Noel Whelan lauds Gaetano Berardi’s display in Leeds win

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Noel Whelan has told BBC Radio Leeds (broadcast on 19/10 from 17:00) that he thought that Gaetano Berardi was excellent in Leeds United’s win over Birmingham City on Saturday.

Berardi was one of the players who arguably had a point to prove against the Blues. The defender had the red card that he was shown against Millwall before the international break overturned. But he has still had to face some criticism.

The 31-year-old had made an error in the build-up to the incident that resulted in the dismissal. And Leeds largely looked impressive when Luke Ayling went in alongside Ben White at the Den.

But Marcelo Bielsa kept faith with Berardi against Birmingham. And the Swiss vindicated that faith by producing a very good performance in the 1-0 victory. He read the game superbly, and looked much more like the player that took everyone by surprise at the start of last season.

And following the game, Whelan insisted that Berardi silenced a lot of his critics with his display on a memorable day at Elland Road.

“Excellent,” he told BBC Radio Leeds, when asked about Berardi. “It’s controlled anger. That controlled aggression. But not only defensively was he great, I thought he was fantastic on the ball.

“Some of the passes that he made from defence into attack down that left-hand side into the path of Harrison and Alioski, I thought were excellent.”

Berardi now needs to prove that he can be relied upon over a long period of games. His mistakes and moments of madness are all the more frustrating for supporters because of how good he can be.

It would be easier to write him off if he did not perform so well at times. His latest performance has certainly shown why Bielsa remains such a big fan.