It was about this time last year that the intrusive thoughts started creeping in. Leeds United had just hit their stride after getting off to their trademark slow start under Daniel Farke, and the midfield duo of Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev were strangling opposition attacks and launching counter-strikes no Championship defence seemed equipped to deal with.
Then, the inevitable happened. Both starting midfielders were struck down with knee injuries in consecutive matches. In the moment, it felt disastrous. As captain, Ampadu was clearly seen as the bigger loss, but Gruev’s stock among supporters had grown enormously after a strong start to the campaign. Losing him was absolutely seen as a massive blow to Leeds’ promotion ambitions.
Fast forward to today and we now know that the emergence of Ao Tanaka, Joe Rothwell and the addition of Josuha Guilavogui played a pivotal role in what the team went on to achieve.
Ampadu currently sits at the base of a strong, though not terribly creative, three-man midfield that has proved capable of mixing it in the Premier League. The signings of Anton Stach and Sean Longstaff have added experience and depth. Gruev, however, has become something of a peripheral figure. Minutes have been hard to come by. Starts have been almost non-existent. His role has been reduced to that of the man you bring on in the dying minutes of a game when you are looking to hold onto a result. You could imagine Farke turning to him to start should Ampadu get injured, but with Stach and Longstaff both being comfortable in that deeper role, there is no certainty that would be the manager’s preference.
Sebastiaan Bornauw has played even fewer minutes than Gruev so far this year. Capped for Belgium, and joining a team stepping out of the second tier, he could have been forgiven for thinking it wouldn’t be long before he got an opportunity to establish himself as a first-team regular. Instead, his only playing time was in the shambolic League Cup loss to Sheffield Wednesday. A match in which nobody thrived, Bornauw came in for extra criticism for a few shaky moments and some poor communication. This could be explained by a lack of playing time and familiarity with his team-mates, but it has led to a situation where he has yet to make his Premier League debut, and even struggled to make the bench at times. It has also robbed supporters of the chance to meaningfully dub him ‘The Barn Owl’.
Perhaps the most hard done by player is the one who might have done the most to get himself Premier League ready. According to Farke, Joel Piroe is the best finisher he has ever worked with, so when he appeared in pre-season looking leaner, stronger, faster (but still wasted), the Fire Beast must have been purring. Piroe won the bleep test and showed some encouraging signs in friendlies. But, when the heat has been turned up and the tactical plan has been laid out, it’s become clear that the style this Leeds team will be adopting in the hunt for survival is at odds with the style of the goal-getter.
Three players, each possessing qualities that would not look out of place in the top flight, but with weaknesses that have thus far held them back from grasping or even earning opportunities to prove themselves. Thirty-eight league games, probably two cup games and various international interludes is a lot of football, though.
This is Leeds United. It’s impossible to imagine the season sliding by without some sort of injury crisis or form collapse that would allow each of them, and others, the chance they’re hopefully all busting a gut to capitalise on — much like Tanaka and Rothwell last year. And honestly, it would be nice to screech the name of ‘The Barn Owl’ as he heads one in to guarantee our survival on the final day. ⬢