So Leeds played Leicester in a game that what seemingly so enticing that Sky made it available to watch at 4:30 on Sunday afternoon. The excitement was that two unbeaten sides and promotion hopefuls were set to play each other in a fixture which has produced quite a few goals in recent years. What actually happened was that both teams cancelled each other out restricting each other to long range efforts. The best chance of the first half fell to Jason Pearce, who, after finding space in the area nodded over with the game only six minutes old. Leicester looked the best attacking threat and they passed it around with ease while Leeds looked slightly laboured in their forward play. Up front, we don't seem to have the goalscorer we need, Varney and Hunt work extremely hard, but neither are out and out strikers and with McCormack playing at the tip of the diamond, we lack that finishing touch.
The second half started in much the same way as the first with neither team being able to find a way through the well organised defences. However, with the introductions of Chris Wood, Anthony Knockaert, Dom Poleon, Lloyd Dyer and Matt Smith, the game came alive. First Knockaert provided Drinkwater with a chance which he bent over the bar before Dom Poleon burst past the Leicester defence and could've had a penalty if he'd have gone down. Ultimately the best chance of the game would fall to Chris Wood on 81 minutes as he outwitted Jason Pearce before striking the base of Paddy Kenny's post. Leeds would go on to create two more chances as Matt Smith headed accross goal to an offside Paul Green, before Smith again tested Kasper Schmeichel with a good header in what was to be the last action of the game.
The performance as a whole lacked a spark, but showed that away from home we don't have to be as worried as we were last season. Brian McDermott's tactical astuteness ensured that we were hard to break down and I get the feeling that we won't have to witness another 7-3 scoreline in the near future. In recent times, we have seen the hoofball of Warnock and the gung-ho attack of Simon Grayson and McDermott's style is happily in the middle of the two. In terms of performance, defensively we played well, but we need more cover at centre back as an injury Tom Lees in the first half had Leeds hearts in mouths and a bit of a creative spark (Rob Snodgrass anyone!?) in midfield would go along way. In terms of man of the match, I personally struggled to pick anyone out, but nearly everyone has gone for Rodolph Austin, who captained the side for the first time today.
The second half started in much the same way as the first with neither team being able to find a way through the well organised defences. However, with the introductions of Chris Wood, Anthony Knockaert, Dom Poleon, Lloyd Dyer and Matt Smith, the game came alive. First Knockaert provided Drinkwater with a chance which he bent over the bar before Dom Poleon burst past the Leicester defence and could've had a penalty if he'd have gone down. Ultimately the best chance of the game would fall to Chris Wood on 81 minutes as he outwitted Jason Pearce before striking the base of Paddy Kenny's post. Leeds would go on to create two more chances as Matt Smith headed accross goal to an offside Paul Green, before Smith again tested Kasper Schmeichel with a good header in what was to be the last action of the game.
The performance as a whole lacked a spark, but showed that away from home we don't have to be as worried as we were last season. Brian McDermott's tactical astuteness ensured that we were hard to break down and I get the feeling that we won't have to witness another 7-3 scoreline in the near future. In recent times, we have seen the hoofball of Warnock and the gung-ho attack of Simon Grayson and McDermott's style is happily in the middle of the two. In terms of performance, defensively we played well, but we need more cover at centre back as an injury Tom Lees in the first half had Leeds hearts in mouths and a bit of a creative spark (Rob Snodgrass anyone!?) in midfield would go along way. In terms of man of the match, I personally struggled to pick anyone out, but nearly everyone has gone for Rodolph Austin, who captained the side for the first time today.