Leeds United v Watford: Slice of luck is not enough for Whites
By Phil Hay
Troy Deeney’s rash own goal gifted Leeds United a point but it was the equivalent of passing the club an umbrella after the rain had fallen.
Must-win went the theory before kick-off, and a scrambled draw with Watford fell a long way short.
Whether Leeds will do the same in the leg-race for the Championship’s play-offs is a matter of opinion. Simon Grayson says not, as any sensible manager would, but he looks less convinced than he once did and the statistics don’t lie. Four points taken from five matches and goals leaking at their usual rate. In the longer-term, six wins accrued since the club looked down from second position on Christmas Day. Grayson was troubled enough to describe United as a danger to themselves.
Saturday’s game, like Tuesday’s loss to Derby, was well within Leeds’ capacity to win. United led with 18 minutes to play but relied on Deeney’s mistake two minutes from time to exit the fixture with a point.
Lloyd Doyley was given the benefit of the doubt in injury-time after a seemingly clear handball inside Watford’s box, but Leeds deserved their luck. A penalty so late would have forgiven much of what had gone before.
Apprehension was apparent among Grayson’s team, and uncertainty too. An improvised line-up which never settled lacked the organisation of Watford’s familiar structure, and Leeds were accessible before and after Luciano Becchio scored the first of four goals in the 72nd minute.
The striker took his initial chance as a substitute and should have taken his second with the score at 1-0. Watford were less profligate when the opportunities fell to Lee Hodson and Andy Weimann.
To Leeds’ credit, they faced down their impending loss and forced the pace through five additional minutes. Grayson had expected that urgency much earlier in the game. United’s manager is not in the habit of giving credence to matches involving other clubs but his squad had wind in their sails on Saturday morning, supplied by Nottingham Forest’s defeat in Norwich the evening before.
A draw was all Forest required to hold sixth position overnight and drop the ball into Grayson’s court. Their 2-1 loss at Carrow Road had a calming effect, though Elland Road began to twitch soon enough. United’s brittle display before half-time did not help.
However great the encouragement offered by Forest’s failure, Grayson felt obliged to rearrange his team. Four changes – the continuation of an unpredictable selection policy – included the recall of Bradley Johnson and Robert Snodgrass and the relegation to the bench of Barry Bannan and Jake Livermore.
There was a sense of Grayson falling back on tried and tested players, but his forward partnership of Davide Somma and Max Gradel had no history and Jonathan Howson’s employment on the left wing pulled him into strange territory. All three were less effective than they needed to be.
Danny Graham, in comparison, was the definition of proven.
If Grayson’s plan was to submerge the Championship’s leading scorer then Leigh Bromby threatened to wreck it after seven minutes by allowing a loose pass to slice off his shin and run towards Kasper Schmeichel’s box. Graham collected it and cut inside Andy O’Brien but his shot struck Schmeichel’s body, stopping a yard short of the goalline.
In that early period, Leeds showed a suicidal edge. O’Brien’s reckless backpass made a good attempt to curl inside his own post before Schmeichel intervened, and Graham’s cross towards an unmarked Marvin Sordell needed only a touch which the forward inexplicably failed to supply. The anxiety inside the stadium was already starting to bite.
United did not get close to Watford keeper, Scott Loach, until the 27th minute, with a passage of football which resembled Howson’s goal against Nottingham Forest on April 2.
Thrashed
Snodgrass lobbed a pass towards Eric Lichaj whose fierce cut-back ran to Howson but, where Forest’s Wes Morgan had been caught with his eyes closed, Deeney reacted quickly and threw himself in front of Howson’s volley. From the resulting corner, Neil Kilkenny thrashed another effort into the advertising boards behind Loach’s net.
Watford lost Ross Jenkins to a foot injury on the half-hour but the introduction of Danny Drinkwater, a loanee from Manchester United, did not affect their balance.
Grayson and his coach, Ian Miller, began to patrol the technical area, aware their tactics were failing to take hold. Somma stood isolated and Gradel found himself straying onto the flanks, in search of space and the ball.
His best sight of it was through an opportunity which seemed impossible to miss. Snodgrass picked him out at the far post after weaving between two defenders but Gradel’s sliding shot hit the face of the crossbar. Somma, following in, could only apply a weak touch with his studs which bounced into Loach’s hands. Smash-and-grab a goal would have been, but crucial also.
That lone strike of Watford’s woodwork did not disguise an aimless half and Grayson has seen too many of them in the past two months.
Gradel’s header sent Lichaj’s cross wide in injury-time but the state of the game was plain and though Grayson made no changes at the start of the second half, calls for Becchio’s arrival were soon audible. United’s manager heeded the advice in the 56th minute.
Before the Argentinian could work his charm, Don Cowie met Graham’s cross with a header which hit the inside of a post and rebounded into Schmeichel’s arms. Seconds earlier, Gradel had pulled a weak shot at Loach while Snodgrass screamed for the ball inside an empty box. The switch from end to end was symptomatic of a game waiting to be won.
Somma had the chance to do so but grazed the ball again when Johnson’s knockdown begged him to finish from close range. Bromby was then called upon to prevent Drinkwater from beating Schmeichel.
Grayson reached back into his pack and drew out Bannan, whose first invitation to influence the match was taken with aplomb. Howson was fouled on the touchline and, from Bannan’s perfectly-flighted free-kick, Becchio rose to force a header into the root of Loach’s net.
Amid the euphoria, a lone fan invaded the pitch pursued by stewards. Another 30,000 must have felt like doing the same, Grayson not least. But when Becchio missed a veritable sitter in the 77th minute, Leeds pushed their luck.
With Watford’s next attack, Hodson converted Cowie’s delivery with a pathetically simple header, nudging it beyond Schmeichel, and – as the clock reached 86 minutes – Deeney and Graham trampled through United’s inadequate defence to leave Weimann with a tap-in. A galling turnaround was not at all unmerited.
Deeney, however, twisted the plot once more when he sliced Bannan’s corner into his own net.
United were grateful for that, but far from ecstatic. A draw, by the measure of those watching, was not enough or anywhere close.