For generations to come in Lancashire and Yorkshire thousands will tell people “I was there” to see the match where the least action in the history of football took place. Burnley and Leeds are supposed to be fighting for promotion but they produced a solitary shot on target between them in a desperate goalless draw.
Third-placed Burnley collected their seventh Championship clean sheet in a row –and 20th overall – while Leeds moved a further point clear at the top of the table. Arguably the result suited both parties but was arduous viewing on an extremely cold night at Turf Moor. Leeds will almost certainly go up and this will be a footnote, whereas Burnley need to provide greater intent after a ninth goalless draw of the season.
“It was not the sexiest piece of football today,” Leeds manager Daniel Farke said. “I can’t say that was an unbelievable advertisement today but it’s quite often when the best sides in the league, or two of the best sides, play against each other and no one is there with a mistake. Quite often it’s more or less, it looks a bit like a chess game. It’s a good point for us”
For Scott Parker the ends need to justify the means and if his Burnley side do not end up celebrating in May, he will have a lot of questions to answer. He deserves plenty of credit for the defensive discipline and organisation he has instilled since arriving in the summer. Conceding nine goals in 29 league games is an incredible feat but almost every match feels like a grind.
When the best defence in the league comes up against the most prolific attack it was always going to be a tense game but Burnley and Leeds took it to impressive levels of caution.
It took until the 89th minute for a shot to threaten the net but James Trafford easily tipped over Dan James’s rising shot. Neither side deserved to win and it would have been an injustice if either left with all the points.
Leeds arrived at Turf Moor with 53 goals in 28 games but found no rhythm as Burnley gave them little space to work in. Their front four looked short of ideas, despite their quality, and offered neither the speed of thought nor foot to break through the Burnley lines, superbly marshalled by Maxime Estève.
Burnley had scored once in their previous four games before thrashing Plymouth 5-0 in midweek. They reverted to type and had no obvious plan of how to break through Leeds, relying on their wide players but their efforts were unrewarded as the central striker, Zian Flemming, is normally a winger and was unable to compete aerially, allowing the visitors to clear with ease.
Illan Meslier’s only involvement of note came when a Trafford goal-kick got blown straight to him thanks to the gales.
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There was a flash point to wake up the others who might have resorted to finding alternative viewing with their eyelids closed when James stopped a Burnley counterattack with a crude challenge on CJ Egan-Riley. The Leeds man was rightly booked after being surrounded by claret shirts keen on retribution.
Farke was the first coach to attempt to liven up proceedings by sending on attackers Largie Ramazani and Mateo Joseph. Parker did similar with Jeremy Sarmiento coming on for Lyle Foster, who had spent most of the night tracking back rather than going forward as a winger normally should. The alterations made no difference as the clock ticked down.
“Overall defensively we were rock solid again,” Parker said. “What this team has done so far this year defensively has been nothing short of remarkable and it’s given us a platform at this present moment in time to be in and around where we are.”
The kindest thing to say is that it was a hard-fought point for each team because there were certainly no winners.
Source: theguardian.com
