Leeds United obstacle cleared as Whites man asks big question of Farke — Graham Smyth's Verdict — YEP 9/3/26

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United have given themselves a decent chance of a Wembley visit by beating Norwich City and overcoming an obstacle that has caused so many to stumble in the FA Cup.

Daniel Farke sent a team with nine changes out onto the Elland Road pitch, keeping only Gabriel Gudmundsson and Ethan Ampadu in the starting line-up. He would likely loved to have rested his left wing-back, yet with a paucity of other options the Swede had to start again. In the last round against Birmingham City Farke did rest Ampadu and that experiment lasted just 45 minutes. Farke has often spoken of how difficult it is for individuals to shine and collectives to click when rotation goes beyond the norm of two or three changes, so he took a risk with nine.

Despite the huge difference in personnel there was still a familiarity in Gudmundsson racing down the left and winning an early free-kick. Failing to make the most of the set-piece was also reminiscent of recent games.

But it was a clunky start from the hosts. They struggled to get their passing going, failed to move the ball smoothly through the lines or link defence with attack. Willy Gnonto wasn't in the game and nor was Dan James. There was a lack of central options when Jaka Bijol had the ball at the back. It took 15 minutes for them to work the ball from back to front with any real cohesion, Ampadu's pass to Lukas Nmecha letting him spin it wide to release Gudmundsson who won a corner. When Leeds wasted that chance too, Gudmundsson's frustration at having no obvious targets to hit summed it up.

When Leeds did put the ball in the net on 19 minutes, it was not only a goal every bit as ugly as the start to the game but it failed to count. A long ball saw Gnonto beat keeper Daniel Grimshaw to the punch and Nmecha was on hand to tuck home. VAR decided that Gnonto had used his arm and it remained 0-0.

Whether it was perceived injustice or simply the fact that they created a chance, both Elland Road and Leeds responded aggressively. James was set free down the right and passed the ball across the box for Nmecha, who failed to connect and claimed for a penalty that never came. Then Gudmundsson got into space and found the striker with a cross from the other side, which he controlled and sent high over the bar. Momentum was building and Gudmundsson was doing what he has done all season.

Undeterred, Leeds pushed again and again. The next time Gudmundsson got to the byline he so very nearly overran the ball, but slid to keep it in and cross. This time the ball found Sean Longstaff and he showed Nmecha how to do it, taking a touch, turning and volleying into the net in one smooth sequence of movements. A game crying out for quality suddenly had some and Leeds were ahead.

It was a good job Gudmundsson stayed in the team because approaching the break he was undeniably Leeds' best player. Getting to the byline yet again he pulled a dangerous ball back through the box that his team-mates were unable to finish off. The hosts had found their rhythm, though and played exclusively on the front foot. James' shot-cum-cross was headed in by an offside Gnonto as Norwich creaked. And then they cracked. James got it again on the right, his cross was nicked back into the path of Gudmundsson and he prodded in his first ever Leeds goal. The finish wasn't bad but his anticipation to take up such a dangerous position made it.

The Swede should have had a second assist before the break but despite finding Joel Piroe with another dangerous ball into the box, the forward turned it wide via a deflection. Though Farke would rather have watched his side put the game to bed definitively before half-time, going down the tunnel two goals to the good having not conceded anything like a chance was as comfortable as he could have hoped for.

It took Norwich 53 minutes to really trouble Leeds in any way. The first time they injected a bit of pace and quality into their attack they worked Liam Gibbs into the box, albeit with an acute angle to work with, and he blazed over. Bit by bit they began to show a lot more than they had in the first half. Jose Cordoba headed a dangerous free-kick delivery off target and Lucas Perri was called into action twice for relatively comfortable stops. But the play was taking place in Leeds' half of the pitch far more often than they would have liked. Had Anis Ben Slimane got his shot the right side of the woodwork, the deficit would have been halved, too. Norwich got in on the left, a deflected cut-back went between Perri and his near upright and the Norwich sub couldn't find the empty net at the back stick.

The game was broken up a little by substitutions which helped Leeds to stem the yellow tide and get forward themselves again. Gnonto fed Piroe and he looked up and curled a beautiful strike onto the crossbar via the fingertips of substitute keeper Vladan Kovacevic. Norwich's number 1 kept his side in it twice more, foiling Nmecha's near-post effort and then clawing the ball away from Piroe when James Justin headed goalwards from a corner. There was nothing he could do five minutes from time, however, when Nmecha slid the ball to Piroe on the right and he uncorked a trademark first-time finish to find the far corner and secure the quarter-final berth.

It has long been clear that the £10m Leeds United spent on Gudmundsson is some of the best money the club has spent in recent history but really hammered home the point in this game. Even when heavy rotation threatens to derail any rhythm that a team has built up in a season, quality can still shine through.

Before the game Farke challenged his players to grab the chance if it was afforded them, because that was another way to overcome the difficulties thrown up by rotation - difficulties that Leeds themselves have struggled with in cup games previous, difficulties that others encountered this very weekend. Bijol can say that he did. The centre-back was so comfortable on and off the ball, so aggressive when he needed to be and so good that he has asked a big question of Farke for next week against Crystal Palace. But what the Slovenian also did was play a big part in keeping Leeds superior to their visitors. Elsewhere in the side, players recently on the fringe cannot say they were quite as effective as Bijol but it was a lot better than the last round at Birmingham City.

As the stakes go up again in the next round, no matter who they face, Leeds will almost certainly have to improve again on this display against Norwich City. And while there's a discussion to be had about how much to rotate when this close to Wembley, Farke can at least look back on an occasion when it worked out just fine. Most importantly of all he can look forward to the draw. This is a real cup run and a tangible chance of history.