Noel Whelan feels that Leeds United midfielder Ronaldo Vieira looked to be lacking match fitness in the Whites' 4-3 defeat against Millwall at Elland Road.

Leeds were looking to bounce back from defeat at Ipswich Town last time out, but were 2-0 down by half time and down to ten men following Liam Cooper's sending off.




The Whites did rally after the break and staged a superb comeback, going 3-2 ahead, but they ran out of steam as Millwall levelled three minutes from full time and then took all three points in injury time.

Vieira was brought off in the 43rd minute as Leeds looked to cover for Cooper's absence, with defender Matthew Pennington brought on, but nevertheless Whelan believes the midfielder seemed off the pace.
 


"I think he was lacking match fitness, match sharpness", Whelan said on BBC Radio Leeds.

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"He wasn't his normal self, you could see that.

"A couple of stray passes, losing out on a couple of 50-50s, but you can't just single out one player", he added.

Leeds are now jetting off to Spain with a ten-day break before their next game, and will look to use the week of warm weather training to regroup ahead of a trip to Hull City on 30th January.