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Football London
Football London
Sport
Robert Warlow

Alan Shearer and Ian Wright agree about Tottenham and the big weakness Leeds United exploited

Alan Shearer has said Tottenham Hotspur's big defensive weaknesses were exploited by Leeds United at Elland Road.

Spurs ended up being well beaten in Yorkshire, with goals from Stuart Dallas, Patrick Bamford and Rodrigo helping Marcelo Bielsa's men to victory.

Tottenham did pull level in the first half of the game as Son Heung-min cancelled out Dallas' opener, but Ryan Mason's side fell behind again as Bamford tapped home from close range after good work down the left from Jack Harrison.

And Shearer has said that was a common problem for Spurs as Leeds enjoyed plenty of joy down the Tottenham right during the course of the game.

"There's no doubt about it, they identified the weakness down their left side, Spurs' right side, in [Serge] Aurier, with two v ones all afternoon," he said, speaking on BBC programme Match of the Day.

"They couldn't cope with it. He [Aurier] didn't get a lot of help from [Gareth] Bale."

Aurier was not the only player to be criticised by Shearer though, with Eric Dier questioned over his defending for both the second and third goals in the game.

"Have a look at this, it is a good ball in from [Jack] Harrison, but what on earth is [Eric] Dier doing? He is in a good position, clear it. You cannot gamble and hope there is no-one there behind you. He has to clear that," Shearer said of Leeds United's third goal.

"Harrison and [Ezgjan] Alioski down that side, a give and go and they had so much fun, Leeds, they enjoyed it, because it was very successful for them.

"I mentioned Bale didn't help out a lot, they get in behind and it is the same thing, [Patrick] Bamford gets in there [for the second goal]. Dier is there, but he gets flat footed and Bamford gets in front of him to get the goal his performance deserved."

Fellow pundit Ian Wright agreed with Shearer, adding that Spurs were undone by their defensive mistakes, adding that they could not cope with Leeds' intensity on the day.

"You have seen it with Aurier and with [Sergio] Reguilon as well, they just weren't at the races," Wright said.

"People talk about Leeds' stamina and energy, and they just had too much for them.

"Look at where they end up, to be honest, Leeds absolutely hammered them, but that was a poor performance from Spurs."

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