Leeds United star's honest verdict on 'harsh' penalty call and Sunderland time-wasting
Leeds United were left frustrated by Sunderland and the referee on Tuesday night.
Leeds United winger Daniel James believes the awarding of a ‘harsh’ penalty played right into Sunderland’s hands on Tuesday night.
James and his Leeds teammates fell to their second 1-0 home defeat in four days at the hands of Sunderland, who employed the dark arts of football throughout. The injury-hit Black Cats did everything they could to take the flow out of the game, winning soft fouls and taking time over every restart.
That approach paid off for the visitors when a VAR review saw Ethan Ampadu punished for a handball in the box, with Habib Diarra’s penalty just about beating Karl Darlow minutes after Joe Rodon’s header was ruled out for offside. And being 1-0 up only emboldened Regis Le Bris’ side to intensify their efforts and keep frustrating Leeds.
“We worked really hard tonight,” James told LUTV. “Obviously to score that goal and then be offside was a little bit heartbreaking to be fair. And then down the other end, maybe a harsh penalty to be given and then go 1-0 down. It kind of played into their hands a little bit.
“I thought we pushed on. Obviously, they wasted a lot of time. There were a lot of minutes added on but we couldn’t quite push to get the equaliser. Maybe we didn’t create absolutely loads but we were always a threat from set-pieces and with the free kick takers we have as well, we are always a threat.”
James was a 74th-minute introduction alongside Willy Gnonto, with Lukas Nmecha already on at that point. Daniel Farke then added Joel Piroe and Jaka Bijol to the picture as his side pressed for a late leveller.
Dan James on blunt Leeds United attack
But having sat back and absorbed pressure all game, Sunderland were set to keep knocking back attacks and running down the clock in every way imaginable. The onus was on Leeds to find a breakthrough and apart from some set-piece chaos, they created little of note.
“The ball just wouldn’t drop in that moment,” James reflected. “We have got to keep working on that because we have got to keep pushing. We will look back at this game, definitely, and see what we can do better because teams are going to do this.
“It was a lot different game from Saturday [against Manchester City]. A team that was going to sit in a lot more, let us have the ball. That is what they have done all season. They have got rewards for it.”
Defeat leaves Leeds vulnerable to dropping closer towards the relegation zone this week, with all three teams below them in the table in action. West Ham United and Nottingham Forest are both away at Fulham and Manchester City respectively, while Tottenham Hotspur host Crystal Palace on Thursday.