Inside Elland Road: Defensive solidity is vital for Leeds Utd
For the second time in Daniel Farke's Leeds United tenure a favourite song for opposition fans suddenly and worryingly took on a reasonable air.
Very late on in the German's first season in charge at Elland Road their results and performance levels dipped enough to finally take them out of the automatic promotion race and leave them at the mercy of the play-offs. One win in six was enough to inject glee and credibility to the chants of 'Leeds, Leeds are falling apart again.' A loss at Wembley meant a second crack at the Championship was required and though the song was heard on occasion last season it never rang true. Leeds won the title with 100 points as they kept themselves very much together and marched into the Premier League.
But when Nottingham Forest fans belted out that Joy Division tune with their side 3-1 up there was no real defence to be mounted on Leeds United's behalf. A disjointed performance held no real promise or cohesion in attack or defence. The song made some sense, especially in light of the defeat at Brighton that preceded this game. At the Amex Leeds conceded three very similar goals, failing to prevent cut-backs or pick up free men in the box. Like Brighton, Forest have real individual quality but they had not won a Premier League game since the opening day and had conceded the most set-piece goals in the division. Sean Dyche or no Sean Dyche, there were questions to be asked of the Reds.
Good start, poor half
Leeds absolutely had to get off to a good start because conceding the first goal would play right into Dyche and Forest's hands. So when a humdrum start exploded to life, Lucas Perri's near-miraculous double save felt important, before an offside flag rendered it needless. And when Leeds scored a goal out of almost nothing, it felt vital. Lukas Nmecha, deputising for an injury-carrying Dominic Calvert-Lewin, supplied a lovely finish after Noah Okafor nipped in to poke the ball to Brenden Aaronson. It was every bit as clinical as an away team needs to be in the Premier League.
Yet what followed was everything an away team needs to avoid in the Premier League. Within 90 seconds they had conceded, Ethan Ampadu not doing enough to stop Dan Ndoye's cross, Perri simply parrying it into a dangerous area and no one getting anywhere near Ibrahim Sangaré as he strode onto the loose ball to bury it.
The next few minutes were the Ndoye show. Leeds didn't get near him as he cut inside and drilled past the near post. Joe Rodon at least got back to pressure him when the attacker got in on the left hand side and Perri stopped, dropped then gathered the shot.
It was easy to understand why Forest were having a moment. Confidence and hope are on the rise at the City Ground, a corner is being turned under Dyche and they were at home after all. What was baffling was why Leeds, having come under that pressure and struggled to put their own attacks together, eschewed a chance to prod Forest's 2025/26 sore spot. Nine times they have conceded from set-pieces so far this season. When Leeds were awarded a free-kick inside Forest territory they opted not to load the area and put the ball there but instead took it quickly and passed it around harmlessly inside their own half.
When Forest went direct they got bodies high up the pitch to at least have a presence. When Leeds went direct the ball did not stick with Nmecha, who failed to follow up his early goal with another significant contribution. He spent more time on his backside fruitlessly appealing for free-kicks than he did on the ball or bringing team-mates into the game. But Leeds were not giving him a great deal to work with and nor were they creating chances for him. If Okafor was not on the ball then Leeds did not look dangerous. And their first half was summed up when Aaronson won a free-kick 30 yards out, Sean Longstaff lined up to deliver and then tried to surprise everyone with a pass down the side of the wall that he simply rolled to the opposition. Another chance to test how much Dyche has got to grips with Forest's set-piece defence went begging. At least, when the sides went down the tunnel they did so level at 1-1.
Second half disintegration
The second half was when things really disintegrated. Leeds might have enjoyed possession and won a few corners but Forest showed that what you do with the ball is more important than how long you keep it. They built a little momentum and built upon it with substitutions. Leeds built little more than frustration with the officials. When the home side went ahead they had help in the form of a scandalous free-kick award, but that free-kick was given inside their own half. They still had 70 yards to go to score a goal and plenty to do. Leeds failed to put pressure on the ball, it went long to Omari Hutchinson and Gabriel Gudmundsson failed to stop the cross. What was worse was that Jaka Bijol took a good look at Morgan Gibbs-White and then appeared to forget all about him. One glancing header later and the game was getting away from Leeds completely.
Farke then started to make his changes, putting Joel Piroe, Dan James, Jack Harrison, Calvert-Lewin and Pascal Struijk on. Harrison replaced Gudmundsson at left-back with Farke looking for crosses into Calvert-Lewin. Leeds huffed and puffed, forced Matz Sels into a couple of relatively comfortable saves, and the Tricky Trees stood tall. With two minutes to go Forest countered, makeshift full-back Harrison challenged Hutchinson clumsily as the winger entered the area and Elliot Anderson sent Perri the wrong way from the spot to finish things off. Then came the song and it did not feel unfair.
Going into this season the lack of creativity and individual match-changing ability was the big worry. There will be no getting away from the original sin of failing to give Farke what he needed to complete the puzzle in terms of an attacker or attackers. Defensive solidity and physicality helped mitigate that in a start to the season that earned Farke credit. But the last two games have shown quite painfully why creativity was such a concern. What has compounded it is Leeds heaping a second helping of concern upon their own heads by shipping goals left, right and centre. Poor goals, avoidable goals. Runners not tracked. Free headers and finishes in the area. If you don't have the individual quality to outscore teams then you cannot be so porous at the back.
After the game Farke did his level best to counter the suggestion that Leeds are falling apart. But an attempt to lay even a portion of the blame at the feet of an admittedly dismal refereeing performance smacked of desperation in the face of a second consecutive poor display, defensive frailty and creative lack. The YEP's Verdict after the West Ham win was that Leeds would have to be much better against better opposition and they have not been. They have not been competitive. They have not been the same team that held Newcastle and Bournemouth or even the team who lost undeservedly to Spurs. And the failure to reward those fine performances with the right results is now biting harder because they're suddenly in a poor spell.
What it all means for Farke's future remains to be seen. There was anger in the away end at full-time. For 49ers Enterprises, in-stadium disgruntlement is so much more tangible than online discourse but the YEP does not anticipate a change at this stage. The credit Farke was given for adapting his style and earning what is still a point-per-game average will not dissipate over the course of a couple of weeks and negative results. They were patient in the extreme with Russell Martin at Ibrox and slow to act, though the circumstances and personalities involved bear obvious differences.
The horizon has a daunting look about it, however. There are tough games coming, ominous clouds, problems in need of a fix and still no obvious salve for the transfer-window-related original worry with this squad. Even if Farke shores up the defence again - and he must if he’s to retain the 49ers’ faith and his job - it is still going to be a slog. The fact that the 49ers and Farke expected it to be a slog from the very beginning is one saving grace for the manager. They'll need to handle the slog a lot better than they have in the last two games to save themselves from the drop. They cannot continue to look like they’re falling apart.
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