Leeds United and the nine point 'what if?' — Graham Smyth's Aston Villa Verdict — YEP 22/2/26
By Graham Smyth
The Verdict on Leeds United's encouraging draw at Aston
Villa that could have been so much more.
Leeds United can afford to wonder 'what if' this season
without losing their heads entirely but only because they're on course to keep
the main thing the main thing.
Aston Villa on Saturday presented one of the stiffest tests
of the season. Third in the Premier League, just eight points behind leaders
Arsenal with a game in hand going into the Villa Park clash with Leeds, the
Villains squad is packed with individual quality and match winners. In Unai
Emery they have a proven top-class manager and even when their performances
don't sparkle they can come up with points, so they had every reason for
confidence.
That it took an 88th minute goal off Tammy Abraham's knee to
rescue a point against Leeds speaks volumes about the newly-promoted side's
competitiveness. That it took an 88th minute sucker punch to drop two of the
three points Leeds held in their hands for so long spoke to a season-long theme
of points dropped late on in games. Fulham away, Bournemouth at home, Man City
away, Newcastle away and now Villa. Nine points in all that they let slip
through their fingers. Nine points that would have them sitting eighth and
contending for European qualification.
That's one way to look at it. Another is to say they fought
to get themselves in games and performed to keep themselves in games, clawing
their way into positions from which they could pick up points only for a
combination of individual errors and Premier League quality to deny them. But
by performing that way, even when they have not rewarded themselves fully, they
have kept picking up momentum along the way to remain consistently competitive.
Compete consistently enough and you earn points. Leeds have 31 in the bag
already and after the free hits of Villa and Man City there will be some very
winnable games at Elland Road. Safety is the main thing this season and the
point at Villa helps keep them on track to secure it.
One of the reasons they were able to come away from
Birmingham with a valuable point was the return of a man whose presence will be
vital in the run-in. Anton Stach missed three games with a hip problem and he
was missed. His return at Villa was a tour de force. He gave Leeds more of a
physical presence in the early stages, and height. He challenged and beat
Tyrone Mings to a high ball and flicked the ball in behind for Dominic
Calvert-Lewin and the game's first chance. Had the striker's first touch been
better he would have been one-v-one with Emi Martinez. Instead Leeds settled
for a corner and two follow-up crosses that were defended.
James Justin's reading of the game and Ethan Ampadu's hunger
for the ball kept Villa from troubling Karl Darlow in goal. The Leeds back
line's offside trap worked well too. The best early action all came at the
other end. Playing quickly through the lines brought another, even better
chance. Stach was involved again. He took the ball from Calvert-Lewin's
knock-down and sprayed it out to Jayden Bogle. The wing-back curved a delivery
around the defence to put Calvert-Lewin in alone with the keeper and though his
first touch was better, it still left him with little time to get a shot off
and Martinez came up big.
When Leeds were sloppy in possession they invited pressure,
yet a combination of poor deliveries and even worse decision making let them
off the hook. When Leeds were sharp in possession they could be brave,
combination play unlocking space out wide so they could attack.
Villa were intent to show off how clever they could be from
set-pieces, under the watchful eye of their dead ball guru Austin MacPhee, but
only contrived to hand the ball back harmlessly to the visitors. And Leeds then
showed them how it was done. Ampadu was too quick and clever 10 yards outside
the area, drew a foul and Stach stepped up. The angle, the distance to goal,
his proximity to the ball and his body language all screamed clipped ball to
the back post. Instead he curled a beautiful shot into the very top corner,
catching Martinez off guard and too far across his goal to have any chance of
saving it. Leeds were a goal up and briefly had Villa on the ropes. Ilia Gruev
shot just over and Stach picked out Calvert-Lewin in the box instead of Brenden
Aaronson, who was screaming for it.
A team as good as Villa were always going to find a way to
threaten but right at the end of the half Karl Darlow produced a double save to
keep them out and the score remained 1-0 at the break, when illness forced
Gabriel Gudmundsson off. On came Jaka Bijol, with James Justin moving out to
left wing-back.
A second-half of absorbing pressure for Leeds United
Emi Buendia curling past the post inside two minutes of the
restart was a sign of how the second half might go, though Leeds initially
responded well. Ampadu combined great decisions on the ball with the
physicality Leeds needed off it. His challenge on Mings on the edge of the
Leeds box was as perfectly timed as it was selfless, putting his body on the
line to win possession and taking a heavy whack at the same time. The Whites
skipper needed treatment and then came back on to carry on where he left off. Smashing
into challenges. Running the ball from box to box. If it wasn't Ampadu it was
Stach, who produced a goal-saving block with Mings threatening after a scramble
in the box.
Jadon Sancho came on to ask new questions of Leeds and
Buendia struck the post, an offside Ollie Watkins tapping home the rebound.
Villa Park was equal parts urgency and frustration. Leeds were sitting deeper
and crying out for a foot on the ball, or at least some time in the Villa half.
On came Lukas Nmecha for Aaronson and his first touch so nearly doubled the
lead. Stach slid a good ball to Bogle, his cross was perfect and Nmecha's
diving header was just too close to Martinez, who saved. It was the first 'what
if?' Calvert-Lewin's strike, from a difficult angle, was the second. And when
Joe Rodon headed a ball that looked destined for the forehead of Calvert-Lewin
Leeds had a 'what if?' hat-trick.
Farke turned to Sean Longstaff with seven minutes remaining
and the German could have done no more. He put Leeds in the lead, did
everything in his power to try and help double it and did everything asked of
him defensively. What Longstaff came into was a side fighting tooth and nail
against a hail of attacks. Matty Cash and Sancho doubled up to threaten on the
right and Villa were equally as dangerous on the other side. That was where the
goal came from. A corner came in, Rodon was just beaten to the first ball and
Abraham stuck out a knee and deflected the ball over Calvert-Lewin's head by a
whisker and into the net.
Villa Park roared for one more but that was how it ended.
Having tasted the lead for so long, Leeds were always going to be left with a
sour taste at full-time. More points dropped from winning or drawing positions
but a point that all-but the chronically-entitled would have settled for at
3pm. A point that was always going to be difficult to secure and a point closer
to safety. Questions asked of Farke at full-time attempted to explore the
possibility of doing things differently to come away with a win but Leeds have
no God-given right to snuff out the Premier League's best attacks for 90-plus
minutes. The job they did for so long was an impressive one and only one
individual aerial duel and a scruffy knee finish deprived them of three points.
The main thing this season for Farke and Leeds is to stay in away games long
enough to have a chance of a point or more and on that front it was job done.
What ifs can drive to distraction and they can hurt, but not fatally - not if
you have performed as Leeds have and taken as many points as they have this
season. A good result is a good result.
