Leeds United manager Daniel Farke took a risk by starting Daniel James against Watford on Friday (March 29).
Willy Gnonto was out injured, thus the winger was called up just three days after missing the game-winning penalty in Wales’ loss to Poland.
That penalty miss would have had a significant psychological impact on James, yet Farke chose to start him immediately at Vicarage Road.
However, based on the first 45 minutes, that decision appears to have backfired, and Farke may be pondering a change during the half.
Crysencio Summerville’s strike is insufficient for Leeds.
Leeds headed into halftime trailing 2-1, with Vakoun Bayo and Emmanuel Dennis scoring either side of Crysencio Summerville’s spectacular strike.
Summerville’s moment of brilliance merely accentuated James’s poor performance on the other wing, despite his excellent season for Leeds.
James had only 14 touches of the ball in the first half at Vicarage Road, the second fewest of any visitor player after Patrick Bamford (eight) [Sofascore].
Summerville, on the other hand, had 30 touches on the left side and simply looked for a bigger danger overall.
James also tried only eight passes, two of which were misplaced, and his only cross failed to find a teammate.
Willy Gnonto injury timetable disclosed
Even without Gnonto in the squad for at least a few weeks, Farke still has options in the wide areas.
Jaidon Anthony is eager to get started and appeared to be a decent bet after two weeks of preparing for this match.
Joel Piroe is another attacker who is begging for minutes and is totally fit, albeit not as a winger, so the decision to go with a plainly unfit James was odd.
