A Leeds United “freak one” has been evaluated in defining the potential of club youth, with special admiration for a Whites combination.
Leeds United’s under-21s were defeated 2-1 at home by Chelsea in Sunday’s Premier League Cup match in York, but only after a stirring second half comeback after going 2-0 behind to a star-studded young Blues team.
Chelsea’s starting lineup included a recent big-money signing, 18-year-old Brazilian forward Deivid Washington, whom the Blues signed for £17 million from Santos in August on a seven-year contract.
That, however, was a “freak” result, according to Whites 21s manager Michael Skubala, who praised his team’s second-half comeback against Chelsea, particularly centre-backs Jeremiah Mullen and James Debayo.
“I think last week was a bit of a freak one,” Skubala remarked, referring to the surprising 7-1 blitz. “I actually think Chelsea are better than Palace – so I actually think the performance – when you come off results like that, even if they are freak things sometimes, shows the grit and the mentality of keep going.” After falling behind 2-0, they kept going and going, demonstrating what a terrific group they can be when they are fully engaged, which is incredible.”
“It was a really good second half performance,” Skubala remarked. I call it pushing the game because we were going after it and were on the offensive. We started a little slow in the first half, were caught in behind by some deep midfield runners, then cleared it up after halftime. But I thought they were incredibly good in the second half, and it was a really good performance.”
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