Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Leeds United: Satisfactioning me

Waiting for a win can take its toll on people in football, even for someone as naturally optimistic as Daniel Farke. Ahead of Leeds’ trip to Hillsborough, Farke quoted Elvis Presley’s ‘A Little Less Conversation’ in his pre-match press conference, but he sounded as gloomy as The Cure’s Robert Smith. Leeds’ transfer activity, or lack thereof, had left him facing “a bit of a rebuild” with nine days of the window left. He’d been asking his recruitment team since January to find replacements for Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter, but “one thing is to work on this replacement and the other is to bring it over the line”. Ultimately, he said, “I don’t want to speak about optimism.”

It felt like we were only a presser away from Farke turning up wearing eyeliner and with his hair backcombed, but instead he got his goth on in Sheffield the only way he can — reaching for his big black coat for the first time this season even though it was a warm summer’s evening in South Yorkshire. It made for an interesting contrast on the touchline, where Sheffield Wednesday’s in vogue manager Danny Rohl was standing ahead of kick off, grinning at the crowd’s mass singalong to ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’, while Farke was staring at the pitch as if something far more subversive was stuck in his head.

Unfortunately for Rohl, it was the only time Wednesday fans could be heard over the away end all night. Any worries that Leeds were going to set up as dourly as they did at West Brom evaporated from kick off, from which Leeds instantly strung together more forward passes than it felt like they did at any time at the Hawthorns. But Farke remained in a foul mood during the opening fifteen minutes, yelling at the linesman for not awarding a throw-in to Leeds with more mirth than usual. For all Leeds were playing brighter football, the sight of Illan Meslier’s strange Superman punch brought back unhappy memories of Felix Wiedwald being spooked by his own six-yard box at the same stadium.

But the game soon became a good advert for why Farke preaches patience. In the wake of losing 3-0 to Middlesbrough and saying goodbye to his two best attackers, Farke faced a short turnaround before his team travelled to West Brom, so perhaps it’s no surprise that he used his limited time on the training pitch to focus on restoring some defensive solidity. With more of a working week to figure out how to score some goals, Leeds’ defensive doggedness was reunited with an attacking verve that started from a goal kick and ended with Brenden Aaronson scoring the opening goal.

There was a lot to enjoy about the goal, from Dan James’ flick, to Mateo Joseph’s movement, to Aaronson’s clever finish. Watching it back the most striking thing of all might be that if Aaronson didn’t score he had Ilia Gruev waiting alongside to help out himself. That might be Aaronson’s most useful role in this Leeds side — a facilitator for his teammates to join in the fun. There were still frustrating moments when he was knocked off the ball by a bigger boy, but rather than whine at the referee pleading for a free-kick, he dusted himself down and got back to work helping to win it back. Nominally named as a number 10, he buzzed around the pitch from touchline to touchline, bouncing passes between his fellow forwards, who all looked like they were enjoying themselves a lot more without Joel Piroe killing the mood.

The whole performance was more like what Leeds were threatening in pre-season, particularly the romp of Hannover. Pascal Struijk and Joe Rodon both ventured high into Wednesday’s half looking for tackles to win so Leeds could get straight back to attacking. When Gruev wasn’t breaking into the box trying to poach a goal, he was covering at left-back so Junior Firpo could chase the vibes. Firpo was running into space left by Wilf Gnonto, who once he got a first-half booking out of his system played with a surprising maturity as a roaming playmaker, dropping deep to get the ball from defenders and get Leeds playing forward before Rodon or Ethan Ampadu could tell everyone to calm down and give it back to Meslier. Gnonto was so good my dad messaged me towards the end of the game: ‘Gnonto the new Giles.’ While my old man may have been getting carried away, with Largie Ramazani in the stands and Manor Solomon reportedly ready to join, Gnonto’s performance was a reminder that he can be a player worth building an attack around, providing he isn’t sold.

Sure, it helped that Sheffield Wednesday were as laughably bad as Leeds were enjoyably good, but that provided a test of promotion mettle that Farke’s new team still needed to pass. On the opening day of the season against Portsmouth, Leeds seemed lulled into a false sense of security by just how easy they made things look in the first twenty minutes. As chronic as Wednesday were, it was difficult to shed those nagging doubts that Leeds could always do something silly to gift their opponents a way back into the game, especially when Firpo’s cross at the end of the first half narrowly fizzed past Joseph and James’ boots.

Instead, Leeds started the second half by killing the game and Wednesday’s spirit, Firpo stealing the ball with an excellent tackle and Joseph setting James free with the perfect through ball. James’ finish was unconvincing in its execution, which made it all the funnier. I’m going to take the fact he had the confidence to try to chip the ‘keeper, messed it up, and still scored anyway as a promising sign. It was another excellent goal, but as one celebrating Leeds supporter showed, not worth dropping a pie over. As the game restarted, the away end serenaded the home fans with a chorus that even The Cure would find too jubilantly bleak: ‘You’re fucking shit!’

Hang it in the Louvre #lufc pic.twitter.com/dPtS3yxbtO

— MrPaulRobinson (@MrPaulRobinson) August 23, 2024

Leeds could and perhaps should have won by more, but the three points, two goals, and clean sheet were enough to cleanse everyone of a dreary summer. Afterwards, Farke was back to his usual self, giddy with satisfaction. Leeds played “nearly a perfect away performance”; Aaronson’s opener can be put “in your album for best practice possession football”; Gnonto was “unplayable.” It’s a wonder what winning can do to your mood, whether you’re a fan or a player or a manager. For everyone’s sake, I suggest we do it more often. ⬢

(Photograph by Every Second Media, via Alamy)