Leeds United 0-0 Brentford: Director’s Cut

If season review videos were still a thing, the last month at Leeds United would be a gift to any editor trying to cut down the running time. Watch back the review of the 28-goal George Graham season in 1996/97 and you will be treated to painful slow-mo replays of Lee Bowyer heading a chance nowhere near the target, Gary Kelly hitting a daisycutter at a goalkeeper and Carlton Palmer getting a standing ovation after being sent off for swearing at a ref, before the voiceover writes off the final six weeks of the season and spares the viewer any more torture: “Sadly that was about it for entertainment. United would score only two more goals in the last half dozen games of the season.”

What would be the equivalent thirty years later? A frame by frame replay of opposition players feigning injury so their teammates can have a chat with their manager? A flailing Thomas Bramall accidentally sending off Gabi Gudmundsson at Palace while looking like an overwhelmed supply teacher questioning his life choices and ready to burst into tears? Dominic Calvert-Lewin stepping up to take a penalty and missing the target?

I’d maybe go with Lukas Nmecha getting the ball on the left wing against Brentford, his teammates having finally created some space for one of their attackers to take advantage of, immediately followed by Nmecha setting off on a dribble only to boot the ball straight out for a goalkick with a touch that would make Luciano Becchio wince.

Leeds have failed to score in the four league games since Anton Stach’s brushstroke of a free-kick at Villa Park, but despite the usual recriminations online pinning the blame on Daniel Farke’s supposed ‘lack of ambition’ or the metaphorical ‘handbrake’ (that doesn’t exist), it has not been for a lack of trying. As Opta’s Jonny Cooper has highlighted on Twitter, in that time Leeds have had 117 touches in the opposition’s penalty area, taken 64 shots and created an xG of 5.43. Has a return of two points from the last four games been a missed opportunity? You bet. Bloody loads of them in fact.

But if the main criticism of Leeds during that period has been that they’re too cautious, then let’s compare those numbers to our opponents. Man City, Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Brentford combined have had 78 touches in Leeds’ penalty area, taken 35 shots and created an xG of 3.99. Are we… the goodies? All four of those teams are above United in the table; in one of those matches Leeds were playing with ten men. When these fixtures are eventually consigned to record books and erased from our memories, it will be because of a lack of ambition from the opposition, not Leeds United.

If Bramall’s brain had not melted and Gudmundsson was allowed to stay on the pitch against Palace, it’s likely we would be feeling very differently right now. Not only because the result at Selhurst Park might have been different but also the result against Brentford. His replacement James Justin was forced into turning back onto his stronger right foot as Leeds desperately missed Gudmundsson getting his head down and Forrest Gumping down the left wing. Playing ahead of Justin, Nmecha was ineffective as a wide forward when he might have been better served getting as close to Calvert-Lewin as possible — as grateful as I am for Nmecha’s handy knack of coming up with a goal, almost thirty games into his Leeds career I still have no idea what to make of him.

But yes, it was a stinker alright. No complaints there. Leeds are a workmanlike team full of workmanlike players playing workmanlike football. As much as I don’t necessarily disagree with clamour to see more of the likes of Wilf Gnonto, Ao Tanaka and the pace of Dan James (if not his pearoller crossing), when those players have started in the Premier League, Leeds have still generally looked all graft and little class.

Comparison is meant to be the thief of joy but in this case it is making me feel a little better. Of the three teams that Leeds are competing with in the battle against relegation, all possess midfielders and forwards who would add a spark to Farke’s side, squads that have been assembled at huge costs over multiple years of Premier League revenue, yet only Spurs have scored more goals and only Forest have conceded fewer. Crucially Leeds have more points than them all. Being workmanlike and hard to beat has got Leeds to 15th in the league and the quarter-final of the FA Cup for the first time in almost a quarter of a century. There’s a lot to admire about that.

Heading into the Palace and Brentford fixtures, I was confident that if we could just win one of those two then safety was on the horizon of the other side of the international break. Leeds might have fallen a point shorter than I hoped, but they are now a point further away from the relegation zone than they were prior to those games.

I’m equally confident that on the other side of the March international break awaits madness and at least one complete meltdown. It has tended to be the way at Leeds United in recent years, even pre-dating Farke’s arrival. A final home game against Brighton before a trip to London on the last day of the season is giving me flashbacks to Joffy Gelhardt’s performance art creating a last-minute equaliser for Pascal Struijk in 2022 and my chest is already starting to hurt. At least they’re the kind of moments that live long in the memory. Drawing with Brentford will be quickly left on the cutting room floor. ⬢