Leeds United 4-0 Oxford United: ‘Tis the season — Square Ball 23/12/24

Crisp packets and cyclones

Written by: Rob Conlon

Welcome to Elland Road, where the wind blows in four directions all at once and our goalkeeper can be spotted outside his penalty area chasing after a balloon. It isn’t always like this, honest. Even if it often feels like it.

In the final home match of 2024, those two corner flags blowing in opposite directions in front of the East Stand felt like an apt metaphor for the calendar year. In one direction, the momentum of nine consecutive home wins for the second time in twelve months, the second most league victories in a year in the club’s history, and more points than any club in England’s top four divisions in 2024. In the other direction, the vibe killer of scratchy away form, release clauses, an undercurrent of dissatisfaction, and fucking Wembley.

Credit to Leeds United, then, that amid the crisp packets, balloons, and mini-cyclone, they managed to tick off another serene, routine win against Champo fodder, and even gave us the gift of the couple of extra goals we were all wanting.

Having sacked manager Des Buckingham in midweek and appointed Gary Rowett as his replacement, Oxford arrived at Elland Road kitted out in the yellow of a potential banana skin, their players presumably eager to impress their new boss watching in the stands ahead of officially starting work on Monday — not that any of them seemed to get the memo. “When you’re coming here, you’d love to come to Leeds and get a result, but how realistic is that? How many teams do it is minimal,” their defender Greg Leigh said afterwards. How many teams come to Leeds and even try to get a result in this division is an equally small minority. “We knew it was going to be difficult,” added Oxford’s assistant Craig Short. “The game plan was just to make it difficult and make sure we’re in the game at half-time, which we were.”

In a sense, Short was correct. Oxford were only trailing 1-0 at the break, Manor Solomon’s persistence down the left wing leaving Dan James with an early tap in. In reality, Short was deluded. Leeds are yet to lose when scoring first in the Championship under Daniel Farke, winning 99 out of a potential 105 points on those occasions. If Oxford had the option of ending the game after nine minutes and travelling back down south with a 1-0 defeat, they’d have taken it.

Short’s response at half-time was to tell his players to get through the first fifteen minutes of the second half and hope for the best. But while Leeds’ ticking over in first gear briefly prompted some nerves around the ground, Oxford still fell three minutes short of their target. Reaching a crossfield pass from Joe Rothwell, James calmly kept hold of the ball and manoeuvred defenders out of shape, leaving space for Jayden Bogle to grab the second goal following a neat one-two with Brenden Aaronson. Perhaps I’m being too generous with that description of James’ role in the goal, but he’s playing so well that even the simple things he’s doing look like a man in control of time and space, and I don’t think that’s a fluke.

While James was once again the game’s best player, the season of goodwill also brought some festive cheer for some of Leeds’ more maligned players. After some avant garde performances in recent weeks, Bogle’s finish was a reminder he can be potent in attack. Aaronson’s assist was the type of pass he regularly overcomplicates, but this time he had the clarity of thought to pick the right option. Likewise, he scored Leeds’ third with a composed sidefoot into the bottom corner after Joel Piroe’s pass put him one on one with goalkeeper Jamie Cumming. There will always be frustration around his general play, but Brenden Aaronson will always play like Brenden Aaronson. He can’t help it. And if he’s adding the goals and assists he’s been promising then that’s fine by me. The fact Aaronson has now created more chances than he has completed successful tackles this season is enough to make me believe that Santa Claus exists and he’s read my wishlist this Christmas, so I’ll be sure to leave him out an extra mince pie and a pint of sherry this year.

Aaronson’s goal and assist were matched by Solomon, who beat Cumming at his near post to complete the scoring. Like Aaronson and Bogle, Solomon has failed to charm Leeds fans — for many reasons — but justified his inclusion ahead of Wilf Gnonto on the left wing. Now the trio have shown they can do it, the test is whether they can keep doing it against slightly less insipid opposition than Oxford. Maybe even away from home, although even Santa isn’t generous enough to guarantee anything on that front.

For all the gulf in class between the two teams, Rowett will have an easy Monday at training. In some ways, his job is much more straightforward than Daniel Farke’s, starting by telling his goalkeeper Cumming that he might be better off aiming his kicks a bit closer to the middle of the pitch rather than out of play, if only to stop the opposition fans laughing at him. Farke, on the other hand, has a league to win, and the next two fixtures away at Stoke and Derby might just reveal if Leeds have learned any lessons from last season, having lost back-to-back games at the same stage twelve months ago that ultimately cost the club promotion at the same.

“This league is relentless and if you want to be successful you have to become relentless yourself,” Farke said afterwards. “You have to show this quality of performance through the whole season to have something to cheer about.” It might not be easy, but he’s right, and it’s down to him and his players to prove they can do it. Stuffing Oxford is for Christmas, but promotion and the love that brings is for life.