Inside Elland Road: Dominic Calvert-Lewin conundrum

Yorkshire Evening Post

This week on the Inside Elland Road Podcast, Graham Smyth and Chris O’Connor dig into the big questions facing Leeds United as the international break arrives. Top of the agenda is the ongoing Dominic Calvert-Lewin conundrum — what is and what’s not clicking? The lads also debate the one key change they’d make as judgement time looms.

Transcript

00:00I think there's almost a bit of a conundrum here in that I saw somebody saying Peru should

00:08be given a chance, which to me is utter madness.

00:10If you play Peru instead of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Leeds do not get half the chances that are

00:15being created at the minute.

00:16The reason that Leeds are getting these chances, a lot of them, is because Dominic Calvert-Lewin

00:20is a focal point.

00:22He's a platform.

00:23He's a battering ram against centre-backs.

00:25He's winning the first ball, or he's doing enough that Leeds can win the second ball because

00:30the defender hasn't had a comfortable free header, or he's laying the ball off, he's bringing

00:35people into play, he's running in behind, he's stretching the defence.

00:40All of these things he's doing, and I know that people will be saying he needs to score

00:44goals.

00:45He does need to score goals as well.

00:46There's absolutely no doubt about that.

00:48And that's the other thing that he and Leeds need to remember is that you are going to be

00:53in a relegation battle.

00:54You cannot spurn really good chances all season and expect to get away with it because

01:00that's not how you stay up.

01:02You do have to take your chances.

01:04But again, without Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the team, are Leeds even getting these chances?

01:10Are they even playing that far up the pitch?

01:13And in a lot of cases, I'm going to say no, they're not.

01:16I just don't see Joel Peru being able to battle with centre-backs the way that Dominic Calvert-Lewin

01:23is.

01:24I think he's been massive for the way Leeds have been playing, and I think you have to

01:26persist with him.

01:27I think you have to accept the rough with the smooth a little bit, but at the same time,

01:33you hope and you expect that he'll start to tuck them away and that he'll end in at least

01:38double figures because he's a number nine.

01:41He's been paid a great deal of money.

01:42He's got double-figure seasons in the Premier League before, and Leeds need him to do that.

01:48So there is an expectation.

01:50But again, you have to accept that if he was capable of scoring two in every Premier League

01:57game and all the rest of the work that he does, he's not playing for Leeds United this season.

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