Leeds United v Hull City: Sloppy Whites aid own downfall
Yorkshire Evening Post 19/9/12
By Phil Hay
There are issues at Elland Road that Neil Warnock cannot control – takeovers, injuries, a persistent lack of transfer funds. But it would help him to see Leeds United avoid the self-inflicted damage sustained by them last night.
Two painfully soft goals gave Hull City the luxury of their first win at Elland Road since 1987 and left Warnock wondering what Leeds can salvage from a hard week.
United’s manager might not have anticipated a total of nine points from games against Cardiff City, Hull and Nottingham Forest but it would relieve him now to walk away with three.
His players had a precious win to aim at last night, striking early through a Luciano Becchio penalty and outplaying Hull for a sustained period of the first half, but the effect of Leeds’ first concession in the 23rd minute was immense. City lapped up a gift of a chance and scored again six minutes later. With that, United’s evening was ruined.
Becchio’s penalty was as good a start as Leeds could have asked for, beautifully taken after Joe Dudgeon fouled El-Hadji Diouf a foot outside the box, but a promising performance blew itself out in as Ahmed Elmohamady punished a misplaced clearance from Michael Tonge.
Warnock shook his head at that but was no more impressed when Abdoulaye Faye converted a free header shortly before the half hour.
From a position of comfort, his side contrived to invite their own defeat in the space of two attacks.
The crowd at Elland Road – small by United’s standards at 19,750 – struggled to tolerate that, growing tetchy as the first half wore on, but they appreciated the burst of effort encouraged by the second-half introduction of substitute Dominic Poleon.
At 19, he is not the type of player that Warnock wants to rely on heavily but his turn of pace and quick feet brought Elland Road to life, albeit with out bringing a goal.
Hull it was who scored the fourth of the night with 14 minutes to play, and Andy Gray’s late header was a consolation. Warnock is being taunted at every turn by the resources given to his managerial colleagues.
Having bemoaned the advantage afforded to Cardiff City by having Craig Bellamy on their bench on Saturday, he saw Bruce name Nick Proschwitz – a £2.6m summer signing – among Hull’s substitutes last night. Proschwitz’s fee amounted to more than the cost of entire United’s line-up.
Included in that line-up were Luke Varney and El-Hadji Diouf, the only suitable replacements for the injured Ross McCormack and Adam Drury.
The loan market failed to offer Warnock any assistance before kick-off and his 18-man squad consisted of almost every fit player present in the building at Thorp Arch on Monday.
In their wisdom, Leeds refused to allow Hull an early opportunity to get their teeth into them and a purposeful start brought United a penalty in the sixth minute. It was awarded, controversially, by one of the linesmen assisting referee Roger East. East appeared to take no interest in Dudgeon’s foul on Diouf as the Senegalese forward dribbled along the byline but Simeon Lucas spotted the infringement and advised East to point to the spot. Hull protested angrily about a tackle which appeared to take place outside the box but Becchio allowed the complaints to subside and drove a sharp penalty into the corner of Ben Amos’ net.
Having looked fragile prior to the goal, Hull’s composure deserted them briefly. Becchio had a chance to score his second goal of the night but nodded a 10th-minute header against the body of James Chester, and Amos made a desperate save to prevent Rodolph Austin sweeping the rebound into the roof of his net. Another low shot from Austin kept the keeper busy.
There was bite in United’s football and more ambition initially then they had shown at Cardiff. Diouf’s careful use of possession troubled Hull’s defence and limited the pressure on a midfield who were outnumbered by Bruce’s 3-5-2 formation.
Sam Byram, United’s 19-year-old winger, did his bit in that respect by sliding through Faye and leaving him writhing on the floor. Hull’s players reacted angrily again but their demands for punishment of Byram earned nothing more than a booking for dissent for Alex Bruce, the former Leeds defender. With 19 minutes gone, City could sense another of those night developing.
They last won at Elland Road 25 years ago, a record as poor as that which Leeds tried unsuccessfully to break at Cardiff over the weekend, and for 23 minutes their passing was overly intricate.
