Brentford 1-1 Leeds United: Plot Twist — Square Ball 15/12/25

No win in London, no problem

Written by: Rob Conlon

For 81 minutes and 53 seconds, this game went exactly as we have come to expect. Leeds United in London. A lack of cutting edge. A referee rolled onto the pitch straight from a lobotomy. A painfully avoidable concession ruining plenty of hard graft. Keith bloody Andrews.

Brentford aren’t very good, but after the heart-punishing highs of the previous week, I can’t have been the only Leeds fan bracing myself for a sobering comedown heading into this weekend. There were valid reasons to fear the worst. Brentford had won five of seven at home in the Premier League. Leeds had lost six of seven away, not to mention nine consecutive top-flight defeats in London stretching all the way back to the mindfuck of a last-gasp win against a nine-man Brentford side with Robin Koch at right-back, Sam Greenwood in midfield and Joffy Gelhardt up front.

A lot has changed since then, except Leeds’ tendency to freak out in the capital. A 4-0 capitulation at QPR with automatic promotion on the line in April 2024. Defeat at Millwall and a panicked 2-2 at QPR two of the rare blemishes in a 100-point campaign last term. Gabi Gudmundsson’s freak own-goal in stoppage time at Fulham just a couple of months ago.

And so there we were, back again, chasing a pass between Jayden Bogle and Joe Rodon, Jaka Bijol not quite clearing a cross then deflecting Jordan Henderson’s shot into the near post with Anton Stach watching the man he’d been marking a split second earlier putting Brentford ahead. FFS, Leeds. Just because I expected it didn’t mean it wasn’t bloody annoying.

But while I was preparing myself for another inquest and another inevitable referendum into Daniel Farke’s position so soon after so much goodwill, Leeds had other ideas. Ten minutes later, some tenacious work from Ethan Ampadu on the edge of Brentford’s penalty area allowed him to tackle the ball to Wilf Gnonto in space on the right wing. Summoned off the bench and onto the pitch immediately after Henderson’s opener, Gnonto took a touch, looked up and produced the purest moment of artistry in the game, a gorgeous parabola that invited Dominic Calvert-Lewin to hang in the air like he does better than anyone else in the league. The header might have looked easy, but that’s because Calvert-Lewin made it look so. He’d had nothing to work with in terms of chances all match, yet was clinical in casually glancing the ball into the bottom corner.

A plot twist! And nothing less than Leeds deserved. In an ugly duckling of a fixture that was subverting Sky Sports’ concept of ‘Super Sunday’, United scrapped for every inch and even played some neat, incisive football when brief opportunities occasionally arose.

Noah Okafor was the most threatening player on the pitch in the first half, almost scoring a repeat of his goal at Wolves when being played through by a dozy Brentford back-pass only to be thwarted by Caoimhin Kelleher’s save, volleying a difficult chance over after Ao Tanaka cushioned a header back to him from Calvert-Lewin’s left-wing cross, and generally looking a menace in beating players on his way to the byline. The decisions Okafor makes when he reaches the byline aren’t always the most effective, and while I think he has the talent to be better, I also think Leeds could help him out by rectifying the mistakes from the summer and using January to provide him with a better player or two to play alongside.

With Rodon, Bijol and Pascal Struijk defending Michael Kayode’s long throws resolutely, Leeds were only troubled twice in the opening 45 minutes. The first when Struijk misplaced a sloppy pass and went chasing after his own mistake, leaving the defence out of shape and Keane Lewis-Potter in on goal only to shoot at Lucas Perri when he could have passed to an unmarked teammate. The second when ref John Brooks awarded a mystifying penalty as Dango Ouattara threw himself over in the box after Gudmundsson’s hand brushed across his shirt. It looked a scandalous call in real-time, as if Brooks had been so bored by an uneventful first half he felt compelled to give pundits something to talk about at the break. It looked even worse during a VAR check that took far too long to realise Ouattara was offside anyway, sparing us the risk of whether they should decide to justify Brooks’ braindead decision in judging it a ‘foul’.

As VAR deliberated, I wondered whether it had dawned on Brooks quite how stupid he’d been, whether he’d even computed that he’d blown his whistle and pointed to the spot before taking a moment, with the ball out of play, to consider such a pivotal decision. If he really thought it was a foul, there’d be dozens of penalties every game, which is why Leeds fans felt aggrieved when Calvert-Lewin fell over in the box at the start of the second half under far more contact than Ouattara was subjected to from Gudmundsson. Naturally, Brooks didn’t blow his whistle for the challenge on Calvert-Lewin. And to be fair, that wasn’t a penalty either. But, with or without VAR, referees could make life easier for themselves by using their brains in the first place.

Thankfully, half-time gave everyone, none more so than Brooks, a chance for a breather. Leeds were positive immediately after the break, Okafor again looking bright only to (again) tire and drift out of the game. For all Leeds offered promise, they were largely reduced to set-pieces and shots from the edge of the box. The nature of the game suited Ampadu and Anton Stach in midfield, combative throughout. Less so Tanaka, who was largely anonymous in the first half, before being shaken by a nasty tackle that crashed into his ankle from Aaron Hickey — no foul, obviously — as he began giving the ball away unusually sloppily.

The only question was whether Farke would play it safe and turn to Ilia Gruev or be bold and introduce a more offensive-minded player like Gnonto or Brenden Aaronson(!). Henderson’s goal made up Farke’s mind for him. On came both, in place of Tanaka and Bijol. One of the benefits of starting in Leeds’ new 3-5-2 is that, when chasing a goal, Farke can sacrifice a defender for an extra attacker while reverting to a shape his players are used to playing over the previous two years.

Rather than throwing all his strikers on and asking his players to work it out, Leeds worked the game back in their favour while looking recognisably like themselves. Prior to Calvert-Lewin’s equaliser, Aaronson and Okafor both went for a half volley that forced Kelleher to tip the ball around the post. At 1-1, a typical Gudmundsson burst forward from his own half led to Ampadu arrowing a long-range hit not too far wide.

Full-time brought mixed emotions. Most of us would have taken a point beforehand — and especially after going a goal down — but Farke echoed the feeling that Leeds could and perhaps should have taken two more. It wasn’t pretty, but it was ultimately as valuable as the rollicking 3-3 with Liverpool and another point further away from the relegation zone, even if we’re only ever going to watch one of those two games back in the years to come.

Depending on your outlook, you might compare this to the eye-scratchingly dour 0-0 at Turf Moor last season. I’d prefer to compare it to the 1-1 at Brentford in the promotion season under Marcelo Bielsa. Either way, both were important results in successful seasons. And as we all went home to an easier night’s sleep than after recent games, I couldn’t help but paraphrase some wise words from a pissed Stuart Dallas. No win in London, no problem.