'Killed us' - Wolves star's brutal Leeds United admission with 'Premier League-level' verdict
Leeds United punished some poor moments from their Elland Road visitors.
Wolves defender Toti Gomes believes his side were ‘killed’ by mistakes during the first-half of Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Leeds United.
The Whites took another big step towards safety with three goals and three points at Elland Road. James Justin opened the scoring with an acrobatic finish following a corner and Leeds fans barely had a chance to catch their breath before Noah Okafor made it 2-0.
Jaka Bijol hooked a clearance forward and under little pressure, Toti passed straight to Brenden Aaronson who burst down the right-hand side before feeding Okafor to finish. Leeds eased off after that second but were largely in control, calling on Karl Darlow to produce one excellent save.
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Adam Armstrong also had a goal swiftly ruled out for offside before Dominic Calvert-Lewin buried a second-half added-time penalty he won. For Toti, the damage was done with that quickfire double and his error in possession.
“We knew we had to come strong for this game, especially after the bad result in the last game [a 4-0 defeat to West Ham],” he said. “We had to give an answer, especially after suffering the first goal, we wanted to react. We knew that we couldn’t make mistakes, and we did. We did the opposite.
“We made a little mistake, and they came with everything. We knew they were going to be a danger on the counter-attack, and we tried to respond back, especially in the second half, because those first two goals in the first half, kind of killed us.”
Brimming with confidence from Monday’s historic win at Old Trafford, Leeds came flying out the blocks and could have scored inside the first minute. Ethan Ampadu’s cleared header hit the back of Santiago Bueno, allowing Okafor to burst forward and his pass should have been finished by Calvert-Lewin.
The Leeds striker then met Pascal Struijk’s flicked header at the back post, squaring the ball right across the goal line and millimetres away from the outstretched boot of Bijol. Even seconds before Justin opened the scoring with a bicycle kick, Wolves goalkeeper David Bentley produced a point-blank save from Ampadu.
“It cannot happen,” Toti added of his side’s defending. “This is the Premier League, and at Premier League-level, you cannot concede two goals like this, especially because in the last game, the same thing happened – we conceded two goals in the space of two minutes. This is definitely not like us, but these little mistakes can kill us.”