Portsmouth 1-0 Leeds United: Disco Nap — Square Ball 10/3/25

Late bus

Written by: Rob Conlon

If Leeds United are going to give themselves the best chance of shedding their early kick-off hoodoo, then perhaps it would aid their cause if they started turning up on time. For the second week running, Leeds arrived late for their lunchtime fixture. I’m not seriously suggesting United’s tardiness has had a major influence on the subsequent draw with West Brom and defeat at Portsmouth, but it certainly hasn’t helped and isn’t exactly reassuring, is it? If this Leeds team are heading towards a date with destiny, then I hope we can at least count on them to be punctual.

After all, Lord knows Joel Piroe can play like a man who spends his weekends rolling out of bed in the early afternoon, so if he’s going to be lacing his boots at that hour then Leeds should know to give themselves enough time beforehand to pump him with caffeine and uppers, like a cyclist about to attempt the Tour De France in the 1920s. Instead, Piroe dazedly stepped off the team bus, into the changing room, and onto the pitch still wiping the sleep from his eyes, having only had a brief moment to ask Sam Byram who Leeds were meant to be playing.

Piroe was at the heart of some of the most decisive moments in Leeds’ 1-0 loss at Fratton Park, wasting United’s two best chances of the game, hitting goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid’s legs after Manor Solomon’s shot had rebounded into his path from close range, before meeting Solomon’s cutback with an empty goal in front of him only to divert the ball over the bar. Add those misses to Schmid’s saves from a one-on-one with Junior Firpo — who also hit the bar with a header shortly afterwards — and Sam Byram from a corner, as well as a certain penalty denied on Dan James, and it all equalled a day that was never going to turn in Leeds’ favour.

But Leeds didn’t play well enough to turn those moments in their favour either. Piroe’s wastefulness was matched by James and Solomon enduring two of their quieter performances, albeit not so quiet as Brenden Aaronson, who continues to be both everywhere and nowhere all at once. Time after time Aaronson arrived at the ball a second too late, before running off after another lost cause like a dog chasing a balloon.

Behind the attack Ilia Gruev was restored to midfield to, in theory, add some stability to the side, only for Leeds to be overrun by Portsmouth’s energy, with Ao Tanaka uncharacteristically getting caught on the ball in his worst game for the club. Oh, and behind them Illan Meslier and Joe Rodon spoiled good performances until that point by dithering between each other to gift Portsmouth’s Colby Bishop the winning goal, with Meslier beaten to the ball on the edge of his six-yard box despite being stood on the edge of his penalty area with a twenty-yard headstart when a long pass was booted behind Leeds’ defence.

But apart from that! Leeds still had more than enough opportunities to get something out of the match. In two league games against Portsmouth this season, Leeds have created an xG (I know, I know) of 5.75 to Portsmouth’s 1.6, yet they’ve taken four points from those games and Leeds just one. Can Daniel Farke really do anything to fix that? I’m not sure, but he could have helped matters by recognising the hosts building momentum at the start of the second half and making changes early if only to disrupt their rhythm. Given the funk Leeds were in, it might not have been enough to win all three points, but it could have been decisive in avoiding defeat.

Like Farke, we should take heart from the fact that we know this team and these players don’t usually do this kind of thing too often:

“Why should there be an implosion? To create this amount of chances, it’s just simply to put them to bed. I would panic a little bit if Joel Piroe and Junior Firpo have not proved they can score out of these situations. If our defensive players would have allowed more often a goal like this I would panic a little bit. I know we can be much more effective.”

This was only Leeds’ fourth league defeat of the season, all by one goal to nil. They’re still top of the league, and still the side that until Sunday had gone seventeen games unbeaten. To steal a phrase from Howard Wilkinson, it’s time for everyone at the club to trust their swing, starting against Millwall on Wednesday night. What could possibly go wrong?