Inside Elland Road: Defensive solidity is vital for Leeds Utd
The YEP’s key takeaways from another disappointing day on the road for Leeds United.
Leeds United fell to their fourth defeat in five games on Sunday as Nottingham Forest won 3-1 at the City Ground. Lukas Nmecha put the Whites ahead early on but goals from Ibrahim Sangare, Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson ensured those travelling back to West Yorkshire would do so with nothing.
Daniel Farke’s side are still outside of the relegation zone but only one point separates them and West Ham in 18th, with a very difficult winter schedule on the horizon in LS11. Below are a handful of the YEP’s key takeaways from another tough away defeat.
Willy Gnonto’s frustrating absence
Leeds were widely expected to welcome Willy Gnonto back into the squad at Forest and so it was a little surprising to see him miss out again. Farke said on Friday: "He's back in team training for two weeks, you can see him growing each and every day. He's available and ready for selection. It's not a risk any more but we'll see if it's enough for him to be ready for this game, there's a chance he could be picked up for this game."
It’s been a hugely frustrating start to the season for Gnonto, who had a claim to be Leeds’ starting right-winger before a ball was kicked. But he’s now failed to kick a ball in anger since mid-September and cannot make the squad even after two full weeks. And with Leeds so toothless in attack, he’s been sorely missed.
Lukas Nmecha conundrum
When Nmecha opened the scoring inside 13 minutes at the City Ground Leeds looked well-placed to kick on, and what a finish it was. The 26-year-old fired home with a clinical edge fans dream of seeing from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but later failed to do much of the good stuff his main competitor for the No.9 spot masters in.
Leeds didn’t go long too often but when they did, Nmecha was usually left on the floor after tussling with Murrilo or Nikola Milenković, claiming for free-kicks that never came. Ultimately he couldn’t get his side up the pitch in a way Calvert-Lewin can, but finished with aplomb when given the opportunity. Both strikers have their short-comings which is to be expected for a newly-promoted side.
Play-style questions
Coming up against a team who have conceded nine goals from set-pieces - the joint most in the Premier League alongside West Ham - should be an invite to exploit those frailties but Leeds didn’t do enough to test their hosts. In the first-half especially, countless free-kicks in decent areas either went backwards or sideways, much to the frustration of those in the away end.
Even when going more direct, Sean Longstaff’s set-pieces weren’t on the money and Forest were barely tested. With one side struggling from open play and the other so weak at set-pieces, it’s a little baffling why Leeds didn’t get the ball into their opponent’s box quicker and more often.
Defensive mistakes repeated
Leeds looked a defensively sound team in the season’s early weeks but have been worryingly easy to score against recently. Opposition teams seem to be scoring the same types of goal over and over again, with Gibbs-White this time finding himself between two centre-backs and completely unmarked.
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Gibbs-White joins Wolves’ Ladislav Krejčí, Burnley’s Lesley Ugochukwu and Mateus Fernandes of West Ham as a midfielder who ghosted into the box and simply finished from between Leeds centre-backs. Lapses of concentration in midfield and the inability of defenders to pick up those runners are costing Farke’s side time and time again.
Substitution problems compounded by £37m man
Farke must dream of having a player like Omari Hutchinson to bring off the bench. Forest signed the winger for a whopping £37million in August and that showed as he set up Gibbs-White for the second before skinning Jack Harrison to win a penalty for the third. Taiwo Awoniyi also made a positive impact while Ryan Yates kept it tight in midfield.
Leeds’ substitutions made little to no impact, the only notable actions being a decent curled shot from James and Harrison’s concession of the penalty. Their squad depth is not at Forest’s level but after falling behind, Farke needs to be able to change the tide and on Sunday that never threatened to happen.
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