'Bad' - Luke Ayling slams Leeds United failure, missed chance and refutes Chelsea suggestion - YEP 5/3/23
Luke Ayling was left lamenting a particular Leeds United failure following the 1-0 defeat at Chelsea in which the Whites defender felt his side ought to have left with a point.
Lee Sobot
Leeds fell to a 13th Premier League loss of the season in
Saturday’s clash at Stamford Bridge in which Wesley Fofana headed home the only
goal of the game from a Ben Chilwell corner eight minutes after the break.
Ayling, though, felt his side could have done more to stop Fofana netting from
the set piece, the concession from which was Ayling’s main regret in addition
to his side’s failure to net with any of their chances particularly in the
second half.
"We feel like we came here and played okay in spells,”
said Ayling post-match to LUTV. "But to let a goal in from a corner is
always disappointing because we felt like we did alright in the second half. In
the first half I thought they had a few chances which we spoke about at
half-time and did well in the second half with, so it's always disappointing to
lose a goal on a set piece.
"We could have marked tighter. It's always
disappointing to concede from a set piece. You know your roles, you know your
players that you have got to pick up. Sometimes a player does a nice leap and
scores a goal which is bad for us but it's always disappointing to let a goal
in like that."
Chelsea had earlier come close to taking the lead in the
first half in which Whites stopper Illan Meslier produced a decent save to
prevent Kai Havertz netting from a one-on-one. A fine Joao Felix effort from
the edge of the box also crashed back off the crossbar whilst Chilwell fired
wide with just Meslier to beat after being played in behind the Whites defence.
“They're good players and they know how to play football,”
said Ayling of Chelsea and United’s first half display. "Okay, they're
going through a bit of a bad spell at the minute but they are a very good team
with very good players and they can always turn up at games.
"I feel like in the first half they played really well.
Their way of playing was good, their movements off the ball caused us problems
but I felt like we did okay to slow them down a little bit. The first 20
minutes were tough but I felt like after that we really came into the game and
played well. At half time we spoke about them problems and put them right and
then I felt like we did well in the second half."
Asked if there was more expectation on Chelsea than Leeds
with the Blues being at home, Ayling insisted: “No. I think us boys have been
playing well the last few games. We came here with all the belief to win the
game and I feel like we've done that in spells and then made some good chances
and probably should have come away with a draw in the end.