Andy Hinchcliffe was amazed by what Archie Gray did during the first-half of Leeds United’s clash with Huddersfield Town on Saturday, labelling one piece of play from the 17-year-old ‘ridiculous’.
A lot of eyes would have been on Archie Gray in the Yorkshire derby yesterday. Gray had produced an amazing performance back in midfield against Chelsea in the FA Cup in midweek.
Daniel Farke resisted the temptation to keep him there against the Terriers. And there was certainly one moment where Leeds were incredibly grateful to Gray for getting them out of trouble.
Archie Gray lauded during frustrating Leeds draw
Huddersfield had a brilliant opportunity to counter attack from a Leeds free-kick. Glen Kamara fluffed his lines. And that allowed Sorba Thomas to run at Gray, with David Kasumu up in support.
Gray initially closed off the path to Kasumu, seemingly allowing Thomas to go onto his left foot. But before he could get a shot away at Illan Meslier, Gray managed to then pinch the ball off the winger.
It was a moment of rare quality in the 1-1 draw. And speaking on Sky Sports (broadcast on 2/3; 13:05), Andy Hinchcliffe suggested that it was some remarkable work from the Leeds teenager.
“The mistake is Kamara’s, but the recovery from Archie Gray is outstanding. This [Kamara mistake] is a collector’s item. The break is on. Archie Gray, I think he does really well. Because what he does, he actually cuts off the pass to Kasumu. And then when he realises Sorba Thomas is going to take him on, he closes in and picks the ball up. As a midfielder playing as a defender, that is an outstanding piece of defensive understanding from Archie Gray,” he said.
“There’s never any panic. Running off the ball, he just makes the game look so easy. 17 years old. Ridiculous.”
We have seen this before from Whites sensation
That was not a one-off from Gray. Many will remember when he did brilliantly to win the ball back in the home win over Norwich City.
You could definitely say that Gray looks so incredibly natural in the right-back role. Hopefully, he gets his opportunity in the middle of the park before too long. But Leeds are not suffering by having a midfielder playing at full-back.
His maturity on the pitch continues to amaze us. Gray did not look out of place against a World Cup winner and the most expensive Premier League player of all-time in midweek. And he did not let the team down in Saturday’s draw.
That should not be forgotten in what was such a frustrating day for Farke’s men.