Leeds United skipper admits 'deflated' mood in camp but sends rallying cry as 'create history' goal revealed — YEP 3/5/24
Leeds United's on-field skipper Ethan Ampadu has discussed the squad's reaction to last Friday's defeat by Queens Park Rangers ahead of this weekend's final day meeting with Southampton at Elland Road.
By Joe Donnohue
The experienced Wales international has been a key part of
Leeds' push for promotion to the Premier League this term and was last month
named in the Championship's Team of the Season at the EFL Awards. Despite
individual honours aplenty for Leeds at the ceremony in London, the club look
set to miss out on the two automatic promotion places following defeat in West
London last weekend.
"Obviously after the defeat, very deflated as you'd
expect," Ampadu told Leeds United's official channel. "Not just by
the result but by the standards of our performance, we didn't put our stamp or
our authority onto the game at all and the result was deserved. After that
night, after the weekend it was time to regroup, it's a big week coming up so
the last couple days have actually been good, full of hard work and just
preparing for the game coming up on Saturday."
On Saturday afternoon, Leeds have a chance to put things
right against fellow promotion hopefuls Southampton, both of whom will be
eyeing a spot at Wembley Stadium in the play-off final if results elsewhere
mean Leeds are consigned to the play-offs as a secondary route to promotion.
"The boss, the staff, the players, even the physios,
everyone's on board. Everyone knows the task ahead, obviously it might be a
difficult one but everyone knows the task ahead and what we want to achieve.
"We know what the goal is and to create history would
be amazing and would be a massive honour for all of us. I think it's what the
club deserves but our focus is for the game and we need to make sure we put
Friday night right and do ourselves justice and perform the way we have all
season and see what happens after that," Ampadu added.