Leeds sniffed vulnerability and went for the kill — Mail 14/9/26

Leeds sniffed vulnerability and went for the kill in 4-1 horror show for Newcastle, writes CRAIG HOPE - this was a warning over where their season could end up, while Whites eye race for Europe

By CRAIG HOPE, CHIEF FOOTBALL REPORTER

Identical records coming into this, poles and goals apart coming out. Leeds bullied and bettered Newcastle and are deservedly up to third in the Premier League.

Their unbeaten start is genuine and so are the prospects of them challenging for European football this season, nearly a quarter of a century after their last continental campaign.

Newcastle’s start always felt less real, and so it proved on a night when Daniel Farke’s side were as brilliant and boisterous as those in the stands. Elland Road was a bear pit and, from the off, it was clear that their visitors were in for a mauling. To think, they’re in the process of making this place even bigger and more intimidating.

Those words capture Dominic Calvert-Lewin, too. He should be in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad this week after a centre-forward showing that was as powerful as it was precise. He deserved two goals - the dubious awards panel gave his first to a strand of Jayden Bogle’s hair - but there is no such committee to rob him of the man-of-the-match prize.

‘It was a top-class performance during the whole game,’ said Farke. ‘But we can’t get cocky or too big-time. This should give us huge confidence going forward.

‘As for Dominic, he is one of the best strikers in the league in this form.’

For Newcastle, this was a night when the result finally caught up with performance. Unbeaten in three at the outset of the Premier League and lauded for their summer business, autumn and winter might not be so cheery on the evidence of this horror show.

Matthias Jaissle’s side were three down by half-time, and it was no surprise at all. Be that on the basis of what played out here or, more so, performances of the past 10 days. An unconvincing 1-0 win at Millwall in the Carabao Cup came on the back of an equally sketchy 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth.

This, then, was in the post, and Calvert-Lewin was the home side’s delivery man. He was not the only one to profit from opposition weak in the tackle, wayward in the pass and woefully short of ideas in attack. Leeds captain Ethan Ampadu bossed a midfield that was superior by every metric.

At times, you wondered if the hosts had an extra man. You wondered more how Newcastle have won such praise for their character and resilience in recent weeks. There were none of those traits on show this time.

Jaissle said: ‘Not only one thing went wrong. We couldn’t bring the fundamentals in the first half. We couldn’t match the intensity of Leeds, in duals or physicality. That should be the basics of football. Unforced errors were taking place. We needed to find the right reaction on the pitch, and we struggled with that.’

Newcastle’s numbers have not felt sustainable. They had conceded a league-high 45 shots over the first three games and, at the other end, their cumulative XG was just over one per 90 minutes.

This will infuriate traditionalists - those who cherish the scoreline - but an expected league position had Newcastle 19th going into this weekend.

A lot, it seemed, rested on the slender shoulders on Matias Fernandez-Pardo in reversing the numbers. The 21-year-old, a £51million marquee arrival from Lille this month, was making his full debut. ‘Eden Hazard without the end product’ was how one Belgian journalist described the forward on the day he signed, much to the irritation of black-and-white ears listening on local radio. So, was there any merit in the unflattering assessment?

After 25 minutes, the hot-takes felt cold, given Fernandez-Pardo had touched the ball only four times, and one of those was an accidental handball inside his own area. By the time he made way in the 57th minute, the touch count had reached 15, but none of them memorable. What Fernandez-Pardo learnt here is that speed of foot counts for nothing when faced with speed of thought.

‘We had to bury the game after a good start and that is what we did,’ said Farke.

Leeds’ third goal on the stroke of half-time was the one that sealed the zip on Newcastle’s body bag. That goal was about Calvert-Lewin’s force and Newcastle’s complete lack of it, the striker barging his way through Sven Botman before finishing from six yards.

The opener, 13 minutes earlier, was officially a Lewis Miley own goal, but it owed everything to Ao Tanaka, who started the move amid space in midfield and finished it amid space in midfield. It was his 20-yard shot that deflected in off the Newcastle youngster, who like many of his team-mates endured a torrid night. His midfield sidekick, Sean Steur, was guilty of the stray pass that set Leeds on their way to a second, when Calvert-Lewin headed in from a James Justin cross, only for replays to reveal the ball clipping the head of Bogle.

The fourth, in the 59th minute, was a smart Noah Okafor finish after he reacted quickest to a loose ball from a long throw-in. But Leeds had been quicker to first, second and third balls all night.

The home fans were chanting for five when Baz Toure nicked an 89th-minute consolation. The away end had long since lost their voice and their solemn mood reflected a team who had made precious little noise on the pitch. This was a brutal reality check and serves as a warning for where their season could be headed.

Leeds, meanwhile, are looking up - at Arsenal and Manchester City.