Bristol City 0-0 Leeds United: Pump it up — Square Ball 28/10/24

Slow in the head

Written by: Rob Conlon

So this is what the best part of a billion quid gets you? In May, Sky TV boasted that they’d agreed to give the Football League ‘guaranteed payments of £895m and £40m in marketing benefits’ for the privilege of broadcasting ‘over 1,000 matches per season!’ Seemingly nobody stopped to ask whether broadcasting over 1,000 matches per season might be a bit, I don’t know, stupid.

Judging by Sky’s coverage of Leeds’ draw with Bristol City, their outlay in desperately trying to show 24/7 football hasn’t left much in the budget for production costs. The camera angle at Ashton Gate has never been the most TV friendly, but viewers weren’t helped by an absent-minded director who seemed more interested in what was happening in the stands than showing us what was happening on the pitch. While Sky are happy to market English football on the atmosphere in the ground, they were also happy to mute the crowd noise, giving the game an eerie lockdown feel ahead of Halloween.

Sky’s eagerness to make this game one of the 1,000 they’ll show this season meant away fans were leaving Leeds in the dark to get to Bristol in time for the lunchtime kick-off. Meanwhile, I was wandering around the outskirts of town trying to find a pub that opened before midday, eventually meeting some friends in a bar we’d never usually go to, where the atmosphere was suitably soulless.

For everyone’s sake, this game needed Leeds United to score some goals. After briefly holding their own at the start of the match, it soon dawned on Bristol City that with Nahki Wells up front they weren’t going to be troubling the back of the net, and left the problem for Leeds to worry about for the rest of the afternoon. United tried, but never convinced.

Back in the team in place of the injured Largie Ramazani, Dan James added some thrust to Leeds’ attack but is still working on his own sharpness judging by the way he was unusually caught in a race from the halfway line when he’d normally go full Road Runner. Wilf Gnonto should have put James in on goal early on, only to overhit a pass he’s nailed all season. Pushed to the byline, James’ cross eventually ended with Joe Rothwell volleying wide. Gnonto rectified his error towards the end of the half with the type of through ball that James thrives on, but he hit the goalkeeper’s legs when Leeds needed him to have the confidence of his fluffed chip at Hillsborough. The LSB at least returned the favour in the second half, surging down the right and cutting the ball back to Gnonto, who beat the ‘keeper but not the defender on the line.

Leeds had more than enough decent chances to take all three points. Sam Byram might not be as dynamic as Junior Firpo getting forward from left-back, but he matched his defensive solidity with two straightforward crosses that should have resulted in assists: Jayden Bogle hitting the side netting at the back post in the first half and Mateo Joseph nodding over from close range with his first touch after replacing the typically relaxed Joel Piroe.

But while Leeds had opportunities, there was also enough evidence that they weren’t quite in the right groove to get the win. While the stats always suggest Leeds were dominant, we’ve seen enough of United under Daniel Farke to know when something isn’t quite collectively working — sloppy passes either underhit or overhit; careless touches giving the ball to the opposition; challenges for second balls ending without Leeds in possession. Farke has his own phrase to describe these days: “Not quick in the head.” At one point Brenden Aaronson tried a backheel and only confused himself, when Farke just needed his players to concentrate on doing the basics well.

Yet even though I couldn’t wait to finish my pint and Sky’s coverage to end, Leeds remain the team everyone wants to watch in the Championship. At Ashton Gate, journalists were being Tetris’d around the press box because some of the seats had been sold. Unbeaten in seven games, a return of seven points from nine in a week since returning from the international break means a win against Plymouth will keep Leeds on track for two points a game.

Perhaps we’d have been better off if those three results came in reverse order — a tough point with tired bodies in the biggest game of the season against Sheffield United, followed by a gift-wrapped win against Watford and a more convincing display at Bristol City. But taking points off Chris Wilder was more valuable than dropping two in Bristol. Leeds have still been the protagonists in every game this season — and if all goes to plan then a clean sheet at Ashton Gate will be a boring footnote in a much bigger and more exciting story.