3rd October 2025. Premier League.
Another case of ‘what might have been’ for Leeds. We were competitive throughout, but yet again, we missed too many big chances, and then, at crucial moments, the rub of the green favoured Spurs. We also saw again how individual mistakes are savagely punished at this level.
Leeds started this game like a house on fire, and for ten minutes, Spurs were clearly shocked and on the back foot. So much so that they immediately went into conservation mode, slowing the game down, feigning injury and employing all the dark arts. In fact, they then continued to do that for the remainder of the game, much as we saw many Championship sides do at Elland Road last season to good effect. It was as good a compliment as the Lilywhites could pay us; horrible to watch and with another weak referee not doing enough to clamp down on it, but effective. It is hard to ignore the fact that, had Leeds been better at this side of the modern game, we’d have beaten Bournemouth a week ago.
There were early big chances for Joe Rodon and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Joe rose perfectly at the back post to meet a deep Anton Stach free kick, but his header struck the woodwork; he should have scored. DCL was presented with a gilt-edged chance when Noah Okafor robbed a defender who dallied over a pass from Vicario, the Spurs’ keeper, and the ball ran into DCL’s path inside the area. Sadly, DCL delayed and delayed and then missed the target with a poor strike. I have to say I’m getting less and less confident that DCL will find that all-important scoring touch that he once had back in the day for Everton. He’s had a plethora of chances now, but he’s only got the one goal. In many ways, it’s like having Patrick Bamford out there again. Yes, DCL, just like Bamford used to, gets through lots of work all over the pitch and is a really useful player to have in that context, but if he continues to miss chances as regularly as he does, then we’ll start to wonder if the rest of his game really is that useful. It starts to feel like the Bamford vs. Piroe debate all over again: legs and work rate versus finishing ability.
Between those two big Leeds chances, Spurs took the lead with the first bit of good fortune they enjoyed today; Mathys Tel showed us how a Premier League striker hits a football! It was poor work by Leeds in midfield that initially led to losing the ball, but then Tel raced away and thundered a shot at the target. We can argue whether the deflection the shot took off Pascal Struijk was really enough to cause Darlow to get beaten at this near post, but it was a fine strike. It was the first of a number of telling deflections this afternoon, all of which seemed to go in favour of the Spurs.
Spurs’ lead was brief, though, and we then saw an example of the really good work DCL is doing for us. Jayden Bogle launched the ball across, and DCL, back to goal, held off a defender and neatly pushed the ball back to set up Brenden Aaronson for a shot. Vicario saved that one but spilt it out to Noah Okafor, and he stabbed home the loose ball. Just an observation, though, where did that plastic ball come from that was bobbling around Vicario’s goal just as Noah poked the real ball into the net? If our own fans threw that on from behind that goal, then it was complete madness. On another day, the ref could easily have heeded Vicario’s complaints and disallowed the goal! Does anyone know how it got there?
As half-time loomed, Spurs then hit the bar with a header, and Kudos spooned another great chance over in a chance-laden first half. Leeds had edged the stats, though, three big chances to just one from Spurs, 52 per cent possession for Leeds, and eight shots to six for the visitors. At the break, our xG was 1.25, and the visitors’ was only 0.39.
After the break, the deflection on another DCL shot wasn’t quite strong enough to help beat Vicario, who was able to stick out a boot and knock it away. Another inch or two and he wouldn’t have reached it. Fine margins? Luck? Or more poor finishing? I’m not sure.
Then came a costly mistake, though, as Gabriel Gudmundsson allowed Kudos to get past. It was a simple ball up the right wing that Gudmundsson, racing back and looking over his left shoulder at the ball, only succeeded in letting run down his body and into the path of Kudos, who was soon past our man and free to tack across the edge of the area right to left. I still don’t understand how his low, weak shot deceived Darlow, even with another slight deflection off the unfortunate stretching leg of Pascal Struijk. Looking at it again and again, I still don’t understand it, other than to lament the error from Gudmundsson and another dose of bad luck.
Late in the game, Daniel Farke had all three of his available strikers on the pitch as Joel Piroe AND Lukas Nmecha joined DCL up front. Joel had the one big chance to level the game, but we needed a slightly bigger deflection on his shot if it was to beat Vicario. It was again brilliantly set up by DCL, rising to head down into the path of Piroe. Sod’s Law dictated that Lady Luck deflected that one just close enough to Vicario to enable him to push it away.
Fine margins. Spurs employed all those dark arts again to close out the game; ugly and annoying, but completely effective. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that this was at least another point to get away from us. Better finishing, cut out the costly mistakes, employ some of those dark arts ourselves, and maybe we’d have got there. We need to sharpen up, learn quickly, and not throw away the good start we’ve made to this Premier League return.
Premier League
Leeds United 1 (Okafor 34’)
Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Tel 23’, Kudus 57’)
Leeds: Darlow (GK), Bogle (Justin 89’), Gudmundsson (Nmecha 79’), Ampadu (C), Struijk, Rodon, Longstaff, Calvert-Lewin, Aaronson (Harrison 67’), Stach (Tanaka 67’), Okafor (Piroe 79’). Subs not used: Meslier (GK), Bijol, Bornauw, Gruev.
Spurs: Vicario (GK), Palhinha, Simons (Matar Sarr 74’), Tel (Richarlison 73’), Udogie, Romero (C), Kudus (Johnson 90’), Porro, Odobert (Danso 84’), Bentancur, van de Ven. Subs not used: Kinsky (GK), Gray, Bergvall, Spence, Davies.
Venue: Elland Road
Attendance: 36,703
Referee: Thomas Bramall
Booked: Ampadu, Okafor (Leeds) Kudus, Palhinha, Romero (Spurs)
