Swansea City 3 Leeds United 4: Craziness and efficiency as Whites go top of the Championship — Yorkshire Post 24/11/24


By Stuart Rayner

"The only thing you can criticise is they are perhaps lacking a little bit of cutting edge but if we mention it too often it will be a game on Sunday when they are unbelievably efficient," said Daniel Farke when asked before the game what he made of Swansea City.

No prizes for guessing what happened next. For the first time August, Swansea scored three times.

But the good news for the Leeds United was that Farke’s side were even more efficient going forward than they were sloppy at the back in a bonkers game of nine shots on target and seven goals.

It was a long and particularly unpleasant journey to south Wales for the travelling hordes, but seeing their team go top of the Championship with a 4-3 win explained perfectly why so many made it.

Leeds' usual defensive security escaped them but it did not matter when they scored four from their four strikes on target, substitute Willy Gnonto snatching a stoppage-time victory it looked like substitute Florian Bianchini had snatched away seconds before.

It was Swansea who had set the ball rolling after some doziness from Ao Tanaka.

The Japan midfielder could be aggrieved when Dean Whitestone gave a soft free-kick for his challenge on Ronald, but not for giving Harry Darling a clear run onto the ball Matty Grimes clipped in from it in the ninth minute.

But from there, Tanaka was outstanding, picking pockets and breaking up play as the prelude to a showreel of passes.

One of them was the highlight of an equaliser of stunning precision, releasing Dan James when he picked up the ball just inside the Swans' half, and watching the Wales international play it along the ground for Manor Solomon to equalise.

Solomon had a good international break but so too did Liam Cullen, and he was able to put his side back in front.

It had not really been on the cards with James seeing a goalbound effort from a Joel Piroe pull-back cleared, and another wonderfully threaded throughball by Tanaka on the turn releasing Jayden Bogle via Brenden Aaronson, only for the wing-back to woefully overhit his cross.

But Goncalo Franco blazed wide after pouncing on Joe Rodon's block from a Cullen shot and three minutes into stoppage time Swansea took full advantage of more Leeds sloppiness.

Pascal Struijk gave the ball away, Ronald ran too easily inside Sam Byram and pulled the ball back for Cullen, a two-goal scorer for Wales against Iceland, to sidefoot his shot in off the far post beyond the desperate stretch of Meslier.

Both teams kept playing the same pleasing way in the second half and Leeds eventually got their reward.

It was the visitors on the front foot after the resumption, Bogle ballooning a volleyed cross when picked out by Joe Rothwell and James hitting a shot into the crowd of defenders in front of him.

With Leeds unable to find the net, Swansea did it for them. One more James was released down the right and once more he opted to play the ball in low. Desperate to stop it reaching Piroe, Cabango put it through his own net.

Leeds pushed for a winner but the frustration was growing in the away end as Farke ignored the pleas for Gnonto. Then, just as the Italian was ready to come on, Solomon scored his second of the game.

Struijk released Byram down the left and when he put it in, Solomon found the net then glanced backwards to check that the linesman had not flagged the full-back offside. He had not.

Solomon immediately made way for Gnonto, as Piroe did for Mateo Joseph.

Ironically, it was only after Farke brought on two more substitutes to lock the door – Josuha Guilavogui and Max Wober – that Swansea sneaked through it.

One Swansea substitute, Azeem Abdulai, had let them off the hook when his 86th-minute diving header missed the target.

Bianchini, who had also come off the bench, levelled matters in the 90th minute when he slid onto a Josh Tymon cross.

Leeds' balloon deflated, but in no time at all, the game had zig-zagged again.

Almost immediately Gnonto provided the calm finish to a move he started.

It was a chaotic finish to an entertaining game, and a sign of the character Leeds will need more of to return to the Premier League.

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