Yorkshire Evening Post 24/8/11
Ramon’s in the frame
SIMON Grayson admitted he was under pressure to hand Ramon Nunez a regular starting place at Elland Road after a brace of goals from the Honduran international carried Leeds United into the third round of the Carling Cup.
Nunez earned Leeds a 2-1 victory at Doncaster Rovers last night with two brilliant volleys, increasing his tally of goals for the season to five in six appearances.
The midfielder scored on 30 minutes, levelling an early strike from Doncaster’s James Hayter, and he struck again seven minutes from time to pull United through a tie which Rovers dominated.
Nunez made his first league start for Leeds during last week’s 4-1 rout of Hull City, a match in which he found the net, but he returned to the bench for Sunday’s 2-2 draw with West Ham United.
His performance last night put him in firm contention for inclusion against Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Saturday, and Grayson, who named Roberts Snodgrass and Max Gradel on the bench at the Keepmoat Stadium, admitted he was running out of reasons to omit Nunez after a sequence of influential displays.
Grayson said: “I told him when I left him out on Sunday that he’s done nothing wrong and nothing to justify being left out of the team. This gives me a major problem for the weekend because he’s put in a performance that tells me I should pick him.”
Nunez was part of weakened team used by Grayson against Doncaster, 48 hours after a tiring meeting with West Ham, and the United boss said: “We had to make a few changes. Doncaster caused us a lot of problems but once we got back into the game we were very composed.”
Ramon’s in the frame
SIMON Grayson admitted he was under pressure to hand Ramon Nunez a regular starting place at Elland Road after a brace of goals from the Honduran international carried Leeds United into the third round of the Carling Cup.
Nunez earned Leeds a 2-1 victory at Doncaster Rovers last night with two brilliant volleys, increasing his tally of goals for the season to five in six appearances.
The midfielder scored on 30 minutes, levelling an early strike from Doncaster’s James Hayter, and he struck again seven minutes from time to pull United through a tie which Rovers dominated.
Nunez made his first league start for Leeds during last week’s 4-1 rout of Hull City, a match in which he found the net, but he returned to the bench for Sunday’s 2-2 draw with West Ham United.
His performance last night put him in firm contention for inclusion against Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Saturday, and Grayson, who named Roberts Snodgrass and Max Gradel on the bench at the Keepmoat Stadium, admitted he was running out of reasons to omit Nunez after a sequence of influential displays.
Grayson said: “I told him when I left him out on Sunday that he’s done nothing wrong and nothing to justify being left out of the team. This gives me a major problem for the weekend because he’s put in a performance that tells me I should pick him.”
Nunez was part of weakened team used by Grayson against Doncaster, 48 hours after a tiring meeting with West Ham, and the United boss said: “We had to make a few changes. Doncaster caused us a lot of problems but once we got back into the game we were very composed.”