Sports
8/10 Leeds star was better than Calvert-Lewin
Leeds United fans won’t want December to ever end.
Daniel Farke‘s men are yet to lose across the bumper festive month, with a 3-1 Premier League win over Chelsea standing out as the statement result of the hectic month, until their near-London neighbours, Crystal Palace, came to town late on Saturday.
Now, it’s very much the 4-1 victory collected over Oliver Glasner’s usually hard-to-beat Eagles that will live long in their memory when casting their minds back to this special run of fixtures, with The Athletic’s Beren Cross rightly hailing it as an “outstanding performance” right after the match.
It was a real team effort that helped to secure the three points, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin would steal most of the plaudits again, having made it five Premier League games on the spin with a goal on Saturday night.
How good Calvert-Lewin’s general play was
The former Everton marksman joined a very select group of Leeds players by bagging this brace against the Eagles, with the dominant centre-forward hopeful that the goals will just keep flowing, as the games continue to come thick and fast.
Both of his instinctive efforts against Palace demonstrate a striker overflowing with confidence, rather than a misfiring attacker prone to barren patches on Merseyside, with the Sheffield-born menace in the right place, at the right time on both occasions to beat a shaky Dean Henderson.
With four duels also won, it’s clear now that Farke and Co. are utilising Calvert-Lewin as an impactful focal point, with the lethal number nine only needing 26 touches of the ball to power home a double.
Ethan Ampadu also stood out throughout as a forceful and classy presence, with a rare goal even coming his way to hand the hosts a comfortable three-goal advantage, away from winning a gritty eight tackles.
But, removing both the assertive number four and the red-hot striker from the equation, there was also another star performer on the day that ensured the win was a smooth sailing experience, who arguably put in an even better performance than man of the moment Calvert-Lewin.
The Leeds star who was even better than DCL
While Calvert-Lewin does deserve all of the praise flooding his way, he can often fade in and out of contests. Thankfully, his poacher-like instincts seem to just pop up whenever they’re needed.
Whereas, across the full 90 minutes against Palace, Anton Stach never relented, with the former Hoffenheim midfielder coming off the end of the emphatic victory with six ball recoveries registered, and two duels won as an energetic presence centrally.
On top of his constant vigour and drive being on display, Stach would also delightfully float home this free-kick deep into added-on time at the end of the one-sided game to give Leeds a whopping fourth goal.
His well-rounded performance is made to look even better, too, if his sumptuous free-kick effort beating Henderson wasn’t enough, by the much-loved German also ending the clash with five key passes under his belt from 56 touches of the ball, as Calvert-Lewin makes do with just one key pass on his end.
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Stach’s performance in numbers |
|
|---|---|
|
Stat |
Stach |
|
Minutes played |
90 |
|
Goals scored |
1 |
|
Assists |
0 |
|
Touches |
56 |
|
Shots |
3 |
|
Accurate passes |
27/33 (82%) |
|
Key passes |
5 |
|
Accurate crosses |
5/10 |
|
Ball recoveries |
6 |
|
Total duels won |
2/6 |
|
Stats by Sofascore |
|
Stach was showered with praise post-match off the back of such a sensational showing, with Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Graham Smyth dishing out a high 8/10 rating to him, stating that his free-kick that left Henderson rooted to his spot was a “beauty.”
With a goal also next to his name against Liverpool earlier in the month, it’s clear now that the £17.4m recruit was a great use of money in the summer, alongside Stach, clearly also being a fan favourite, next to the much-talked-about Calvert-Lewin.
While it could be argued that Calvert-Lewin is ahead of Stach in the fan favourite conversation with a sublime seven Premier League strikes now amassed, it shouldn’t go under the radar how effortless the number 18 made every element of his well-rounded game look against Palace, with it not the wildest shout to suggest he put in an even more impressive showing than the goalscoring heroics of the revitalised Englishman.
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