Joe Rodon and Max Wöber stepped out of defence to score their first goals for Leeds as they inched to the top of the Championship, ahead of Sheffield United on goal difference.
Given that the goalkeeper Illan Meslier was so underemployed he appeared in real danger of hypothermia, it is probably safe to assume that Tuesday night’s home engagement with a key promotion rival in Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough will be somewhat tougher. No matter Leeds, and their excellent Japan midfielder Ao Tanaka in particular, still did enough to suggest they should most certainly not be underestimated.
“We were all over Derby,” said Daniel Farke, the Leeds manager deploying considerable understatement. “We should have scored more but I’m pretty happy. It was a dominant performance.”
At times the wind was so strong it threatened to bend the corner flags permanently out of shape. Throw in additional periods of driving rain and it was perhaps not entirely surprising that Leeds’ final ball initially kept letting them down.
By way of further mitigation Derby’s five-man defence and low block hardly made things straightforward for Farke’s players as they struggled to translate protracted periods of possession into material advantage.
If set pieces offered the home crowd hope of breaking the impasse, Rodon was left with head in hands after heading wide having found himself in space from a corner.
Undeterred the centre-half soon redeemed himself by sending an infinitely more difficult headed chance powering past Jacob Widell Zetterström after beating Kane Wilson to Joe Rothwell’s corner.
Seconds earlier Zetterström, who touched but could not hold Rodon’s opener, had done well to push Brenden Aaronson’s low shot away for that set play but now his teammates were chasing a game that threatened to accelerate away from them.
It did not help that Leeds’ smart pressing and positioning generally ensured that, on the rare occasions Derby escaped their own half, they were forced into optimistic long balls of the sort that guaranteed Meslier such a quiet afternoon.
Shortly before the interval, Zetterström was beaten once more. Again the goal came from a defender, with the onrushing Wöber applying the final touch inside the six-yard box after Dan James failed to properly connect with Aaronson’s cross.
after newsletter promotion
Wöber had begun on the substitutes’ bench but after swiftly replacing the hamstrung Junior Firpo at left-back the Austrian had, like Rodon, broken his scoring duck as Leeds headed for the divisional summit. With Sheffield United at West Brom on Sunday they may not stay there long but few observers would bet against Farke’s side securing automatic promotion next spring.
“I’m not surprised we lost,” said Paul Warne, Derby’s manager. “It has to be massive congratulations to Leeds. They made it tough, they showed why they’re one of the top teams in this league. That’s the most uncomfortable I’ve felt on the side of the pitch all season. Leeds are going to be right up there. Even our fastest players couldn’t get past them, They stopped everything we tried. They’re a very good team, very well coached and very well motivated.”
Yet, although Zetterström made decent second-half saves to kill the danger from a James volley and a Tanaka shot, Farke’s forwards could not quite capitalise on Derby’s deficiencies.
While Tanaka, who largely dictated central midfield, is proving an extremely clever summer signing from Fortuna Düsseldorf, staying in the top two may still require some attacking reinforcement in January. Either that or Patrick Bamford, who remained on the bench here, regaining sufficient fitness to remind everyone of his very real talent.
Source: theguardian.com
