Mighty Leeds Weblog

Leeds United are out of the FA Cup but still in form, if their performance in a 3-2 defeat at Chelsea was anything to go by. By Graham Smyth Rather than look in any way overawed, the Whites took the game to their top-flight opponents and deserved to take the tie to extra-time, at the very least. To lose by the odd goal in the 90th minute is an acceptable outcome, when promotion priority, Daniel Farke's five changes and the level of the opposition are taken into account. Here's the YEP take. Good day Mateo Joseph What a time and what a place in which to score not only your first ever senior goal, but your second too. The first was a fine finish, the second was a really cool header. Both showed the instincts of a poacher. His overall performance was very lively, too. He caused problems, he annoyed defenders, he evidently really enjoyed himself. A promising young talent. Archie Gray Another youngster who did not look out of place at all. There were times in the game,

It was Leeds United's performance at Chelsea, not their starting line-up, that proved Daniel Farke has his priorities exactly right. By Graham Smyth In the wake of a 3-2 defeat it would be easy to talk about the FA Cup as a distraction or frivolity that needed to be put to one side, in order that Farke and his men could concentrate on the real 2023/24 season business. The way Leeds played, the fact that they led the game early on, dominated the second half and only lost to an expensively-assembled Premier League outfit in the 90th minute, made it even easier to almost patronise this game and this competition. Well done Chelsea, you beat a Championship team in a competition that is entirely secondary to their league ambitions. Well done Leeds, brave, brave Leeds. Now back to your porridge. The way Leeds played, though, not only belied the gulf in quality between the two squads and the injury issues Farke had to contend with, it suggested none of those things really matter to t

Daniel Farke saw a Leeds United performance worth celebrating at Stamford Bridge despite their 3-2 FA Cup loss to Chelsea. By Graham Smyth The Whites came agonisingly close to producing a shock result, with a display that received an ovation from a sold-out away end. They hit the front early on through Mateo Joseph’s fine finish after Archie Gray forced an error from a Chelsea goal-kick. The Blues were level on 15 minutes, Nicolas Jackson finding the net at the end of a move that exploited Leeds’ left flank. Mykhailo Mudryk put the hosts ahead before half-time as the visitors struggled to cope with the Premier League outfit’s one-touch passing, again on the Chelsea right. But Joseph followed his first ever senior goal with a second, heading home a pinpoint Jaidon Anthony cross just shy of the hour mark. Leeds bossed long periods of the second half and Joseph could have had a hat-trick, but got a second attempt at a close range header all wrong. And in the very final minute Chelse

Leeds United's newest goalscorer Mateo Joseph shared his disappointment at going out of the FA Cup to Chelsea on Wednesday night but personal delight after scoring his first goals in professional football. By Joe Donnohue The 20-year-old England youth international was named in Daniel Farke's starting XI at Stamford Bridge as Leeds faced up against Premier League opponents Chelsea in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup. United opened the scoring through Joseph who netted confidently after fellow youngster Archie Gray had won a tackle and turned over possession in Chelsea's penalty area. The Blues rallied, scoring twice before the break through Nicolas Jackson and Mykhailo Mudryk but Joseph struck again in the second half, this time with his head. Arriving onto the end of a looping Jaidon Anthony cross at the back post, Joseph guided the ball home before celebrating in front of the scores of Whites fans in the Shed End away section. Conor Gallagher's 90th minute winner

An FA Cup tie against Premier League opposition is a good opportunity for any young player who is yet to appear at that level to show that they should do... and Archie Gray certainly rose to the occasion. By Stuart Rayner But as the teenager, watched by his great-uncle Eddie, sashayed the ball around in midfield like he owned it and hunted it down when he did not have it, another Leeds youngster made a name for himself. Those who work at Leeds have known for a long time Gray was going to be a star, and that Mateo Jospeh was bursting with talent but the 20-year-old’s first two goals for the club showed he has the temperament to transfer it to the big stage and that, as any Stamford Bridge season-ticket-holders will tell you once their eyes stop rolling, is not a given. Cheslea's ability – and one of the substitutes who really should have started the game – got them through to the quarter-finals by the skin of their teeth, Conor Gallagher scoring a 90th-minute goal that under

CHELSEA 3-2 LEEDS UNITED: Conor Gallagher came off the bench to score a last minute winner to complete a comeback for the Blues as they struggled against their Championship opponents By Jacob Leeks Conor Gallagher came off the bench to score a last-minute winner as Chelsea were forced to come back from a goal down to beat Championship Leeds and progress to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. The visitors went ahead just eight minutes in when Axel Disasi gave the ball away inside the box as he looked to play out from the back, with Mateo Joseph firing in the opener. The Blues quickly responded, with Nicolas Jackson slotted home and equaliser after a well-worked team move. Just before half-time, the hosts turned the game on its head with Mykhaylo Mudryk sweeping the ball home from a cutback. Though they had chances to increase their lead, the Blues failed to take them, with Leeds instead levelling the game when Joseph headed in at the far post. With the game appearing to head to

Leeds United took on historic rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup fifth round. By Lee Sobot Leeds United saw their FA Cup run finally ended despite a youngster's big first amid forced Whites changes in Wednesday night's fifth round clash at Chelsea. Boss Daniel Farke made five changes to his side, several of which were forced as the German revealed pre-match that both Ilia Gruev and Georginio Rutter were forced to miss out after suffering problems in training. Jamie Shackleton had been set to start over Junior Firpo but missed out after feeling unwell whilst Patrick Bamford and Crysencio Summerville could only make the bench having not trained on Monday. Young forward Mateo Joseph was given a start upfront and the 20-year old striker fired Leeds ahead in the seventh minute with his first goal for the club and indeed first in senior football. Chelsea quickly hit back and led 2-1 at the break through strikes from Nicolas Jackson and Mykhailo Mudryk but Jos

