4th January 2025. English Premier League.
I guess since I would have gladly accepted a point from this game had it been offered before kick-off, I should be satisfied that we got one! Yet my overriding feeling at the end of it is that we have probably thrown two away!
Taking the lead in the 62nd minute – Brenden Aaronson taking advantage of a very laboured piece of defending by Ayden Heaven, outpacing him and then slotting past Lammens – you’d have thought that we could probably see the game out at that. Unfortunately, another moment of carelessness in the Leeds defence (it is still the elephant in the room for me that they keep happening) during those important few minutes after we scored; handed the visitors a point instead.
That said, a quick look at the match stats suggests that a draw was probably a fair result. The Reds had 15 goal attempts to our 10, although they only hit the target with two compared with three for Leeds. Both sides struck woodwork, and both keepers had important saves to make at various times during the game, so yes, maybe I’m just being greedy. Considering we were missing Ethan Ampadu’s calming influence and organisational management, maybe even the one defensive slip can be excused, but it is a shame we couldn’t, for once, get the better of a team that has become a bit of a bogey side for us in recent years; I make it two wins in 23 games in all competitions against them, one in the Premier League and the one “January 3rd” FA Cup victory.
To be honest, the whole game was a bit scrappy from both sides; lots of ‘nearly’ moments were ruined by a poor pass or failing to control the ball. Again, that may just be a sign that both sides were missing key players who would normally help settle things down a bit. I agreed with most of the pundits who picked Brenden Aaronson as their man of the match for Leeds, but he was a case in point; often doing a piece of great work to steal the ball, but then squandering the chance to do something creative and telling with it; it was that sort of a game. In general, though, considering we had that tough test at Anfield less than 72 hours earlier, I should probably cut all of our players some slack!
So, another great round of games for Leeds – only Wolves winning of the sides now in the bottom half of the table – and surely, they are too far behind to worry about, at least for the time being and barring a miracle run of results. That means we inch a bit further away from the bottom three, now have an eight-point cushion, and have a better goal difference than the bottom four, so that’s worth another point.
This week, there is a big game between West Ham and Forest – they can’t both win! – and Burnley have an interesting home game against Man United. If Burnley can find a way to win that, then I’ll be even more annoyed we didn’t get all three points today. Wolves go to Everton, which they will do well to get anything from. Bournemouth are in the equation too, now only a point ahead of Leeds and with a game against Spurs coming up this week. And Leeds, of course, go to Newcastle – always a tough gig. It would be a terrific achievement to bring home another point from that one. Fingers crossed.
Premier League
Leeds United 1 (Aaronson 62’)
Manchester United 1 (Cunha 65’)
Leeds: Perri (GK), Gudmundsson, Struijk (C), Calvert-Lewin, Aaronson (Piroe 87’), Bijol, Stach, Okafor (Nmecha 75’), Bornauw (Gnonto 80’), Justin, Gruev (Tanaka 80’). Subs not used: Darlow (GK), Longstaff, Harrison, Byram, Chambers.
Manchester United: Lammens (GK), Dalot, Martínez (C), Cunha, Dorgu, Yoro (Zirkzee 63’), Casemiro, Shaw, Ugarte, Heaven, Sesko. Subs not used: Bayindir (GK), Malacia, Fredricson, Jack Fletcher, Tyler Fletcher, Lacey, Mantato, Kukonki.
Venue: Elland Road
Attendance: 36,909
Referee: Jarred Gillett
Booked: Dorgu (Manchester United)
