The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Monday 16th January) - Lucas Perri was the unlikely as Leeds beat Birmingham City
Good Morning. It's Monday 16th February, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Lucas Perri was the unlikely as Leeds beat Birmingham City
Lucas Perri was the unlikely hero of the afternoon, as Leeds stumbled their way into the last sixteen of the FA Cup. The Brazilian born shot-stopper was called upon as early as the eleventh minute after expertly tipping Jay Stansfield's spectacular effort onto the post. During a first half dominated by the hosts, he also prevented Demarai Gray's drive (destined for the bottom-left corner); getting down well to thwart the veteran striker.
Perri had spent the week watching endless video clips, memorising the run‑up angles of his competition, in-case of penalties - time well spent in retrospect, but there was a problem. The hosts had been celebrating their anniversary in a retro kit that left the shorts bare of numbers, and as teammate Lukas Nmecha later confessed that Perri never got a proper look at the first two shooters’ jerseys. So when Jay Stansfield and Marvin Ducksch stepped up, Perri couldn’t identify the shooter
The gamble finally paid off when Tommy Doyle stepped up for Birmingham’s third, his No. 7 jersey finally visible; Perri read the trajectory and dove brilliantly to his right, putting Leeds ahead. The win was sealed when Patrick Roberts blazed the fourth penalty over the bar, capping an overall good performance for Perri, but will it be good enough to get back into Daniel Farke's good books after being dropped following the Newcastle game?
“Everyone practices penalties individually; we never do a team session,” Nmecha explained. “Lucas couldn’t see the numbers for the first two, so he went with his gut.” In an age of analytics and printed playbooks, Perri’s performance was a nostalgic reminder that sometimes, the raw instinct of a keeper with a bottle-taped scrap of paper still trumps the spreadsheet. “That was a bit tough today because I found out (for) the first two penalties, he (Perri) couldn’t see the numbers on the shirt, so he didn’t know which way to go. He went with his gut and obviously won us the game.”
Graham Smyth lays into duo
Yorkshire Evening Post’s chief football writer Graham Smyth didn't mix his words in his match report from St Andrews, but reserved special mentions to midfield duo AO Tanaka and Facundo Buonanotte after performances to forget. Japanese International Tanaka has failed miserably to recapture the form of last season, where he picked up the players, player of the year award. It was hoped, that against Championship opposition, Tanaka would re-find some consistency, but it was not meant to be.
Buonanotte criticism was even worse. He simply looked out of his depth at times. Whether he is ring rusty after spending the first half of the season warming the Chelsea bench, or is low on confidence, he is not somebody we need in the Leeds Utd squad at the moment.
as watched Leeds United limp through a Sunday lunchtime clash with Birmingham City, he didn’t just raise an eyebrow – he let loose a full‑blown tirade that could have been lifted straight from a bad‑movie rant. “Two players, two disasters,” he wrote, and then turned his scathing lens on the newcomers who were supposed to inject some fresh spark into a side that looked more like a rehearsal than a match‑day performance.
According to Smyth, Tanaka, billed as a “game‑changer”, earned a dismal three‑out‑of‑ten in Smyth’s notebook. “Made very little impression,” the veteran reporter snarled. “Has struggled in cameos and this was a chance to show a bit against Championship opposition – failed to do so.” Tanaka’s usually crisp passing turned into a series of tentative touches, and his lack of urgency left Leeds looking like they were playing with one foot on the bench.
Then came the full‑debut of Argentine playmaker Facundo Buonanotte, and Smyth’s patience evaporated entirely. A miserable two‑out‑of‑ten, with the headline “A full debut to forget”. The Argentine gave the ball away at the first opportunity, got out‑muscled in duels and seemed to shrink under Birmingham’s physical pressure. “In his defence it was a much‑changed team,” Smyth conceded, “but still…”.