Roy Keane and Ian Wright were furious at what Leeds United’s first representative at EURO 2024 did last night.
The Whites have only three players in this summer’s tournament in Germany, and two of them were unused substitutes in their respective countries’ first match.
Liam Cooper’s Scotland kicked off the tournament on Friday night, and the Leeds skipper was undoubtedly happy to be left on the bench against a Germany team that ran wild in a 5-1 triumph.
Rasmus Kristensen, whose future at Leeds is unknown this summer, was also left out of Denmark’s tournament opener against Slovenia, which ended in a dismal 1-1 stalemate.
Kristensen will be aiming for a role when Denmark meet England on Thursday, where he could face several Premier League players who tore him apart during his one and only season at Elland Road.
Keane and Wright attack Max Wober for the Austria display.
Despite not being a member of Leeds’ squad last season, Max Wober was the Whites’ first official representative to be given minutes at this summer’s EUROs.
Wober’s Austria team faced one of the tournament favourites in France and did not disappoint, despite losing 1-0 in their first group round match.
However, on an individual level, Wober had a dreadful evening as his own goal was the difference between the two teams. The 26-year-old was jittery from the start and was penalized early for a reckless challenge on Ousmane Dembele.
But it was a really terrible piece of positioning that led to him heading into his own net, and Keane and Wright were highly scathing of his involvement in the goal during a half-time interview on ITV Sport.
Keane stated, “I just think he’s sprinting; he needs to slow down a little bit.” It’s a good pass into the area, but I believe the defending is pretty terrible.
“Everyone will say it’s unlucky with the ball’s pace, but he just needs to calm down and get his body position correct. When you head it at that angle, it’s likely to end up in your own net. “Really poor defense.”
Wright then said, “The defender isn’t looking at the ball. You have to look at the balls that come across the goal. When you look at it, he isn’t staring at the ball. He’s not sure where it’s headed. It is crazy.”
Nothing is ruled out about Wober’s return to Leeds.
Following the confirmation of Brenden Aaronson’s return to the club for next season, speculation about the futures of the remaining loan players has increased.
With Jack Harrison and Marc Roca presumably free to depart on loan again, and Diego Llorente desired by AS Roma for a third time, Wober and Kristensen are the main question marks.
According to Graham Smyth of the Yorkshire Evening Post, nothing can be ruled out in terms of what may happen to Wober or Kristensen.
However, it is fair to say that his performance last night did little to re-establish his popularity among Leeds fans.
