6th December 2025. English Premier League
Wow! Where to begin with that? No one would have guessed what would transpire in the second half after a cagey first 45 minutes without a single shot on target. Liverpool looked sharp and bossed the first-half possession, holding 65%, but whisper it quietly, Leeds looked comfortable. The closest Liverpool came to scoring was a shot from the edge of the area that clipped the top of the Leeds crossbar.
BUT before we get into the “spirit” and “fight” Leeds showed, I think we have to acknowledge that, once again, defensively we were very, very poor. Defence has been our Achilles' heel all season. Too many sloppy, soft goals have been conceded, many at crucial times in games, robbing us of a number of points that would have made our current position far more favourable. In fact, the only thing that tempered my annoyance at the nature of the goals we conceded yesterday was that Liverpool looked almost as bad as we did in defence!
Another feature of this season's many goals we’ve conceded is that they often come just after a break. It’s almost as if we have a problem ‘warming back up’ or getting our game heads back on. So too, it happened against Liverpool: two goals scored within the first five minutes after half-time, both filed in the category of “horrible”.
As we entered the third minute after the break, Joe Rodon attempted a ludicrous cross-field pass, midway in his own half, seemingly unaware that Etitike was lurking near Ethan Ampadu, whom we presume the Rodon attempted pass was aimed at. Ethan looked half-asleep too and slow to react, belatedly realising the danger. Etitike was in a prime Premier League state of awareness, though, and he collected the ball and shot past Perri. It was a shocker.
Maybe it was a shock to the Leeds system, but incredibly, two minutes later, we were at it again. Yet another feature of our goals conceded this season has been the sheer number of times we’ve been done down our left side – it was the reason Daniel Farke tried Justin and Willy Gnonto in place of Gudmundsson and Okafor a few games ago, but that didn’t work, and we shipped a goal inside a few minutes of that experiment starting! Against Liverpool, we did it again. Gabby Gudmundsson tried to work his way past Conor Bradley but failed miserably. Bradley won the ball and was soon in the clear behind the Leeds back line. A simple low cross then set a challenge for Lucas Perri and Etitike to battle out… and the Liverpool man looked braver and quicker to poke the ball in from close range. No Leeds fan can tell me they didn’t think that was it for the day.
BUT, now let’s focus on the good stuff! All season, Leeds have at least shown that they possess spirit in bucket loads; we never give up, and our propensity to ship soft goals doesn’t yet seem to have blunted our enthusiasm. Of course, in a situation like we were in, two goals down to the current English Champions, you need a bit of luck too, or, in this case, you need the opposition to show they are vulnerable to the odd clanger too!
Credit to Leeds, though, with a change of formation and fresh legs, we clawed our way back into the contest, with help from some equally dire defending by Liverpool. Willy Gnonto was brought down when going nowhere on the byline, and Dom Calvert-Lewin smashed in the resulting penalty. Hope was rekindled with twenty minutes still to play.
Incredibly, just as Liverpool did to us, we repaid the compliment, and within two minutes, the Elland Road atmosphere went to a new level as Anton Stach was allowed to crab across the visitors’ area, left to right, before Liverpool left a lovely gap for him to strike at goal. Two Liverpool defenders turned their backs on the shot… at least we don’t do that! 2 – 2, funnily enough, was my prediction in my pre-match piece for the YEP, but this game had more to come yet.
First, we had yet more dubious defending from Leeds. Astonishing that we could be so culpable, having battled back to earn a vital point in a game few gave us any chance of doing so. A simple ball along the turf through the middle found a Liverpool man who’d got away from Brenden Aaronson. Then, with the Leeds defence all back-peddling and focusing on one man, everyone forgot to look for Szoboszlai, who ran through unhindered, took one touch and steered the ball into the corner. Once again, we’d effectively self-destructed, and any neutral observer would have thought no team could possibly gird their loins yet again to overcome that disappointment with only ten minutes to go. Incredibly, this Leeds team found it within themselves to do just that, backed and inspired, no doubt, by thunderous support from the fans. Leeds pressed forward, and a Liverpool team, still short of confidence after their recent losses, started to lump the ball anywhere, and Leeds’ tackles were flying in all over the pitch, each one greeted with a roar of approval from the Elland Road faithful. It was enough to unsettle the best of teams, and Liverpool’s own defensive frailty, naivety even, wasn’t up to the challenge.
Leeds won a couple of corners as the last of the added minutes ticked by, but you’d have thought with all of Liverpool’s experience and quality they would have made no mistake but somehow, from the second corner, they allowed the ball to fly over the front post and drop almost perfectly in front of Ao Tanaka with perhaps just a hint of some good fortune as the ball was cushioned by the hand of Gravenberch on the way to Ao’s boot. We’ve seen how cool the Japanese man is in front of the goal, and he didn’t disappoint, waiting for the ball to hit the ground and then firing it high into the net. Amazing scenes at Elland Road!
We can’t complain about not being entertained, can we? It was, in the end, a fine battling performance from Leeds, with everyone playing their part and don’t let anyone tell you that these players are not fighting for Daniel Farke.
I should be overjoyed, especially as no one gave us any chance of getting any points from these last three games. But those defensive errors still worry me; you don’t have to be a Liverpool or an Arsenal to benefit from such lapses, any Premier League team will take advantage if we continue to offer up such gifts. For now, though, 16th spot, just a handful of points away from a safe midtable position, will do nicely, thank you!
Premier League
Leeds United 3 (Calvert-Lewin pen 73’, Stach 75’, Tanaka 90 +6’)
Liverpool 3 (Ekitiké 48’, 50’, Szoboszlai 80’)
Leeds: Perri (GK), Bogle (Bornauw 90+3’), Gudmundsson, Ampadu (C) (Piroe 87’), Struijk, Rodon, Calvert-Lewin, Bijol (Aaronson 65’), Stach, Okafor (Gnonto 65’), Gruev (Tanaka 65’). Subs not used: Darlow (GK), Harrison, Justin, Byram.
Liverpool: Becker, van Dijk, Konaté, Kerkez, Wirtz (Mac Allister 68’), Szoboszlai, Bradley (Gomez 68’), Jones, Gakpo (Endo 83’), Ekitiké (Isak 84’), Gravenberch. Subs not used: Mamardashvili, Salah, Chiesa, Robertson, Ngumoha.
Venue: Elland Road
Attendance: 36,842
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Booked: Bogle, Gudmundsson, Struijk (Leeds) Bradley, Gomez (Liverpool)
