Luton Town 1-1 Leeds United: It’s only just begun

Words by: Chris McMenamy

“I am 100% sure this team will play in the Premier League,” Daniel Farke told the assembled reporters at Kenilworth Road. Moments earlier, Sam Byram dallied on the ball just outside the Luton area as Leeds chased a 99th minute winner and referee Thomas Bramall blew his whistle for full-time. Byram’s options were limited to either: a) smash a cross into the box and hope for the best; or b) pass it sideways to a tired Dan James, and hope for the best.

Leeds fans willed Byram to choose the first option but he played it safe, like we all knew and feared he – or any Leeds player – would. Sigh. It was a familiar feeling, as was seeing Luton’s Isaiah Jones volley the opening goal past ‘new’ Leeds goalkeeper Karl Darlow’s after fifteen minutes. Leeds were a goal down on a Saturday lunchtime away from home again.

Leeds didn’t start this match with the same paucity they displayed at QPR. Junior Firpo almost scored moments before Jones’ goal, having unintentionally diverted a Manor Solomon cross toward goal and forcing Luton ‘keeper Thomas Kaminski to react quickly and make a save. But the sight of Ao Tanaka being brushed aside in the build-up to Luton’s goal had me wondering if Leeds were, in fact, falling apart again. They weren’t, thankfully.

There wasn’t much Kaminski could do when Leeds scored in the 28th minute. James picked the ball up from a cleared Leeds corner and quickly found himself with space and time to shoot from the right edge of the Luton penalty area. And so he did, picking his spot in the far corner with a perfect left-footed curler. Leeds were level before the half hour and had reason to believe they could turn this match around completely.

But you need attacking players on form to do something like that. Willy Gnonto came in for Brenden Aaronson and his first real involvement was to lose the ball outside the Luton penalty area, which allowed the home side to break and eventually score. Gnonto’s big chance passed him by, partly because Leeds couldn’t control the midfield and Joel Piroe left his fighting spirit somewhere on the M1. That the most impactful Leeds sub was the lesser spotted Patrick Bamford said a lot about Farke’s team and their approach to the match. Bamford made runs in behind, brought his teammates into the match and looked surprisingly fit for a man who has been injured almost all season.

Leeds’ only real chance of the second half came to Solomon in the 82nd minute, who threw his fatigued body into the path of a James cross that skidded dangerously across the face of Luton’s goal. Solomon sent the ball over the bar and with it went Leeds’ hopes of an away win. Farke chose to introduce three new full-backs/defenders moments later when Pascal Struijk went down injured. Sam Byram, Max Wober and Isaac Schmidt emerged as Leeds chased a goal, but their most expensive summer signing Largie Ramazani stayed on the bench once again.

Though the 1-1 draw sees Leeds drop to third, they’re only a point back from Sheffield United after their 1-0 loss at Oxford and Burnley leapfrogged both sides to top the table thanks to Coventry ‘keeper Bradley Collins handing them three points. The feeling of doom and gloom within me had subsided by Sunday morning and gave way to that scary sensation: hope. For that budding feeling to grow, Farke needs to find the solution to Leeds’ current form and perhaps find the courage within to make the bold decisions that a promotion specialist needs to make in these crucial moments.

He brought Darlow in for Illan Meslier after last week’s mistakes against Swansea and it proved to be a sensible decision. Farke showed a little bravery in dropping Aaronson for Gnonto, even if the match’s circumstances weren’t conducive to the Italian attacker’s game. He would do well to rest Solomon for a match or two, even just to re-invigorate the winger and allow his impactful moments to be more meaningful. Farke seems unwilling to flex his squad depth, presumably convinced by whatever happens at Thorp Arch during the week. “I’m not happy with maturity in duels from Largie [Ramazani] in recent games,” said Farke after Saturday’s match. Perhaps that’s why he finally dropped Aaronson after almost forty matches of getting shoved off the ball.

It’s easier to change your coach than to recycle a full squad, so Farke is always going to get the sharp end of the stick when Leeds don’t win. He has referred to Leeds as the “most emotional club in western Europe” more than once this season and I’m not inclined to disagree, but it’s not unreasonable to feel a little exasperated watching Leeds slowly succumb to the same fate as twelve months ago. Some would point to the spurned opportunity to strengthen the team in January but time has proven, again, that Farke tends to stick to his guns and you wonder if a shiny new toy picked up in January might have rusted alongside Ramazani by now.

Despite winning only one match since late February, the Peacocks are still in the promotion race. Present form would indicate that they are headed for the play-offs, finishing third in a three horse race. But form is often temporary, even if Leeds’ psychologically damaging history tells us otherwise. Burnley, Sheffield United and Leeds United all have six matches left to play and there will almost certainly be more twists in the weeks ahead. It’s not over yet, even if it felt like the merciful thing to do at 3pm on Saturday would have been to call it quits and refuse to take part in the play-offs. It’s not over yet, but Leeds – and more specifically, Farke – need to find a way to immediately recapture the form that saw them seven points ahead of Burnley at the start of March.

Howard Wilkinson told his players to trust their swing in 1992 and they won the First Division shortly after. Five years ago, Marcelo Bielsa sat a dejected Leeds squad down and told them how great they still were after two wins in eleven matches, and they won the Championship by ten points.

I’m not convinced the solution is to continue running James and Solomon into the ground like two old plough horses and hoping for the best. It’s not wise to do the same thing repeatedly when you’re not winning and expecting different results. Farke has doubled down on his assertion that Leeds would play in the Premier League next year. If that is to be the case, then now is the time to show us how that is to be achieved, starting with a win at Middlesbrough on Tuesday night. It’s not over yet. In fact, it might have only just begun.