled effort from substitute Anton Stach before claiming a Calvert-Lewin header that could not be directed towards either corner.
But Leeds never built up a proper head of steam, with too many important players under-performing on the day. Speaking after full-time, Farke admitted sensing nerves among the players who were ‘a bit clumsy’ and ‘not at our free-flowing best’.
Asked whether he believes the occasion got to him and the Leeds squad, Aaronson said: “I wouldn’t say so. Of course you have nerves, it’s football, everybody has nerves. But I think they did a great job, they came out and made it uncomfortable for us.
“At the end of the day, I think that’s what hurt us the most. Second half we came out, we had a little bit of a formation change. We knew we needed to be better and we did that I think.
“Of course we wanted to play in the final, it stinks but we’re going to move onto the next one. We have four games left, four finals, so we need to go into those games with our best attitude and be ready to win those games.”