No excuses in Leeds United warm-up act but main event needs more — Graham Smyth's Derby Verdict — YEP 8/12/24

By Graham Smyth

The YEP Verdict on Saturday’s victory against Derby County.

No midweek game in the build-up to Leeds United versus Derby County and no shortage of ability and experience on the bench meant no excuses.

The return of Ethan Ampadu to the bench, where he sat next to Max Wober and Josuha Guilavogui essentially gave Daniel Farke three captains among his substitutes.

Willy Gnonto dropped to the bench, where he sat next to Largie Ramazani, Mateo Joseph and Patrick Bamford, giving Farke attacking threat among his changes.

There is an argument to be made that almost all of the aforementioned would walk into the Derby team and many of the teams in this season's Championship.

What the make-up of Farke's squad also gave this game was a lopsided appearance.

Pointing out the gulf in class between Leeds and their 2024-promoted visitors is in no way disrespectful to Paul Warne and his men - he did it himself after the game - but it simply added to the expectation that the 2025 Premier League hopefuls should roll over the latest new arrivals at Elland Road.

And having come on the back of a deflating defeat at Blackburn Rovers, there will have been no small measure of relief for Farke that his men did a professional job in a 2-0 win.

This was a game Leeds have seen countless times before, but familiarity cannot breed contempt or complacency.

Derby set up as everyone expected them to and at times in the first half boasted a six-man back line. Leeds saw almost all of the ball and unlike a week previous at Ewood Park, started with sufficient urgency.

Jayden Bogle, Pascal Struijk and Joe Rodon all won early duels to set the tone but it was Joe Rothwell who showed the most noticeable improvement in performance levels.

He was a man on a mission from the off and kept driving Leeds forward, even if when they got there they found significant traffic.

Manor Solomon and Daniel James attempted to create space for the midfield to play in by dribbling the ball deep down either flank, but before they could truly hit their rhythm Leeds were hit by an injury blow.

Junior Firpo, whose build-up to the game was disrupted by a foot injury, clutched his hamstring and then sank to the turf. On came Wober and on pressed Leeds, without missing much of a beat. It was the usual football, played the usual way in the face of the usual compact defensive opposition.

But with Brenden Aaronson seeing a shot blocked from a promising position and Rodon missing with a header from an even better position, there was a familiarity to the frustration that began to build up.

When Aaronson took a nice pass from Ao Tanaka, spun and shot for goal only to see Jacob Widell Zetterstrom palm it wide, you could almost hear 33,000-odd minds wondering if it would be one of those days.

But as Farke often says, if you can't score from open play then you've got to score from a set-piece.

Rothwell curled in the resulting corner, Rodon got this header right and Leeds had the first goal.

A second in the final minute of the first half, from the boot of Wober, from open play, made the second half all but a formality. Leeds maintained their grip on the game and made more chances.

Solomon went close, Joel Piroe went even closer and with Rothwell bossing things and Rodon completely in his groove there was no way back for a Derby team that struggled to exit their own half. One solitary shot from distance and one low cross were the sum total of Illan Meslier's work in a processional 45 minutes.

When a game is this much in hand for such a long time, it makes the problems facing this team a secondary concern and an issue for another day.

But even in this fixture, there were glimpses of what Farke must still iron out.

Piroe, besides one shot that he was unlucky to see saved, was not enough of a factor and when dangerous crosses came into the box he was rarely in position to profit.

Mateo Joseph came off the bench and his luckless, confidence-draining spell simply carried on.

Behind the striker, Aaronson continues to toil without a great deal of reward and having played such a lot of football he could maybe do with a break.

The number 10 position does not have what you would call a natural candidate and though Farke has spoken of both Rothwell and Tanaka potentially playing there, he painted them more as emergency stop-gaps in his post-game press conference.

Plainly, there will be far more difficult tests ahead for Leeds than the one Derby presented.

Middlesbrough is one of those. One of the most difficult, without doubt.

In a game like that, any dysfunction in any area of the pitch or even one misfiring forward could prove costly.

But a return to winning ways and a near perfect home record will allow Leeds to go into Tuesday's big game with big confidence.

Derby County were a warm-up act and not a very good one.

Boro is a main event contest in which Leeds will need all their experience and all their ability.

If they want to call themselves the best team in this division, though, they can still have no excuses.