Journalist Beren Cross has slammed Leeds United defender Pascal Struijk after his disappointing display in the club's most recent game.

What’s the word?

On Sunday afternoon, Jesse Marsch and co took on Championship club Cardiff City away from home in the third round of this year's FA Cup.

The game, however, did not get off to a good start for the Whites. Indeed, by the 31st minute, they were trailing by two goals. And even though they eventually managed to level the game (meaning a replay will now have to be played) thanks to goals from Rodrigo and Sonny Perkins, it really was a calamitous first half.

At the heart of that, in the eyes of Cross at least, was Struijk who failed to impress. While speaking on a LeedsLive video, the journalist tore into the 'lax' defender.

He said: "He was the epitome of a Premier League footballer playing against an underdog in a cup game.

"I know that's not Struijk’s intention and we know Struijk is a very very good character, very competitive, very professional. But unfortunately for him, the resulting play from him, he did seem half asleep.

"He was slow to everything, he was lax. I think he underestimated everything, he underestimated the speed of passes into him, he underestimated danger that was in and around him. He was sloppy with the ball, sloppy with his decisions, and when he did make decisions, he was slow with them."

Bad day at the office?

So far this season, Struijk has been asked to play all of his Premier League games as a left-back. However, this FA Cup match afforded him the rare chance to play in the middle of the defence.

Not only that, but he was also handed the captain's armband for the match. Unfortunately, though, the 23-year-old has a day to forget.

As per SofaScore, his stats were underwhelming at best as he lost the ball 14 times, made one foul, and even managed to miss one big chance at the other end of the pitch.

Manager Marsch also singled out Struijk for an error he made, calling it a 'big turning point' in the game.

He told the press: "I think a big turning point in the match is when Pascal plays unnecessarily back to Joel [Robles] that goes out for a corner kick and now they have a chance to feel like they can come into the match.

"And the crowd can get into the match. And then once they feel like they can they have a chance, the game starts to change."