McAllister delighted with slick Leeds

27th August 2008

Leeds manager Gary McAllister lauded his side after they overpowered Championship outfit Crystal Palace 4-0 in the second-round of the Carling Cup at Elland Road.

The hosts had too much power in attack for Neil Warnock's faltering side with Jonathan Douglas, Jermaine Beckford, Luciano Becchio and Enoch Showumni all getting on the scoresheet.

"I like the way that we got some rhythm and fluency to our play," he said. "The clean sheet was a good confidence booster for the whole club. We've scored nine goals (in two games in the competition) and we're looking to play with flair and rhythm."

"The two (league) performances against Oldham and Yeovil were not quite up to the standard we're trying to set here. I always had it in mind to make a few changes and play a slightly different formation.

"As much as there was no panic after the last two performances, I'm not going to go overboard with this, as it is still very early in the season and people are trying to find their form."

Palace boss Neil Warnock admitted that he is keen to add at least one striker to his ranks before the transfer window shuts, after watching his side slip to a disappointing reverse.

Despite making six changes to the side that drew with Burnley on Saturday, Warnock made just one alteration to his defence and thought that they were bullied by Becchio and Beckford.

"I'm disappointed, obviously," he said. "I made six changes but you'd expect one of my teams to cope better than that," he said. "Quite honestly we couldn't cope with the front lads. Once the second goal went in it was disappointing to say the least.

"This is a good challenge isn't it? I've just said that to the players. If you defend like that you're going to get beat against any level of opposition and I thought the two centre forwards bullied our defenders from start to finish."