Leeds United pre-game slap lacks follow up as 'judgement day' arrives — Graham Smyth Brighton Verdict — YEP 2/11/25

By Graham Smyth

YEP chief football writer Graham Smyth's verdict from a disappointing Leeds United away-day.

In the final minutes before Leeds United took on Brighton their captain landed a playful slap on the back of Georginio Rutter's head. The former Whites player was reintroducing himself to Thorp Arch backroom staff and cuddling his old physio when Ampadu struck. That was about as close as he and Leeds got to Rutter and the home side all afternoon.

Leeds have made much of Daniel Farke's willingness to adapt this season, going for a more physical, robust and at times direct approach. The aim has been to make them competitive and give them a chance of survival, in a way that totally escaped the last six newly promoted teams. But at the Amex Stadium they were not competitive over 90 minutes, far from it. Their physicality rarely showed and if it did, it barely bothered Brighton in the slightest.

After the game Farke lamented a poor start for his side and they did create their own problems early on. Brighton were dominant in possession and threatened whenever Leeds were sloppy. Lucas Perri's loose pass put Ethan Ampadu under pressure and Yasin Ayari's tame effort spared the Brazilian's blushes.

But Leeds failed to heed the warning or sharpen up sufficiently and against a side with Brighton's attacking quality that was asking for trouble. Yankuba Minteh's dinked ball put Mats Wieffer in behind, his cross took Perri out of the equation and Danny Welbeck was where he always is to do what he's been doing with such regularity of late. It was a pretty goal from a Brighton point of view and a cheap one for Leeds, who not for the last time watched a forward ghost into a danger area to finish with relative ease.

The visitors' immediate response was fine, they settled and they did build a way into the game with time on the ball and time in the right area of the pitch. What they did not do was build any belief that they could get close enough to lay a glove on the home side.

All their effort brought them initially was a Jayden Bogle cross that was too far ahead of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, a 25-yard free-kick that Sean Longstaff sent miles over and a corner that amounted to a Brighton counter. Barring the accuracy, it was at least better than the opening 11 minutes.

As the half wore on the only real problems Leeds encountered were, yet again, those they created for themselves. A sloppy touch or an undercooked pass would give Brighton a sniff and they would suddenly look dangerous. It was Leeds' own passing out from the back that invited pressure, a loss of the ball and a Welbeck shot that wasn't far past the post.

Even when Leeds were a little wayward high up the pitch Brighton threatened. Ampadu tried to force it with Leeds camped around the edge of the Brighton box and seconds later Minteh was sending Jaka Bijol to the turf and drilling a shot just wide.

With such quality just waiting to pounce on any error, Brighton were content to allow Leeds a measure of control and possession and defended with comfort. Calvert-Lewin was unable to get the best of Lewis Dunk, Noah Okafor had the beating of his man but without end product and Brenden Aaronson got into good areas without receiving the ball. When he did, he too often lost it.

It wasn't until the last minute of the half that Brighton looked likely to concede and even then their keeper wasn't made to work. Aaronson teed up Longstaff in the area for a shot that was deflected over the bar.

Familiar issues resurface in Leeds United second-half vs Brighton

The second half was a similar story but a worse one. It got off to a slightly better start, Leeds keeping things tighter than they had in the first half's opening stanza. Going forward they had Okafor but not much else and he had nothing that really hurt Brighton. His cross for Calvert-Lewin was overhit, his next effort was too close to the goalkeeper. Calvert-Lewin offered little more than that. Though he battled to get a shot away it was always curling in the wrong direction and sailed harmlessly wide.

Farke made changes to his midfield and attack on the hour mark. On 64 minutes a goal arrived, at the wrong end. Again it was depressingly easy for Brighton. Minteh left Gabriel Gudmundsson for dead, he pulled the ball back and Bijol watched as Diego Gomez ran in to finish. A third and killer blow arrived six minutes later. Leeds made a mess of a bouncing ball, numerous players failing to deal with it and giving Georginio the space and time to do what he does. His pull back found Gomez, free in the box, and he finished. It was largely the same goal, conceded three times.

Perri prevented things from getting worse with a fine save from Ayari and had Lukas Nmecha taken a better touch when he was played into the area he might have added a consolation, but both his effort and Anton Stach's follow up were kept out.

Anything that followed Brighton's third was only ever going to be damage limitation because this was a game that was gone on 64 minutes.

As Farke keeps reminding everyone, Leeds are a newly promoted side and if numerous individuals chuck in a poor performance then they will always find trouble for themselves. That was certainly the case on the south coast. But nothing Farke tried in the second half seemed to change things for the better. This defeat brought up the 10-game mark and there will be a temptation to judge him and his team on what happened at the Amex. The bigger picture is that they have been more competitive than this, but it is not a picture without dark spots. A haul of 11 points has almost been accrued in spite of the lack of individual quality in attacking areas. Everything Leeds have achieved so far has to be seen in the context of what did and did not happen in the summer window.

But if your squad is light on final third killers then the midfield throwing in individual and collective sub-par performances and full-backs coming out second best in their individual battles will kill Leeds' chances of away points. Even if you're toothless up top you can still sink your teeth into an away point with dogged defending. For all the talk of what they lack in attack, there have already been too many lapses of concentration and instances of lacklustre marking this season. Free men in the area. Free headers. Freebies offered up to teams who need no charity.

Eleven points is not a bad total, being outside the relegation zone is the aim and right now the reality. So the report card reads as follows: Leeds are doing okay but they could and should be doing better. And Brighton has to be a blip.