23rd August 2024. EFL Championship.
Well, hopefully that result and performance will silence the critics and calm the nerves. I thought we might end up treading water again for this game until the new faces arrived but this was a far more positive and aggressive performance than we saw against West Brom.
Perhaps we need to factor in that maybe, just maybe this Wednesday side is not very good but, even so, the addition of the quick feet and sharp thinking of Brenden Aaronson in place of the far less mobile Joel Piroe in the number ‘10’ role really seemed to unlock our midfield and spark this revival.
The only real criticism I’d dare to make on this performance was that, once again, we probably should have scored a few more goals.
Early in the game, Pascal Struijk had a great chance following a Leeds corner, heading Dan James’ cross narrowly wide from point-blank range. Brenden Aaronson fired a free-kick inches wide too and Mat Joseph had a glorious chance late on to top a terrific performance but blasted his shot way over the bar when a little composure was needed. No matter, Joseph had a hand in both goals and both were superb examples of what this Leeds team is capable of when they are all firing on all cylinders.
The first came at a nice time, midway through the first half and had more than a little of Bielsaball about it. Meslier played it short to Rodon and he touched it to Jayden Bogle. Bogle sent it up the right touchline to Dan James who performed a magical little flick to get the ball to Willy Gnonto. Willy motored through the middle and sent the ball forward and into the box for Mat Joseph to run onto and he tried to cut inside onto his left foot. He was cleared out by a defender but the ball broke to Brenden Aaronson and he showed coolness in bucket-loads as he shifted the ball onto his left foot and curled it past the diving Beadle in the home goal. Superb team football.
The second killed the game as a contest coming straight after the break. It was another swift Leeds counter-attack started with a lunging tackle by Junior Firpo. Ilia Gruev collected the loose ball but then Mat Joseph took it away from Gruev and shifted it onto his right foot. He was still deep in our half but he saw the run of Dan James and put the ball in the perfect spot inside the Wednesday left back for Dan to sprint onto. James easily outpaced the full back, drew the keeper, and then sensationally dinked the ball over him. Another top, top piece of football from Leeds.
As I say, there is a question mark as to just how bad this Wednesday team is, Sunderland put four past them last time out of course. There was still plenty to work on for Leeds too – I thought both our full-backs were very careless with the ball when often in promising attacking positions. It would please me greatly too if Illan Meslier would catch the ball now and again! There were those missed chances too but, we all know the squad needs reinforcements and, thankfully, we’ve now started to see them arrive. On this showing though, by the starting XI today, Daniel Farke already has a few tough decisions as to how the new lads can be introduced.
Suddenly, everything on planet Leeds looks a lot more positive and I hope the social media keyboard warriors now get behind the team, the manager and the club generally.
Sky Bet Championship
Sheffield Wednesday 0
Leeds United 2 (Aaronson 24’, James 48’)
Wednesday: Beadle (GK), Lowe (Smith 79’), Bernard, Iorfa, Ingelsson (Palmer 79’), Lowe (Johnson 89’), Bannan (C), Windass (Gassama 70’), Valentin (Ugbo 70’), Valery, Musaba. Subs not used: Charles, Kobacki, Ihiekwe, Fusire.
Leeds: Meslier, Bogle, Rodon, Struijk, Firpo, Gruev, Ampadu (C), Gnonto (Rothwell 88’), Aaronson (Gelhardt 90’), James (Byram 90’), Joseph (Piroe 84’). Subs not used: Darlow (GK), Cairns (GK), Debayo, Chambers, Crew.
Venue: Hillsborough
Attendance: 28,800
Referee: Simon Hooper
Booked: Bernard, Iorfa (Wednesday) Gnonto, James, Ampadu (Leeds)