Ilia Gruev was voted Hisense Player of the Match by Leeds United supporters after an influential all-round display in Friday night\u2019s 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest at Elland Road.<\/p>\n
The Bulgaria international played the full 90 minutes and provided two assists as Daniel Farke\u2019s side secured an impressive home win, with fans recognising his contribution by awarding him 63% of the vote.<\/p>\n
Right-back Jayden Bogle finished second on 14%, while Gabriel Gudmundsson and Brenden Aaronson each received 6%.<\/p>\n
Midfield control and creativity<\/p>\n
Operating at the base of midfield, Gruev dictated the tempo throughout. He registered 58 touches and completed 44 passes with an accuracy of 98%, repeatedly linking defence and attack and initiating Leeds\u2019 forward moves.<\/p>\n
Both of his assists came from composed build-up play, with the 24-year-old showing composure under pressure to release team-mates at the right moment. He also managed two shots of his own as Leeds pushed to take control of the contest in the second half.<\/p>\n
Gruev carried the ball a total of 69.9 metres, highlighting his willingness to drive forward from deep and help transition play quickly, a feature that has become increasingly important in Farke\u2019s system.<\/p>\n
Defensive work-rate recognised<\/p>\n
His performance was not limited to attacking influence. Gruev contributed eight defensive actions, including two clearances, an interception and a blocked shot. He also made four ball recoveries and won two duels in midfield.<\/p>\n
That blend of defensive discipline and progressive passing ensured Leeds maintained control for long spells and prevented Forest from building sustained pressure.<\/p>\n
Fantasy Premier League managers also benefited, with the midfielder earning 11 points for his display.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ilia Gruev was voted Hisense Player of the Match by Leeds United supporters after an influential all-round display…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-466763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}