In the end, Leeds United’s win against Chelsea at Elland Road on Wednesday was quite a comfortable one.
Daniel Farke’s side were able to beat the Club World Cup winners 3-1, with Jaka Bijol scoring the opener for the home team.
Before the game, Bijol was confident that Chelsea could beat anyone on their day.
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However, they could not defeat the defender and his teammates after putting in a very poor performance.
Chelsea players look dejected after Leeds goal
Photo by Daniel Chesterton/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Daniel Farke told Leeds supporter the team had to defend against Chelsea
Although Leeds did manage to win convincingly, there were times during the match when Farke was worried about Chelsea’s threat.
It resulted in Leeds having to defend deep at certain periods of the game, and Farke had to explain to one disgruntled fan that it was the only option given Chelsea’s quality.
Speaking to Leeds Live and other outlets in his post-match press conference, the German said: “I didn’t have the feeling that we didn’t have one unity. Elland Road was at its best once again.
“Apart from the guy behind my bench. I said, ‘Listen, I’d love to attack but we are playing against Chelsea mate so we have to sometimes defend’. I knew what club I signed for.”
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Farke had not won against Chelsea prior to Wednesday, so he would have been a very happy man after the full-time whistle.
As for Enzo Maresca, he will be disappointed with some of the defending that he saw from his team at Elland Road.
Leeds United manager Daniel Farke after the Premier League match between Leeds United and Chelsea
Photo by Daniel Chesterton/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Leeds vs Chelsea stats
Leeds may have done a lot of defending against Chelsea, but they were also very dangerous going forward. The Blues could not handle them.
They finished the game with an xG of 2.79 after registering 17 shots. Chelsea were close to matching their opponents when it came to shots taken, but their xG was significantly lower.
Chelsea did see more of the ball, but a lot of that possession was just passes between the centre-backs.
Team Possession xG Total shots Shots on target Passes Corners
Leeds 29% 2.79 17 5 264 4
Chelsea 71% 0.96 14 2 682 2
Via Sofascore
Benoit Badiashile and Tosin Adarabioyo started the game in central defence, with Maresca deciding to make changes to his backline to give Wesley Fofana and Malo Gusto some rest.
All the tinkering that the Chelsea head coach did backfired, though, as Adarabioyo was responsible for the third goal that the Conference League holders conceded.