LAMPARD TELLS RAMS TO DO A TOTTENHAM
Roofe raises Premier League hopes for Leeds
FRANK LAMPARD has called on his players to be brave if they are to revive Derby’s Premier League hopes at Elland Road on Wednesday night.
Leeds won the play-off first leg at Derby on Saturday, with Lampard disappointed at his team’s display, feeling the confidence shown in their recent good run was absent.
Kemar Roofe scored the only goal, following a brilliant cross by Jack Harrison, to hand Leeds the initiative ahead of the return game.
‘I don’t mind losing a play-off. They are hard games,’ Lampard said. ‘But I don’t want to lose by not playing the way we can.
‘We didn’t have confidence on the ball. People weren’t playing angles. The speed of Leeds’ press means you have to have balls on the pitch to receive it. And we went away from that a little bit.
‘We will need that at Elland Road. Their fans will be pumped and they will be confident because they are 1-0 up. I don’t mind that challenge.’
Lampard said the Champions League comebacks by Tottenham and Liverpool provided fresh reminders that anything can happen in football. Spurs lost their first leg 1-0 at home but turned it round in the away tie.
‘Those are great moments and we have to take some inspiration from that, but it only comes with performances and hard work,’ said Lampard.
‘Those two performances were absolute efforts from both teams. We’re 1-0 down, people will write us off. We have to give it a real go.’
Derby nearly had an opportunity to level when referee Craig Pawson judged that Harrison had fouled Jayden Bogle in the penalty area with 14 minutes left. But after consulting his assistant, Pawson reversed his call.
Lampard said it was strange, given there was no clear and obvious reason to over-rule and termed it ‘ VAR without computers’. He said VAR should reach the second tier.
Marcelo Bielsa, the Leeds manager, said that missing out on automatic promotion had been painful, but his team responded impressively to take a deserved lead back to Yorkshire.
All the players had ice baths after the final whistle to help sore muscles recover quickly, with only three days between fixtures, though it is an unusual practice for away games.
Roofe said: ‘We’re disappointed we didn’t make the automatics but we’ve dusted ourselves down. Going up is what it’s all about. I honestly think Wednesday’s game will ebb and flow the same as this one. They won’t change and we won’t.’
Roofe is not taking a Wembley playoff final appearance against either Aston Villa or West Brom for granted though. ‘ We’ve seen this week top teams around the world thought they have won games and come away losing in the second leg,’ he said.
‘We can’t make that mistake. We need to prepare properly and be ready.’
Roofe’s neat finish to Harrison’s cross which took out four Derby players was his 15th goal of the season. Roofe said: ‘It was great play from just about the halfway line.
‘What a ball it was.’