Leeds United 3 Plymouth Argyle 0: Whites have a party at unambitious Wayne Rooney's expense — Yorkshire Post 2/11/24
By Stuart Rayner
Leeds United had a party at Wayne Rooney's expense at Elland
Road on Saturday.
The last time the former England captain brought a team to
the home of the Whites, Birmingham City lost 3-0 and he was sacked the next
day.
The scoreline was the same when Plymouth Argyle's visited,
but mainly because Leeds took pity on them in the second half, prioritising
handing out debuts over plumping up their goal difference.
Leeds showed patience, ruthlessness then benevolence,
keeping something in the tank with a trip to Millwall on Wednesday. They have
gone up a gear or two since the October international break when injuries might
have suggested the opposite – and they were decent before it.
Even the Plymouth manager's touch deserted him when he went
to control a ball kicked out of play in his direction in the second half.
It was hardly Leeds' fault that Plymouth parked the bus but
left the keys in the ignition. The Whites might have battered Bristol City
without scoring but hoping for them to do it two weekends running was no kind
of tactic at all from Rooney and the home side did not let him get away with
it.
We should have known what was coming when Plymouth numbers
two and three lined up either side of midfield. When Leeds had the ball – which
was virtually all afternoon – they dropped in to play their shirt numbers,
full-backs in a back six. Even going 3-0 did not stop the utterly unambitious
"plan".
Eye of the Tiger played as the teams emerged for the second
half. Rooney's team showed the eye of a short-sighted poodle.
So it became a question of whether Leeds could break down
the mass of yellow. It took them half an hour, Dan James producing an excellent
finish, but once they did it was just a question of how many. Three was the
answer.
It took 10 minutes for Leeds to put a shot on target but all
the while they were wearing the Pilgrims down and getting their eye in.
Joel Piroe lifted an Ao Tanaka pass over the bar, James
blazed a short corner high and wide, and coming over a defender, Junior Firpo
was able to head Brenden Aaronson's cross but not dangerously. At least Daniel
Grimshaw got to use his gloves.
Midway through the first half Piroe hit a post, Sam Byram
ignoring pleas to shoot with his weaker left foot and instead picking out the
striker who connected well but was just a fraction out with the radar. Tanaka
had a 30-yarder beaten away minutes later.
The game had just ticked into its second half-hour when
Leeds scored. Eight minutes later they led 3-0.
An ever so slightly heavy James touch as Willy Gnonto laid a
half-cleared corner to him forced him to poke slightly at the ball as two
defenders threatened to win it but his direction and power were spot, giving
the goalkeeper no chance.
You always suspected once Leeds got one the floodgates would
be unable to withstand the pressure and two minutes later Piroe doubled the
lead, Tanaka's shot bouncing into the turf and off defenders. Piroe controlled
the loose ball and finished.
Such predatory instincts are normal for Piroe, less so
Aaronson but he showed them too in the 38th minute. When Piroe's backheel
ricocheted off a defender, the American pounced.
Bafflingly, Plymouth stuck plan A until the interval.
Bringing on a second striker in Andre Gray for the second half improved things,
but only up to a point.
In an attempt to inject some interest, Leeds manager Daniel
Farke gave debuts to Sam Chambers and Josuha Guilavogui, whose initial touches
were ole-ed with relish.
Tanaka's hopelessly wide shot, Gnonto's dragged effort and
the Piroe effort which deflected comfortably to Grimshaw had been the only
moments of note before the 66th-minute double-substitution. Teenage Wales
international Charlie Crew would make his senior club debut with four minutes
to play.
Crew nearly had his moment in the third added minute,
forcing Grimshaw to tip over. He held Guilavogui's header from the corner.
Plymouth, and Rooney, had suffered enough.