Leeds United new emergency weapons obliterate old kryptonite — Graham Smyth's Plymouth Verdict — YEP 3/11/24

By Graham Smyth

With new weapons and the same old control Leeds United are quickly becoming a nightmare at Elland Road.

What Plymouth Argyle needed as they became the latest LS11 victims was a player who could shoot from halfway. Alas, Wayne Rooney was on the touchline, 'not hearing' the mockery of the crowd, not controlling a stray ball that came his way and not laying a glove on his opposite number. No shots, no corners, no xG [expected goals] and no chance of a result.

But for all the Elland Road masses enjoyed poking fun at the former Manchester United man, what else could he do? Setting up with a six-man defence when Leeds had the ball, Plymouth tried to protect themselves and were still beaten inside 38 minutes by which time it was 3-0.

Daniel Farke says it shows the respect that teams are giving Leeds. "To be honest, more than 50 per cent of all the teams we've faced have chosen against us a different line-up than they normally do," he said. "It's difficult to prepare. They quite often chose to play with five at the back, today it was six. We were prepared but we didn't really expect it, Wayne always goes for it and is proactive and plays football. It's proof of what we've done really well, they come with respect and try to sit deep. You need to find the key to open them, it's a tactical challenge."

Even Leeds' title challengers Sheffield United came up with a bespoke plan for Elland Road, not that it worked. And if parking the bus, Leeds’ old kryptonite, doesn't work, it begs the question what will? Chris Wilder felt that going toe-to-toe with Leeds would have been foolhardy and there's no doubt that Rooney was of a similar mind. Fighting fire with fire against a team so adept at breaking quickly and punishing errors might have torched his side's confidence entirely ahead of what are tantamount to must-win fixtures against Portsmouth and Derby County.

His gameplan became evident almost immediately as Leeds dominated the first five minutes, took the ball off a 6-3-1 shaped Argyle with ease and set up camp in the visitors' half. The expectation was for a comfortable Leeds win but the reality can sometimes be different and the longer the dominance went unrewarded, the more it was possible for frustration to set in and the Pilgrims to become emboldened.

In such games the first goal has to arrive at the right end of the pitch and the sight of Joel Piroe firing over from Ao Tanaka's inviting cross was not what Farke wanted.

Yet his emergency midfield of Tanaka and Rothwell, forged by the loss to injury of Ethan Ampadu and Ilia Gruev, has given Farke a new array of weapons in his war on parked buses. Where there was once a temptation to crab side to side in search of space and an opening, they point Leeds towards goal. Relentlessly. Against Plymouth they both obliterated this season’s previous highest tally of passes into the final third in a single game. Tanaka's instinct is to play forward when possible but he almost always looks after the ball whatever he opts to do. He was imperious against Argyle. Rothwell looked to play over the top and round the corner. And though Argyle might have defended the first ball, their back line was pushed back and space opened up for Leeds's attackers to threaten. When a pass isn't on, Rothwell looks to drive forward into space with what his old Blackburn Rovers boss Tony Mowbray calls 'breathtaking' quickness on the ball.

Leeds can hurt you in areas elsewhere, too. Sam Byram sent Daniel James away down the right. Junior Firpo did the same for Willy Gnonto. And even if crosses were often cut out, the game was being played exclusively in the Plymouth half and the pressure was building. Patience eventually paid off when the Whites showcased another weapon.

A corner was cleared to Gnonto, he teed up James and the winger seemed to run out of space and time for a shot before defying a lack of backlift and poking a beautiful fierce effort past the dive of Daniel Grimshaw. Farke explained after that shots from outside the area or chipped balls can lead to second balls or rebounds that his attackers can follow in and break onto.

That was exactly how goal number two arrived, three minutes later. Leeds pressed the play into the area, Tanaka tried a shot and it bounced around before landing at the feet of Piroe, who doesn't tend to miss from six yards.

Rooney was in a living nightmare when the third went in. James crossed to the feet of Piroe in the box, the striker's backheel didn't work out but Aaronson followed up to crash home and secure the three points seven minutes before the break.

Plymouth came out for the second half with Andre Gray and an intention to position a few less bodies in the back line. It stemmed the bleeding, at least, but did nothing to help them find a way back into the game. And once Leeds worked their way around the new shape and began to play out again, they could have added more goals. Aaronson played in Gnonto for a golden chance that he dragged wide.

Farke wasn't missing his chance to keep legs fresh for the midweek trip to Millwall, though. On came Josuha Guilavogui and teenagers Sam Chambers and Charlie Crew for a hat-trick of debuts. All three could have capped their first Elland Road appearances with big moments. Guilavogui had a close-range header saved. Chambers got into the area and couldn't pick out a man with his cut-back. Crew set his sights from 25 yards and was denied by Grimshaw.

There were no more goals but if one had arrived it would only have been at one end, such was the total control exerted by Farke's men.

Winning with such a degree of comfort at home makes drawing away at Bristol City just fine. Winning at home and drawing away will get the job done this season. There might be an argument to make about ruthlessness but who was in the mood for arguing as Elland Road cheered Guilavogui's every touch and then everyone's every touch? For the second time in 2024 Rooney will wake the day after a visit to Leeds hoping it was all just a bad dream.