But assistance came in the form of an inexplicable error committed by Tonge and Aidan White.
The pair ran to clear a stray pass from Jay Simpson but Tonge succeeded only in knocking possession to Elmohamady 18 yards of goal. Elmohamady beat Paddy Kenny with a sweet finish but the sight of Tonge punching the turf while White hung his head said much about the nature of the goal.
The game turned on that moment as it was bound to do. Hull began to play themselves into space and after another break down the left wing, they scored again in the 29th minute as Faye slipped behind Lees and headed home Elmohamady’s cross unmarked. A flare went off in the away end as Hull’s crowd celebrated his finish, filling Elland Road with pale orange smoke.
City protected their lead comfortably until half-time, troubled only when two crosses from Austin forced lively clearances from Bruce, and Leeds were fortunate to reach the interval with 10 men after centre-back Jason Pearce took out Sone Aluko as the forward cut into United’s box.
Pearce had enough covering defenders around him to convince East that the foul was worth no more than a yellow card and Kenny saved the resulting free-kick, diving to his left to parry Robert Koren’s exact strike.
Leeds carved out the first chance of the second half as Varney met White’s cross with a header which floated over Amos’ crossbar, and a sliding tackle from Corry Evans skilfully dispossessed Byram as the youngster ran onto a through-ball from Diouf. But United looked susceptible to Hull’s pace and Simpson nodded a header narrowly wide of the far post after Elmohamady got around White in the 55th minute.
Aluko almost claimed a third goal for City when Kenny’s clearance towards the right wing came back at him in a flash and Warnock gave Poleon his chance with 29 minutes remaining. The striker took the chance gratefully, switching from wing to wing and threatening a goal when he cut inside and drove a shot against Amos’ body. It was as close as Leeds came.
Hull waited for their moment and picked United off brilliantly with Simpson spreading a pass across field to Evans, Evans playing in Elmohamady and Elmohamady squaring the ball to Koren who could not miss. Elland Road will not see many better goals this season and Gray’s header deep into injury-time came too late to negate it.
By Phil Hay
There are issues at Elland Road that Neil Warnock cannot control – takeovers, injuries, a persistent lack of transfer funds. But it would help him to see Leeds United avoid the self-inflicted damage sustained by them last night.
Two painfully soft goals gave Hull City the luxury of their first win at Elland Road since 1987 and left Warnock wondering what Leeds can salvage from a hard week.
United’s manager might not have anticipated a total of nine points from games against Cardiff City, Hull and Nottingham Forest but it would relieve him now to walk away with three.
His players had a precious win to aim at last night, striking early through a Luciano Becchio penalty and outplaying Hull for a sustained period of the first half, but the effect of Leeds’ first concession in the 23rd minute was immense. City lapped up a gift of a chance and scored again six minutes later. With that, United’s evening was ruined.
Becchio’s penalty was as good a start as Leeds could have asked for, beautifully taken after Joe Dudgeon fouled El-Hadji Diouf a foot outside the box, but a promising performance blew itself out in as Ahmed Elmohamady punished a misplaced clearance from Michael Tonge.
Warnock shook his head at that but was no more impressed when Abdoulaye Faye converted a free header shortly before the half hour.
From a position of comfort, his side contrived to invite their own defeat in the space of two attacks.
The crowd at Elland Road – small by United’s standards at 19,750 – struggled to tolerate that, growing tetchy as the first half wore on, but they appreciated the burst of effort encouraged by the second-half introduction of substitute Dominic Poleon.
At 19, he is not the type of player that Warnock wants to rely on heavily but his turn of pace and quick feet brought Elland Road to life, albeit with out bringing a goal.
Hull it was who scored the fourth of the night with 14 minutes to play, and Andy Gray’s late header was a consolation. Warnock is being taunted at every turn by the resources given to his managerial colleagues.
Having bemoaned the advantage afforded to Cardiff City by having Craig Bellamy on their bench on Saturday, he saw Bruce name Nick Proschwitz – a £2.6m summer signing – among Hull’s substitutes last night. Proschwitz’s fee amounted to more than the cost of entire United’s line-up.
