18th October 2024. EFL Championship
I really thought this would be tough for Leeds – little or no preparation after the break with at least three players facing long-haul flights and a late return, and facing a team arriving at Elland Road on a terrific unbeaten run with six consecutive clean sheets behind them - I thought we might come unstuck. It was a Yorkshire derby too and those used to give us problems! Not any more it seems; we’ve now gone 16 such derby games without losing!
I was surprised and pleased we were able to name an unchanged side from the one that was so cruelly robbed up at Sunderland before the break. Everyone was there, although I still worried that we might have some bad reaction to the international travelling and work load. But there was really no sign of that at all as Leeds came out of the blocks all guns firing from the start. The Blades held their own for the first 15 or 20 minutes without creating any openings but, thereafter, Leeds dominated much as we’ve done in every league game this campaign. The only thing missing was a goal in a first half littered with openings for Leeds.
Ramazani was the star man for much of the first half along with the ever improving Joe Rothwell in midfield pulling all the strings. It was those two combining for the first effort, a tight-angled shot from Largie that struck the outside of the post. Michael Cooper in the Blades’ goal did well to get down low to tip around another Ramazani shot too and then Largie was through again to hammer a low cross that Cooper again clasped. There were chances for others too – a poor clearance by Cooper was collected by Aaronson who reacted quickly but shot wide and then Willy Gnonto forced his way through but his shot was half-blocked before Cooper again claimed it. Junior Firpo was excellent on the left flank as was Jayden Bogle on the right and it was Firpo next to set up another chance for Aaronson but his side-footed volley rose over the bar. Possibly the only negative of the first half was that Aaronson again looked a bit light weight as he was too often brushed off the ball and he’s not a great finisher either!
We didn’t have long to wait in the second half before the openings began to flow for Leeds again with the visitors really not offering any threat at all. It was surely only a matter of time before we broke through although a lot of voices around me were already resigned to a goalless game! Early in the new half another lovely flighted cross from Junior Firpo found the chest of Willy Gnonto with a yard of space. The ball got away from him but Aaronson was again on hand to shoot but, not for the first time, blasted his effort into the Kop.
In the 68th minute Leeds twisted, on came the returning-from-injury pair of Solomon and Dan James – what a boost to have them available again and both looked sharp from their first involvement. Leeds immediately had a corner and, low and behold, we scored from it! The first set-piece goal since February this year, 21 games ago! The corner was delivered by Joe Rothwell from the Leeds left and he sent it in low where it baffled a couple of defenders but not Pascal Struijk who had clearly rehearsed this one. He met it on the half-volley and smashed it into the roof of the net! The Leeds faithful were soon singing “Score from a corner, we’ve only scored from a corner” with delicious irony! 28 games we'd gone without scoring from a corner, we'd had 178 corners without a goal before this one!
In the 79th minute, Mateo Joseph replaced Largie Ramazani and Joseph immediately went to Joel Piroe and passed on the instructions as to how the two were to interact. It was obviously a plan to play Piroe behind Joseph and, with a couple of minutes left, it worked a treat. The Blades had by now been well and truly blunted and looked tired and out of ideas as a poor through ball was intercepted by Junior Firpo. Firpo touched it to Solomon and then jogged wide to collect a clever ball from Manor down the line. Piroe picked up the pace, spotted the run of Joseph in behind Sydie Peck and the through ball was perfect. It was just left to Joseph to use his strength to hold off his marker and then to stretch as he fell to poke the ball past Cooper.
A good word for the ref too in this one, Lewis Smith was a rare thing this season, a decent ref! He wasn't perfect but he let the game flow and was largely unnoticed which is always a good thing!
We have now played four of the top five sides (Leeds being the fifth of them of course) and next up it’s Watford on Tuesday, the team currently 6th. So, far we are yet to see a side anywhere near as good as we are, we’ve outplayed every team we’ve faced in the Championship and only a few rogue moments have prevented us from bagging a lot more points than we have. It’s all looking good at the moment folks!
Sky Bet Championship
Leeds United 2 (Struijk 69’, Joseph 90’)
Sheffield United 0
Leeds: Meslier (GK), Bogle, Firpo (Byram 90’), Struijk (C), Rodon, Rothwell, Piroe (Bamford 10’), Aaronson (James 68’), Ramazani (Joseph 79’), Tanaka, Gnonto (Solomon 68’). Subs not used: Darlow (GK), Schmidt, Debayo, Crew.
Sheffield United: Cooper (GK), Arblaster (C), Souttar, Hamer (Peck 61’), Moore, O’Hare (Campbell 61’), Burrows, Ahmedhodzic, Shackleton (Gilchrist 61’), Souza (Brewster 81’), Norrington-Davies (Rak-Sakyi 77’). Subs not used: Davies (GK), McCallum, Robinson, Brooks.
Venue: Elland Road
Attendance: 36,695
Referee: Lewis Smith
Booked: Firpo (Leeds) Souza, Arblaster (Sheffield United)