Leeds United were once again caught up in a refereeing controversy during Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat against Sunderland, with the drama at Elland Road coming just days after the contentious clash with Manchester City.
A little past the hour mark, Joe Rodon believed he had fired Leeds in front, only for celebrations to be cut short by a marginal offside ruling. Moments later, frustration around the stadium intensified when Sunderland were awarded a penalty after VAR judged Ethan Ampadu to have handled the ball deliberately inside the area. From that point, the officials inevitably became the centre of attention.
For the second successive home match, the referee walked away from Elland Road as one of the main talking points, much to the frustration of the Leeds supporters. Yet the controversy had begun well before those second-half incidents.
Leeds United vs Sunderland – Match Stats 
| Leeds United | Stat | Sunderland |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Shots | 4 |
| 5 | Shots on Target | 1 |
| 70% | Possession | 30% |
| 528 | Passes | 245 |
| 85% | Pass Accuracy | 64% |
| 16 | Fouls | 20 |
However, Sunderland has come under immense criticism for their time-wasting tactics, with experts ripping them apart for taking their ‘dark arts’ a bit too far at Elland Road.
Sunderland wasted more than half an hour on stoppages against Leeds
Leeds dominated the ball at Elland Road on Tuesday night, but Sunderland walked away with all three points from Yorkshire.
However, the tactics they employed to get the result over the line have come under scrutiny. It was clear that Sunderland wanted to play as little football as possible.
LUFC Data has compiled the states for the evening, and the actual playing time between Leeds and Sunderland was only just over 50 minutes, which was less than half the allocated time, including stoppage time.
Sunderland wasted more than 31 minutes in stoppages, while Leeds only took up 23 minutes. Regis Le Bris’ team were determined to make it as much of a scrappy affair as possible.
Leeds have now lost back-to-back games for the first time since November, and both results were down to some questionable refereeing decisions.
The Whites are again in a tricky position
Leeds remain 15th in the table, but they will not have an eye on other results around them as the relegation race threatens to tighten towards the end of the season.
If West Ham, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham manage to pull out a good result, the pressure will increase on Leeds ahead of the FA Cup weekend.
Leeds were unlucky to lose both against Manchester City and Sunderland. However, they will now have to deal with some extra pressure in the coming weeks.
The race for Premier League survival is unlikely to be as easy as it looked a couple of weeks back, but Leeds have done enough to suggest they will bounce back.