Included in that line-up were Luke Varney and El-Hadji Diouf, the only suitable replacements for the injured Ross McCormack and Adam Drury.
The loan market failed to offer Warnock any assistance before kick-off and his 18-man squad consisted of almost every fit player present in the building at Thorp Arch on Monday.
In their wisdom, Leeds refused to allow Hull an early opportunity to get their teeth into them and a purposeful start brought United a penalty in the sixth minute. It was awarded, controversially, by one of the linesmen assisting referee Roger East. East appeared to take no interest in Dudgeon’s foul on Diouf as the Senegalese forward dribbled along the byline but Simeon Lucas spotted the infringement and advised East to point to the spot. Hull protested angrily about a tackle which appeared to take place outside the box but Becchio allowed the complaints to subside and drove a sharp penalty into the corner of Ben Amos’ net.
Having looked fragile prior to the goal, Hull’s composure deserted them briefly. Becchio had a chance to score his second goal of the night but nodded a 10th-minute header against the body of James Chester, and Amos made a desperate save to prevent Rodolph Austin sweeping the rebound into the roof of his net. Another low shot from Austin kept the keeper busy.
There was bite in United’s football and more ambition initially then they had shown at Cardiff. Diouf’s careful use of possession troubled Hull’s defence and limited the pressure on a midfield who were outnumbered by Bruce’s 3-5-2 formation.
Sam Byram, United’s 19-year-old winger, did his bit in that respect by sliding through Faye and leaving him writhing on the floor. Hull’s players reacted angrily again but their demands for punishment of Byram earned nothing more than a booking for dissent for Alex Bruce, the former Leeds defender. With 19 minutes gone, City could sense another of those night developing.
They last won at Elland Road 25 years ago, a record as poor as that which Leeds tried unsuccessfully to break at Cardiff over the weekend, and for 23 minutes their passing was overly intricate.
But assistance came in the form of an inexplicable error committed by Tonge and Aidan White.
The pair ran to clear a stray pass from Jay Simpson but Tonge succeeded only in knocking possession to Elmohamady 18 yards of goal. Elmohamady beat Paddy Kenny with a sweet finish but the sight of Tonge punching the turf while White hung his head said much about the nature of the goal.
The game turned on that moment as it was bound to do. Hull began to play themselves into space and after another break down the left wing, they scored again in the 29th minute as Faye slipped behind Lees and headed home Elmohamady’s cross unmarked. A flare went off in the away end as Hull’s crowd celebrated his finish, filling Elland Road with pale orange smoke.
City protected their lead comfortably until half-time, troubled only when two crosses from Austin forced lively clearances from Bruce, and Leeds were fortunate to reach the interval with 10 men after centre-back Jason Pearce took out Sone Aluko as the forward cut into United’s box.
Pearce had enough covering defenders around him to convince East that the foul was worth no more than a yellow card and Kenny saved the resulting free-kick, diving to his left to parry Robert Koren’s exact strike.
Leeds carved out the first chance of the second half as Varney met White’s cross with a header which floated over Amos’ crossbar, and a sliding tackle from Corry Evans skilfully dispossessed Byram as the youngster ran onto a through-ball from Diouf. But United looked susceptible to Hull’s pace and Simpson nodded a header narrowly wide of the far post after Elmohamady got around White in the 55th minute.
Aluko almost claimed a third goal for City when Kenny’s clearance towards the right wing came back at him in a flash and Warnock gave Poleon his chance with 29 minutes remaining. The striker took the chance gratefully, switching from wing to wing and threatening a goal when he cut inside and drove a shot against Amos’ body. It was as close as Leeds came.
Hull waited for their moment and picked United off brilliantly with Simpson spreading a pass across field to Evans, Evans playing in Elmohamady and Elmohamady squaring the ball to Koren who could not miss. Elland Road will not see many better goals this season and Gray’s header deep into injury-time came too late to negate it.