Leeds United under-23s head coach Mark Jackson has said he was 'disappointed' by the team's 'lethargic' performance in yesterday's loss to Sunderland.
The young Leeds side were defeated 2-1 at the Stadium of Light in the Premier League Cup, with Sunderland's goals coming from Cameron Jessup and Ethan Kachosa, while Leeds' goal was a superb solo effort by Crysencio Summerville.
Speaking to LUTV, Jackson said that he was unhappy with the tempo and energy of the team.
“I’m disappointed with the result obviously," he said. "But I’m disappointed with our performance as well.
“I’ve said in performances this season, even when we have been beat, that we have brought our identity to the game, but I don’t think we did that enough on Sunday.
“I thought we were flat with our tempo, our quality wasn’t there and we were too lethargic all over the pitch."
Defender Pascal Struijk was in the starting line-up, but came off at halftime, as did goalscorer Summerville, being replaced by Nohan Kenneh and Stuart McKinstry. The changes did not prevent the loss however.
Jackson said: “We will break it down as we always do, but if we are honest, we have a clear identity of how we want individuals and teams to perform and we weren’t at the levels.
“We gave Sunderland the encouragement to be in the game at the start, but if we’re on the front foot and are a bit sharper, we would’ve imposed ourselves more than we did.
“We kept pushing towards the end and they went down to 10 men, but we lacked that quality in the final third, we got into good positions, but didn’t capitalise on them enough like we should do.
“It’s disappointing and it’s not often I say that, but I was disappointed with the performance.”
Leeds U23s next match is away at Everton on October 18.
