Leeds United seeking mojo revival as West Brom display suggests transfer solution — Joe Donnohue's Verdict — YEP 18/8/24
By Joe Donnohue
A Georginio Rutter-less Leeds United managed a point against
West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on Saturday lunchtime, but were clearly
missing the Frenchman's mojo and vivacious, off-field joie de vivre.
If you're not scoring goals, but creating chances, the net
will eventually bulge - but Leeds didn't manage either against West Brom and it
might have had something to do with the absence of a certain creative player in
the middle of the pitch.
Some football matches are quickly forgotten, difficult for
supporters, journalists and even those who took part in them, to recall. Leeds'
early season stalemate against the Baggies will surely be one of them.
Eight shots apiece, one on target each, which in Leeds' case
pushes the boundaries of what can be defined as 'on target', and 0.70 Expected
Goals accrued by both sides. To say United and West Brom cancelled each other
out would be an apt description of what was an affair that lacked much in the
way of quality and very few, if any, backsides-off-seats moments.
Leeds supporters have endured quite the couple of days with
a cup exit to divisional rivals, the imminent sale of star man Georginio Rutter
and a fourth consecutive week without a permanent signing all to swallow.
So, perhaps a point away from home against a side they
failed to beat last season isn't such a bad thing; football is a results
business after all. There were points in the game where it felt Leeds were
merely existing, though, never quite protagonists, but solid enough at the back
to allay any fears of an imminent concession.
Joel Piroe replaced the Brighton-bound Rutter in the No. 10
role as he did in midweek but was evidently not the spark United needed. Leeds'
touchpaper was damp, much like the mood in camp upon learning of Georginio's
release clause activation on Wednesday.
A drab opening half hour in which Mateo Joseph battled in
vain the Baggies' gargantuan centre-back pairing of Semi Ajayi and Kyle
Bartley, the gaping hole left by Georginio's absence became clear. Ilia Gruev
in a more advanced central midfield role could not mirror the Frenchman's
innate verve and creativity, nor the aforementioned Piroe. This led the away
end to voice their frustrations, initially only a small section doing so. But,
on 25 minutes, Dan James turned backwards as Leeds launched a rare attack,
largely due to the lack of runners, and passed backwards which drew a
collective groan.
Five minutes later, Illan Meslier ended up with the ball at
his feet after a Leeds free-kick in the Baggies' half. This time, there were
boos.
On 32 minutes, a Leeds corner was cleared, Jayden Bogle
retrieved it in his own half and faced with the option of playing forward or
back to his goalkeeper, he chose the latter. This time, hands in the away end
motioned towards heads and faces and the boos grew louder, eventually making
way for cries of 'attack, attack, attack.'
By half-time, Leeds had accrued an Expected Goals (xG) total
of 0.19, which included an optimistic effort by Ethan Ampadu attempting to
catch Alex Palmer off his line with a shot from Leeds' half. Needless to say,
that one went wide.
The second half yielded not a great deal more in the way of
creating chances as Leeds made changes, introducing Joe Rothwell shortly after
the hour mark, whose first touch was errant and almost allowed Karlan Grant to
break the deadlock, and Brenden Aaronson. The latter buzzed about the pitch, as
is so often the case, linked up nicely with Junior Firpo on one occasion down
the left but didn't quite possess the killer pass for Joseph whose thankless
task of barracking Bartley and Ajayi was cut short on 79 minutes.
Patrick Bamford was his replacement and he too could not
find an opening, although his wayward low cross during the closing stages was
perhaps Leeds' best chance at getting on the scoresheet. There were other
opportunities, half-chances mostly, such as Pascal Struijk glancing a header
wide from a corner, but on the whole Leeds didn't do nearly enough to score.
They were not, as Farke put it, an 'offensive firework'.
Farke has spoken previously of opposition managers whose
'handwriting' he can identify when analysing their teams. Georginio's style,
like the cursive, joined-up strokes of a ballpoint pen, was missing from Leeds'
performance at The Hawthorns, that much was clear.
In their bright yellow away strip, Leeds didn't dazzle the
opposition or their own travelling support, evidently lacking a certain je ne
sais quoi.