Norwich City 0 Leeds United 0: First-leg chess leaves Championship play-off semi-final in balance — Yorkshire Post 12/5/24

By Stuart Rayner

Noon kick-off or not, the atmosphere was cranked up to 11 at Carrow Road on Sunday. Sadly, the football never got close.

Sometimes play-off semi-final can just explode into life but Leeds United's against Norwich City was still ticking at the end of a Norfolk leg where none of the fireworks made it onto the pitch.

This one was cagey rather than crazy.

A 0-0 draw did little to suggest that Leeds are completely out of their end-of-season funk, but their defence was back to its more solid self and everything is set up if they can do it at Elland Road on Thursday.

"It's not about playing chess," said Whites manager Daniel Farke in the pre-match press conference.

Then he played chess.

He won the battle over 90 minutes but was never able to find checkmate.

Farke sprung a surprise with his team, giving Archie Gray a job on his 50th appearance that was to be a box-to-box midfielder when Norwich had the ball and a No 10 when Leeds did. Ahead of him, Georginio Rutter was asked to lead the line – a job he has rarely done since the turn of the year.

He air-shot when Willy Gnonto squared in the sixth minute and could not control a ball the Italian fizzed into him at a difficult height.

Rutter set up a Norwich attack with his heavy touch coming back to help out – he is one of those centre-forwards you cannot shackle to the No 9 position – but redeemed himself by getting the ball clear.

That he lasted 70 minutes before making way for Joel Piroe is probably explained by Farke's reluctance to make early substitutions.

Early kick-offs can sometimes be a bit subdued but two hours before kick-off at Carrow Road the green flares were burning and the drums banging. The atmosphere in the seats was along similar lines at kick-off, everyone seemingly wearing yellow apart from a section of the ground decked in white.

Norwich responded better to it, playing much of the early stages in Leeds half.

Gnonto was fouled by Borja Sainz in the eighth minute but it started outside the area and referee Josh Smith was in no mood to award an early penalty.

When Gnonto shot against a defender during a spell of mini-Leeds pressure it sparked a counter-attack ended when Junior Firpo cut out a dangerous cross. Josh Sargent headed a cross behind shortly afterwards.

Leeds did not take the hint, Illan Meslier giving the ball overplaying to set up the first of two Ilia Gruev fouls in quick succession just outside the area, Meslier saved the first from Gabriel Sara, the second petered out after Leeds conceded a corner.

Marcelino Nunez failed to control his shot when the ball was worked to him.

Farke shifted his pieces around in search of an answer.

In the space of a few minutes the front three all did shifts on the right wing and at cente-forward (Rutter did not go left), sometimes as one of a pair.

It took a brilliant Nunez tackle to deny Gnonto just outside the area and on the half-hour Firpo had the ball in the net after Rutter was deemed to have strayed offside before touching the ball to him as Angus Gunn sprinted out. It was a very tight call.

Leeds had much more control of the second half, without often threatening to do much with it.

Crysencio Summerville was unable to beat Angus Gunn from a angle and when Norwich broke from the resulting corner, Gray swept up well to set off another counter-attack, which disappointingly ended with Sam Byram failing to connect properly with a swipe.

Both Leeds wide men were taking some physical punishment, which perhaps explains why Gnonto came off shortly after Sainz's studs caught him in the head as both went to ground after a tackle. It was 87 minutes before Daniel James was thought ready to come on.

Even when Piroe came on, Leeds' wide players suffered for a lack of targets, Byram flashing an excellent cross to no one and James robbing Christian Fassnacht in the 90th minute but his centre going all the way through to Firpo, whose delivery was cut out.

Earlier, Fassnacht's heavy touch denied him a back-post chance when Sargent flicked a cross to him and Gray had a shot deflected wide at the other end after good build-up play. Glen Kamara, a strong performer after some recent poor form, but the corner played to him at Gunn.

This tie is still to bang.