As far as football is concerned, things aren’t going well for Leeds United. But their faithful may find some joy in another sport.
Golf caddie Billy Foster was seen making a Leeds salute with golfer Jordan Spieth. Foster is Matt Fitzpatrick’s caddy and a renowned Leeds United supporter.
The famous Leeds salute involves a repeated thump to the chest. Ahead of a play-off, the pair greeted each other with the gesture and shared a laugh.
The fans of the Yorkshire outfit liked the interaction. But akin to Spieth, who failed to claim the play-off win against Fitzpatrick, the smile didn’t last long, as Liverpool humbled Leeds on the football pitch on Monday night.
Jurgen Klopp’s men scored six past Leeds, who could only manage to rattle Liverpool’s net once through Luis Sinisterra. Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, and Darwin Nunez all got on the scoresheet for the Reds. The embarrassing scoreline comes on the back of the 5-1 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace.
Back-to-back defeats in the league mean Leeds now just sits two points above the relegation zone. And in order to keep the side out of the danger zone, Javi Gracia needs to address their defensive issues as soon as possible. No Premier League team has conceded more goals than Leeds (60) this season.
When asked about Leeds’ defensive problems, the former Watford manager said (via BBC): “Yes, of course, it is something we need to work on it and try to improve. It is something we didn’t do in the previous games and now we are in the most important part of the season. We have to be more solid and defend better.”
Analysing Leeds’ performance on Monday night, Liverpool legend and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher claimed “they’ve got really poor defenders.” Apart from the first goal, which was questionable due to the apparent handball in the build-up, all other goals were conceded as a result of appalling defending.
Illan Meslier, in particular, was an anonymous figure between the posts. The French goalkeeper failed to stop each of the first six shots on target. His first save of the night came in the 94th minute.
Fair to say, we see more movement and urgency on the Golf course than what fans at Elland Road witnessed in Leeds’ defensive third.
Over the weekend, Foster celebrated an important win with Fitzpatrick, which saw the latter win the $20m RBC Heritage title in South Carolina. But the performance early in the week from his beloved Leeds would certainly affect Foster’s mood, for the worse.