{"id":291776,"date":"2025-11-30T17:43:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T17:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291776\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T17:43:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T17:43:14","slug":"michael-bridges-shares-sympathy-for-leeds-united-man-who-was-ruthlessly-sacrificed-v-man-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291776\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Bridges shares sympathy for Leeds United man who was ruthlessly ‘sacrificed’ v Man City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Leeds United forward Michael Bridges has expressed his sympathy for one Leeds United man who was \u201csacrificed\u201d in the defeat against Manchester City.<\/p>\n

Leeds looked set for a long afternoon when Phil Foden opened the scoring<\/a> for Man City in the first minute of the Premier League<\/a> clash. <\/p>\n

However, Daniel Farke rang the changes after his side went 2-0 down, making two changes at half-time to bring on goalscorer Dominic Calvert-Lewin<\/a> and centre back Jaka Bijol<\/a>, switching to a new system with three central defenders. <\/p>\n

The change paid dividends as Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha<\/a> pulled Leeds level before a late Foden goal broke Leeds\u2019 hearts in the last minute.<\/p>\n

Bridges expressed his sympathy for Dan James<\/a> after the game, as his frustrating season continued at the Etihad Stadium. <\/p>\n

Who was your Leeds MOTM against Manchester City? <\/p>\n

\"DanielPhoto by Shaun Botterill\/Getty Images Michael Bridges feels sorry for Leeds United man Dan James<\/p>\n

Speaking to LUTV<\/a> after the game, Bridges praised Farke for being proactive with his changes early to change the direction of travel against Man City. <\/p>\n

However, Bridges expressed his sympathy for James and Willy Gnonto<\/a> after they were sacrificed at half-time in the heartbreaking defeat. <\/p>\n

MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES<\/p>\n

Bridges said: \u201cDaniel Farke has been criticised. I hear a lot of fans saying \u2013 the changes come too late in games, it\u2019s always the same. Well, no, he made a great decision at half-time, and the change in personnel, taking off Willy Gnonto, taking off Dan James.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel for Dan James, to be fair, and Willy, but you\u2019ve got to be sacrificed for certain reasons. And it was a change in system, and it was a system that he might have thought about before the game.<\/p>\n

\"DanPhoto by Visionhaus\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThat we might have gone with three centre-halves with wing-backs, and I tell you what, second half, the way the players galvanised, got back into this game, and really put City on the back foot. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very impressive, and there are so many positives to take out of that performance in the second half.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan James\u2019 frustrating Premier League run continues<\/p>\n

Dan James played a key role in Leeds\u2019 promotion from the Championship<\/a>, regularly starting on the right wing of Farke\u2019s first-choice attack. <\/p>\n

However, he has found life harder in the Premier League this season after he lost his place in the Leeds team through injury.<\/p>\n

Phil Foden gives Daniel Farke credit for his half-time switch\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up there as one of the wildest games. We had full control in the first half. They changed their system in the second half and we couldn\u2019t get going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phil Foden after Leeds\u2019 3-2 loss to Man City <\/p>\n

James\u2019 previous start ahead of the game against Man City came at the end of August in Leeds\u2019 0-0 draw against Newcastle. Since then, James has not played more than an hour for Leeds. <\/p>\n

With Farke\u2019s new-look system<\/a> paying dividends against Man City, James may find his opportunities in the first team even more limited as Farke battles to save his job.<\/p>\n

Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best Leeds content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Leeds United forward Michael Bridges has expressed his sympathy for one Leeds United man who was \u201csacrificed\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88402,218,118194,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-291776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-dan-james","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-michael-bridges","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}