Championship round-up: Leeds sparkle along with new Aston Villa star
With the second full round of fixtures coming to an end in the Championship, we run through the team of the week with a focus on the top three performers, along with one player that had a game to forget.
We start at the end, with the late kick-off in England’s second tier seeing Leeds follow up a comfortable win over pre-season favourites Stoke with an even greater margin of victory at Derby.
Marcelo Bielsa’s impact on the Whites has been instantaneous, and his way of playing certainly looks to be getting the best out of forward Kemar Roofe. The 25-year-old opened his account with Leeds’ second goal in a 4-1 win, finding the far corner with a superb hanging header before doubling his individual tally and team’s lead with a fine finish having danced free from the Rams defence in the box. The striker led the line superbly in general play too, winning six aerial duels and firing off four shots in total, securing a man of the match rating of 9.00 - the best in the Championship this weekend.
Elsewhere teammate and captain Luke Ayling had a very strong game too, with the right-back having an influence at both ends. The 26-year-old mustered four shots himself, although none tested Scott Carson in the hosts goal, but also led the way in the match for both aerial duels (eight) and tackles (seven) to earn a rating of 8.44.
Sandwiched between the two Leeds stars is an emerging one for Aston Villa, and John McGinn's debut following a transfer from Hibernian was one to remember. The fans have already coined the Scottish midfielder, McGinniesta after an impressive all round display in the middle of the park, registering the assist for James Chester’s opener with the first of many pinpoint deliveries into the box. Aside from that the 24-year-old completed three dribbles, attempted four shots and created five chances to secure a rating of 8.47.
RT if @jmcginn7 was your Man of the Match today.
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) August 11, 2018
Sheer class. 👏#PartOfThePride #UTV pic.twitter.com/Va6jFVuQKo
If McGinn’s first performance in claret and blue, Tim Krul’s was quite the opposite for Norwich on Saturday, with the Dutchman conceding four goals from West Brom’s seven shots on target, attributed with an error for Jay Rodriguez’s second goal of the game from distance. A subsequent rating of 4.34 was the lowest in the Championship this weekend, made all the more difficult to take by the fact that opposite number Sam Johnstone was the hero for the Baggies producing eight saves including a penalty stop from Jordan Rhodes in a 4-3 win.
