da mrbet： It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what has happened to Leeds this season.
da 888： From last season’s heartbreak at missing out on the play-offs so late in the year, they appeared to have bounced back, replacing Garry Monk with Thomas Christiansen and hitting the ground running.
They started as they meant to go on and took an early lead in the table. Now they sit tenth. And whilst a three-point gap to the play-off places is practically nothing at this stage in the Championship season, the trajectory is worrying – from top in September to having lost eight times already. In the top half of the table, only Nottingham Forest – who are yet to draw a game – have lost more.
Last weekend’s victory over Middlesbrough was something of an emotional relief. It appeared to stop the rot and stopped the play-offs from getting too far out of sight. And then there was the importance of stopping Garry Monk from winning on his return to Elland Road, too. And yet, just days later in midweek, a chastening defeat to league leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers threw the Whites back into darkness again.
“It was a humiliating blow to Leeds United, a real reality check,” Sam Rourke, Editor-In-Chief of Football League World tells me. “There was a distinct feeling amongst the Elland Road faithful that the club had finally turned a corner after the win over Garry Monk’s Boro – but their defeat to Wolves has showcased just how wide the gap is between them and the best team in the division.”
Despite the fact that Leeds only find themselves three points off a play-off place with months of a long season still to play, that’s probably the hardest part. When you start the season as well as Thomas Christiansen’s side did, and when you start to dream of the Premier League whilst sitting in the automatic promotion spots, a drop all the way down to tenth feels like a freefall.
Rourke wants to put things in context, though.
“You do have to look at it in perspective,” he says. “Leeds were playing a team in Wolves who have forked out hefty sums of money to bring in some incredible talent, who in all honesty, are way too good for the Championship.”
But it would hardly be surprising if that’s what hurt the most. From the position Leeds were in weeks ago, it hurts to see another team who are just that much better, even though it’s probably fair to say that Wolves could even hold their own fairly well in the Premier League this season. And yet, that doesn’t mean there aren’t real problems for Christiansen to sort out. The flipside is the fact that he’s only been in the job a matter of months so far. It takes time to get ideas across, especially if the style of football you want to play is free-flowing and attractive.
“They are struggling, and the attacking, fluid football is inconsistent thus far, but we saw against Boro that they can still exhibit a superb attacking display and pick up a result at the same time,” says Rourke. “The big test for Leeds now is Saturday’s clash with Yorkshire rivals Barnsley at Oakwell: If Leeds still harbour any real intentions of a top six finish, this is the sort of match that the Whites need to be winning.”
It’s getting to the crunch time. Before the Middlesbrough game form was already low, but it was clear that Leeds’ biggest problem in the short term would be the fixture list. They’ve now managed three points from games against Boro and Wolves, which they may well have taken at the time. After Barnsley come Aston Villa, and that’s when we’ll know for sure: two wins would mean nine points from a run of four daunting fixtures and throw the Whites back into the play-off mix.
That would have been more than acceptable before the game against Middlesbrough and would set the side up nicely for the festive period, when the games become a long, hard slog. But that’s a best case scenario.
Even if you want to take the next two games as a litmus test, there is only one certainty in a Championship season: it’s a long campaign.
“It’s a marathon,” says Rourke, “and teams can go on great runs of form over the second half of the season, so you cannot discount Leeds from a top six finish just yet – they do have the attacking quality to compete in the higher echelons.”
Leeds are going through a tough patch, but in a 46-game season, that’s nigh-on inevitable. What really matters is that you end your slump still in touch with the top six. And if Leeds can do that, they’ll still be very much on course for promotion come the final game.
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