Daniel Farke's big Leeds United challenge as Millwall do the expected — Graham Smyth's Verdict — YEP 7/11/24

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United's defeat at Millwall and how it came to be can be disappointing, but hardly surprising.

The boos from Millwall fans as one of these increasingly-popular fancy light shows began said it all about the importance of knowing who you are and acting accordingly. When the football began, at least, the Lions reverted to type and produced something a lot closer to what was expected from the home fans.

Leeds believe they are a Premier League club in all but name, big enough to fill a 53,000-seater stadium. They are of course well enough supported to sustain top flight football and as long as the way in which the club is run hits the same mark then the Premier League should be and stay their home, if they get there. Daniel Farke believes the football identity he has installed will get them there. The squad is certainly good enough to take them there. In terms of individual talent it is better than Millwall's. But knowing you're better and acting accordingly in order to prove it can be a difficult thing to do in the Championship.

Farke knew who Millwall were and what they're good at under Neil Harris. Even without delivery specialist Joe Bryan the Lions' danger was still expected to come from the dead ball. Leeds defended the first one well enough and yet Jake Cooper still got up to win the header, albeit without threatening Illan Meslier's goal.

The giant centre-back won the next header too, getting up largely unhindered but again he was unable to test Meslier. When Cooper didn't win the third, his team-mate Japhet Tanganga did. Meslier remained untroubled but a pattern was emerging.

As for Leeds, they played their football with patience, choosing to look after the ball and mostly ignoring risky passes in favour of control. But with 18 minutes gone they had their first shot at goal, a relatively tame effort from Brenden Aaronson, and then followed it up with three further efforts inside the next two minutes. Lukas Jensen saved from Joel Piroe, Willy Gnonto's drive was deflected wide and Joe Rodon flashed a header across the face of goal from the resulting corner. It was a flurry of action but could not be described as a flurry of good chances.

The more Leeds played their football, the more the realisation dawned that beyond set-pieces Millwall were offering very little. And without the ball they couldn't win free-kicks or corners. With Leeds so dominant possession wise and territorially, it wasn't until six minutes from the break that the hosts got another chance to put the ball in the area. When they did, with a similar ball to the others Cooper won, he headed this one into the mixer and Tanganga reacted first to steer home an opener on the volley. It was Millwall being and doing Millwall.

The challenge for Leeds was to prove that in the face of a 1-0 deficit against a side with a superb record of defending those, that being and doing Leeds would be sufficient to rescue a result.

An immediate flash of urgency as the second half began held some promise. Smart first-time forward passing unlocked the home side on the right and Aaronson's cross was headed wide by Gnonto. It was a missed chance, a good one at that but better than anything created in the first 45 minutes. So too was a corner routine shortly after. Joe Rothwell rolled the ball along the floor into the run of Junior Firpo and he missed it completely. Seconds later James curled for the near post from distance and Jensen juggled then held it.

But poor decision making and a lack of ideas when met by a well-organised wall of blue and white shirts became more and more apparent as the half wore on. Joel Piroe put the ball in the net and the flag went up. James put a volley high over the bar. Leeds put Jensen under no real strain and Cooper put his enormous frame and head to good use. Crosses and corners were defended. Shooting positions wasted. The back four was not torn asunder. And nothing Farke tried, neither substitutions nor a pair of formation changes, did anything to alter the inevitability. Not for the first time in such a scenario all the possession and an abundance of attacking players did little to suggest a goal would ever come, and a fourth consecutive away day failed to bring victory.

Everyone knew what Millwall would do and they did it. Perhaps everyone knew too well what Leeds would do in response. Maybe the loss of Georginio Rutter, a player who was almost impossible to predict when he got on the ball, has hampered Leeds’ ability to be more unpredictable this season. So when Gnonto, another who can spring surprises and tricks on defenders, is off the boil and when Largie Ramazani is out injured and when Manor Solomon still looks so rusty, the unpredictability has to come from elsewhere. From Farke, even.

His full-time statement that this is football and sometimes these things happen cannot be argued. Leicester City, as he pointed out, lost 11 times last season en route to the title. A first defeat in nine should be no cause for a meltdown - Leeds' last loss before this one came back in September. Yet a game like this and the way it panned out, even if a set-piece goal 1-0 win was an entirely plausible possibility beforehand, still lays down a challenge for the manager and his players. If you're better than this, if you're better than Millwall and your plan is superior, you have to show it. You have to act accordingly.