By Phil Dawkes Chelsea v Leeds: Fouls galore in 1970 FA Cup final at Old Trafford A version of this article was first published in April 2020 Eddie Gray collects the ball in the centre circle and immediately sets his sights on Chelsea’s goal. But David Webb has other ideas. Fuelled by fresh memories of his roasting at the hands of the Leeds winger a couple of weeks prior, the defender hits him, both feet off the ground, no prisoners. Bang. It takes all of two minutes for the 1970 FA Cup final replay to live up to its billing as a game best avoided by the faint of heart. It is a match that has gone down in football folklore as a meeting of pure malice between a defeated Leeds United side renowned for having the muscle to match their magnificence and a victorious Chelsea team with flashiness and ferocity in equal measure. Football was a very different game half a century ago, when much greater leniency was shown to crunching, full-bloodied tackles and their aftermath. But eve

Howard Wilkinson will leave his role as League Managers' Association chairman in the summer as the former Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday boss departs his position after iconic reign The 80-year-old will leave his position at the LMA at the end of the season Howard Wilkinson has been in the chairman role for close to 33 years By MATT BARLOW Howard Wilkinson will step down as chairman of the League Managers’ Association (LMA) at the end of the season, marking the end of an era. The former Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday boss was a driving force behind the creation of the organisation in 1991, which emerged from an idea he hatched with Graham Taylor, then the England manager. Now 80, Wilkinson has been in the chair for close to 33 years, central to its expansion and evolution to represent its managers and coaches in the modern game. In particular, introducing the regular health and wellbeing check-ups and support services. He was awarded an OBE in the latest New Year’s Hono

DUGOUT Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman Consensus is that you’re supposed to play the game, not the occasion, but sometimes, do you get a game worth playing if you don’t have the occasion too? And do you get an occasion like this without Elland Road still standing, like King Canute resisting the modern tide, in its last century pomp? Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca tried to dismiss the stadium’s impact before coming to Leeds on Friday night. He’d been before, as a coach with Manchester City, and watched Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland hush a crowd who were already speechless at the awfulness of Jesse Marsch’s football without any help from the best team in the world. Maresca went home on Friday amid fresh doubts that his Leicester side are even the best team in the Championship, and nursing a cut to his hand, sustained when he slipped and fell on the little white wall surrounding the dugouts. That little wall was supposed to be broken up and taken away in a wheelbarro

GEORGINIO Rutter’s natural radiant smile splendidly adorned the front cover of Leeds United’s match programme against Leicester City on Friday evening. By Leon Wobschall An insight into the talismanic forward’s inner self also came in an interview. He revealed that his family always taught him that life was better ‘when you smile than when you cry’ and stressed the importance of never giving up and working hard when describing himself as a player. The above qualities aptly convey his story at Elland Road. Rutter drew strength and certainly didn’t cry or feel sorry for himself after a tough start to life in West Yorkshire. His work rate and attitude has won the hearts of everyone connected with the club, alongside his most precious commodity, intrinsic skill. The qualities already mentioned also told his story against Leicester as well. After a difficult start and not always the best decisions versus Foxes, who looked top of the table for a reason for fair swatches of Frid

Whites cult hero Gaetano Berardi has revealed his desire to experience the Leeds United away day atmosphere once again. By Graham Smyth Berardi made a name for himself with supporters thanks to a taste for the physical side of the game and an unflinching commitment to win the ball. He spent seven years with Leeds, making 157 appearances, and was called upon 22 times by Marcelo Bielsa during the Championship title win of 2020. A serious knee injury disrupted the final stages of his time at Elland Road, but he did play twice in the Premier League before an emotional departure in the summer of 2021. Berardi, who has since retired from playing and taken his first steps towards a coaching career, now writes a column for The Square Ball fanzine. His latest effort, on sale now, recognises the sacrifice Leeds fans make to follow their team on the road, which is particularly appropriate this week at the end of a mammoth travel schedule. The Whites faced Bristol City away on a Friday nig

By Phil Hay Down at one end of Lowfields Road, on the north-east corner of Leeds United’s stadium, is the ‘Champions’ mural, designed by Mateusz Klich after promotion in 2020. The years go by but the colours, those shocks of blue and yellow, are as strong as they ever were; a vibrant backdrop to crowds weaving in and out of the ground. The mural was Klich’s idea, on one level because he had a hidden passion for graffiti but also because the occasion deserved it. Klich wouldn’t be at Leeds forever. He has been gone from the club for more than 12 months now. But his piece of street art would and, aesthetically, so it should. Some day, Elland Road will get the vast overhaul it needs but if the club have any sense, or any sense of history, redevelopment will preserve Klich’s bricks. Promotion has two sides to it: the transactional and the emotional, and there is no getting away from the reality of the first, the process in which every Championship club is trying to get out of Dodge.

By Nancy Froston and Thom Harris Is this the best promotion race we have seen in the Championship? The underlying numbers, at least in recent history, suggest as much for the breakaway pack of Leicester City, Leeds United, Ipswich Town and Southampton. Four does not go into two — and one of the automatic promotion places looks all but sewn up for Enzo Maresca’s side, further reducing the odds for those in pursuit. We could be on course to see a team hit 92 points and still finish third, despite that being enough in eight of the last 10 Championship seasons to secure automatic promotion. The margin for error is small. The desire to check another team’s scores while watching your team is high. With Southampton slipping up in midweek in a 2-1 defeat to play-off chasing Hull City and Leicester City arriving at Elland Road on Friday, every game threatens to shape the outcome of the season. So we have turned to the Opta supercomputer for answers to all the big questions — could we st