'If you want to be a Premier League player' — Graham Smyth highlights major Leeds United 'concern' — YEP 9/10/25

By CJ Smith

Leeds United went down 2-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, and Pascal Struijk has been singled out for criticism.

Pascal Struijk must learn to better deal with balls behind the Leeds United defence if he’s to establish himself as a Premier League defender.

That’s the view of our very own Graham Smyth, who was assessing the Dutchman’s role in Tottenham’s first goal in the 2-1 defeat at Elland Road on Saturday.

Mathys Tel opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, latching onto a pass from Mohammed Kudus and firing a deflected shot beyond Karl Darlow.

And Smyth has highlighted a lack of recovery pace from Struijk as a cause for concern not just in this instance, but also for his wider ability to compete with the frenetic pace of the Premier League.

Major Pascal Struijk ‘concern’ highlighted following Spurs defeat

"I just feel like he couldn't do enough to stop it,” Smyth said of Struijk on the Inside Elland Road podcast.

He added: "Sometimes with Struijk, I get a little bit concerned about balls that go in behind him and the time it takes him to turn and get back. You are up against very quick players in the Premier League, so it's a very harsh environment that we're judging him in. But if you want to be a Premier League player, you have to be able to deal with that.”

Initially, there were question marks raised about Darlow’s inability to keep the ball out of the net, but it quickly became clear that the back-up goalkeeper was fooled by a wicked deflection.

"It was a great strike, so I would absolve Karl Darlow of any sense of blame, particularly because it takes a nick off the defender, which changes the flight of the ball,” Smyth continued. “It's just Premier League quality, they can take the ball away from you, and then they can take the game away from you in the blink of an eye.

"But Struijk did play a part in it."

Noah Okafor quickly equalised for Leeds, but Spurs settled the game in the 57th minute through Kudus, who pounced on a mistake from Gabriel Gudmundsson and fired another deflected effort off Struijk beyond Darlow.

For his part, Leeds manager Daniel Farke blamed the ‘unnecessary’ loss of possession as the cause of the first goal, while pointing to unfortunate deflections on both Spurs strikes.

“Unnecessary loss of the ball in the first half. We were punished by the deflection or otherwise the balls would not have gone in,” the German told reporters after the full-time whistle.

What next for Leeds United?

Leeds are not in action again until 18th October, with many of their stars heading off for international duty.

However, once they return, they must prepare for a critical match away at fellow promoted side Burnley in a clash neither team can afford to lose, even at this early stage.

After that, the Whites host fellow strugglers West Ham United before travelling to Brighton at the beginning of November.