Leeds United expectation proved spectacularly incorrect — Graham Smyth's Sheffield United Verdict — YEP 19/10/24

By Graham Smyth

If the Championship was an exercise in looking after the ball then Leeds United would be out of sight.

They boast the second-highest possession average in the league [Swansea pip them by 0.2 of a percent] and the highest passing accuracy. They have played the most accurate passes. To date, no one who has played against the Whites has passed the ball quite as beautifully or intricately as Leeds can. And according to Chris Wilder, no one else in the division is as good as Daniel Farke's outfit.

But crisp one-touch passing, sumptuous swinging switches of play and incisive through-balls that cut a midfield or defence to ribbons are not what will win the Championship title. Taking chances and scoring goals will. And because Leeds remembered to do that part, their utter dominance of Sheffield United counted for far more than just Yorkshire bragging rights.

Pascal Struijk's finish, by his own admission, owed a little bit to his shin pad. That goal, from a corner of all things, and Mateo Joseph's 90th minute follow up, turned a fine performance into a mighty fine victory. Those goals meant that the performances of two men at the very heart of Leeds' best work - the pretty and the ugly - could be celebrated in full, at full-time.

Step forward Joe Rothwell and Ao Tanaka. Midfield crisis? What midfield crisis. They bossed it, all night, on both sides of the ball. Rothwell walked off with an assist and the Man of the Match award. Tanaka walked off with a smile as wide as the West Stand. Both walked it for 90-plus minutes, against one of the sides expected to challenge Leeds all the way for automatic promotion.

Without Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev the expectation was that what Leeds would gain in terms of forward passing and attacking endeavour would have to be weighed up against what they would lose in control and solidity. The expectation was that the Blades, counter attacking specialists, could profit from what would be a more open game than one featuring Ampadu and Gruev. The expectation was for a tight game, between two of the division’s best teams, that could go either way and would be decided by fine margins. The expectation was incorrect. Spectacularly so.

Leeds looked after the ball so well that the game never really opened up. Rothwell was adventurous with his passing, curling, fizzing and pinging passes into feet or at the very least good areas to put Leeds on the front foot. Tanaka was sensible, yet still managed to rack up a total of 14 passes into the final third. The pair chose their passes wisely. The picked their moments to be brave. They looked after it. And when that was married to how well they and their team-mates looked after themselves and one another, total domination followed.

It was a physical encounter and though the initial minutes saw Vinicius Souza big brothering Largie Ramazani three times and Callum O'Hare leaving Brenden Aaronson on the deck with a shoulder challenge, Leeds responded. Ramazani, of all people, responded by dumping O'Hare off the pitch with a legal challenge. Aaronson gave Souza a little extra shove after a tussle.

And though Kieffer Moore made things awkward at first for both Pascal Struijk and Joe Rodon, none of his early work led to anything like a chance. Once the centre-back pairing began to look after him - Struijk shook the centre-forward and the ground with one particularly monstrous aerial victory - Leeds took complete control.

With a midfield that had settled and started to dictate the rhythm, the attack could go and do their thing. Ramazani pinged a shot off the post and then saw his next one palmed wide by Michael Cooper. There was a nice tempo to Leeds' play, they were winning it back quickly and moving it smartly. Sheffield United, by comparison, were giving it away ever so cheaply under the pressure bearing down on them. It begged the question, have we been taking Leeds' passing excellence for granted this season?

Even if Leeds did not manage to create what you would call a golden opportunity from their dominance, Aaronson found himself with two shooting opportunities in decent positions and both times the ball went wide. As the half-time whistle approached, only one side wanted to hear it.

But the half-time break did nothing to alter the pattern of the game. Leeds continued to use the ball well, the visitors continued to squander possession and Aaronson continued to get chances. A Firpo cross was partially controlled by Gnonto and the American lashed a shot high over the bar from the penalty spot.

Even at full flight and with the wind at their sails, the Leeds psyche is such that a fear of being dashed on the rocks only ever grows as chances go begging. No one has created more big chances in the Championship this season than Leeds but no one has missed more either. Joel Piroe put one wildly over the top when Junior Firpo was screaming into acres of space on the left. Jayden Bogle and then Firpo failed to get clean shots off with white shirts swarming in and around the area.

Wilder went for a triple change to try and stem the tide and with almost 70 minutes on the clock he must have been thanking his lucky stars that the Blades were still somehow in the game. With almost 70 minutes on the clock, at 0-0, the possibility of a smash-and-grab was still on. Until Leeds, at long, long last scored from a corner.

Championship titles are won by teams who find ways to win and find ways to score goals. Leeds, before the 69th minute of this game, had not found a set-piece goal all season. But Rothwell curled in a low delivery and Struijk met it sweetly enough to send it into the back of the net. Better late than never and there was as much relief and joy as there was mischief in the ‘we’ve only scored from a corner’ chants that rang out.

On came Daniel James, Manor Solomon and then Joseph to give Leeds even more of a threat on the break, because Sheffield United finally had to commit men forward in their attempts to rescue something, anything from a dismal performance. Piroe got the ball wide on the left, trotted and then darted forward before playing a perfect pass into Joseph, who held off Sydie Peck and added the insurance. A 2-0 scoreline was the very least that Leeds deserved and Wilder summed it up neatly when he described the home side as better in every department.

Being better is one thing, proving it with a scoreline is quite another. At times that has been the criticism of this Leeds team. But if they take care of the ball as well as they did in this one, they will always be in with a chance. And if they take their chances as they did in this one, they will be in with a chance of a title.

Squad depth and injuries remain the biggest concern - something Farke himself pointed out after hearing Wilder's Elland Road title prediction. Joshua Guilavogui's appearance in Leeds on Friday was no guarantee of a deal but it added weight to Farke's 'cautious optimism' that a free agent signing can be done. A third senior central midfielder would be most ideal given the length of time Ampadu and Gruev are expected to be out. It would be fascinating to know if Rothwell and Tanaka would ever have started multiple games together with a fit and healthy Ampadu and an available Gruev still in the picture. Regardless, circumstance has thrown this new partnership together and they look well capable of taking care of Leeds. Looking after them is now paramount for Farke and his staff, even if and when the cavalry arrives.