Sam Allardyce on Man City half-time change and Whites fans thinking - YEP 6/5/23

Sam Allardyce says Leeds United can take confidence from their second half against Manchester City having not ‘embarrassed themselves’ in a 2-1 defeat.

By Graham Smyth

The Whites were staring down the barrel of another heavy loss when they went two goals down in the first half an hour, defending for their lives and seeing next to no possession at the Etihad.

Allardyce admits that, at half-time, a rout was looking likely but Leeds changed their outlook a little and in turn changed their fortunes, scoring through Rodrigo late on to make it a nervy finish.

"You would probably all think, and rightly, at half-time – how many is it going to be?” said the Leeds boss, appointed on Wednesday morning to replace Javi Gracia.

“First half we were defending with spirit but no where near playing in possession like we needed to, to get into their half and relieve some pressure. Two wonderful goals from Manchester City as always. So we changed half-time in terms of just about pushing up the pitch a bit farther, not sitting as deep and making sure our possession became much, much better. We kept giving the ball back, when we stopped doing that we found a few spaces and grew in confidence.

“We gave a silly penalty away, it would have spoiled the whole second half performance had it not been for Joel [Robles] making a wonderful save. We score and then the game is on. Manchester City may have given us another opportunity, they were showing a bit of nerves. When you get them playing by the corner flag in the last five or 10 you know you must be in with a chance. I'm not upbeat, we didn’t get a result, but I am pleased with what they gave in the second half, not embarrassed themselves. We can build the confidence this week, build confidence on the second half performance and play a lot better for 90 minutes next week and not 45.”

At full-time the entire Leeds squad, including injured players Liam Cooper, Stuart Dallas and Tyler Adams, joined the staff to approach the away end and show their appreciation for the raucous support they received and Allardyce believes keeping that connection will be vital for the final three games.

“We've got to try and keep the fans on board,” he said.

"When they expect so much more than what they're getting they'll continue to show their disapproval. We've not given them a result today but their response says they saw a bit of fight and spirit, which maybe gives them a bit of hope. We went over to show our appreciation. We're definitely going to need them.”