Sheffield Wednesday 1–1 Leeds: A midweek crisis

Sheffield Wednesday 1–1 Leeds: A midweek crisis

If we thought Saturday was disappointing, Leeds have gone and topped it. Amazingly, it took them just three days.

“You feel a bit embarrassed as a Premier League side,” said Leeds boss Daniel Farke after the game. You have hit the nail on the head there, Daniel. Everybody involved last night should feel humiliated.

TNT Sports posted a statistic that summed up just how woeful of a result this was for Leeds: Sheffield Wednesday’s starting 11 had 241 senior appearances combined. 234 of those were Jamal Lowe, meaning the other 10 starting players had a combined senior appearances of SEVEN. Please, let that sink in.

Leeds had 80 per cent of the ball, created an xG of 2.74 with seven big chances, but can any fan really come out of that game saying ‘Yes, we deserved to win that one’? No, I don’t think we can.

It was a night that shined down on Leeds’ lack of squad depth, not glossed over it. It beamed on some concerning bits of business that are supposed to keep us in the Premier League. It put a spotlight on a lot of our Championship-level talent we still rely on in our ranks. But last night was a dark, murky, gloomy day for Leeds in, what we all hope, is not a sign of foreshadowing for the season.

The 90 minutes (and penalties) – ‘Dumbfounded, perplexed’

The first half was a non-starter. A midfield two of Sean Longstaff and Ilia Gruev was not physical nor creative enough. Brendan Aaronson looked busy and was possibly our brightest spark going forward but still didn’t really threaten much — in typical Aaronson fashion.

Noah Okafor looked sluggish and will need time in getting up to match fitness and the speed of a game, although much of last night was just a simple training drill: attack versus defence.

On the positives, the defence was comfortable. As they should, I know, but a new look back line was never troubled by Sheffield Wednesday. Jaka Bijol swept almost everything up, Sebastiaan Bornauw next to him looked fine too, and I thought Jack Harrison was actually very solid at left-back and put in some good deliveries.

But the first half petered out and both sides whimpered into half time in a game that was drifting to nothing. Domination does not equal goals, Leeds know that all too well. Thankfully, Leeds had ‘Premier League quality’ players to bring off the bench to save those fringe players that had struggled.

Leeds’ first two substitutes, Willy Gnonto and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, had a huge impact on the game. However just five minutes after their introduction, Leeds would find themselves 1–0 down through what you could only describe as an absolute calamity.

Look, goalkeepers make mistakes. Last night was another unlucky but shocking, woeful, diabolical and inexcusable mistake. Taken right from the Ilan Meslier handbook. Jamal Lowe — who we established has 234 senior appearances, pretty impressive? — takes the ball out wide and puts in a low delivery into the box but it ends up, somehow, spinning into the net.

I was completely dumbfounded watching it live. Perplexed, I was. How could that have squirmed through from such an angle? Of course, we are playing cup football against a lower-league team… It’s Leeds United. Crucial pieces of information that can explain such a strange goal.

In reality, what happened is the ball squirming through Karl Darlow’s hands, deflecting off his right leg, then his left, then his right again before sluggishly falling over the goal line. No words. But, these things happen.

After that, Leeds at least had a little more impetus, a bit more umph, an added sense of urgency. The substitution of Jayden Bogle made a huge impact, and his combination play with Gnonto down the right handside caused Wednesday all sorts of problems for the first time on the night.

And it was that combination that would get the equaliser. Tidy footwork from the Italian before sliding through a neat ball into Bogle, who lashed it underneath the goalkeeper. Surely, with 10 minutes of normal time and the amount of quality on the pitch, this game could only end one way?

Thankfully, we had a natural goalscorer — our new No9, our new goalscorer — Calvert-Lewin on the pitch to tuck away a chance if it came his way. Three golden ones did, but none of them did.

The first opportunity that fell his way was the best: a whipped delivery that fell to his feet from five or six yards out that DCL managed to put wide of the goal. It definitely falls into the ‘harder to miss than score’ category for me. But he managed it.

Second and third chances came and went, albeit much more difficult, but Leeds suddenly found themselves in a penalty shoot-out. But it’s fine, I said to myself, because Leeds have experience, Premier League, European experience, and these lads for Wednesday barely have senior experience. How wrong was I?

Wednesday hammered home three perfect penalties. Leeds, who had Joel Piroe — the club’s primary penalty taker — Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Sean Longstaff take theirs, failed to score one. Another speechless moment.

What I did find rather amusing, at least, was seeing Leeds fans leave before the shoot-out had ended. We all knew what was coming when Longstaff stepped up to take the penalty. It’s Leeds United heritage.

Reaction (and overreaction) – ‘Written in the stars’

After the game, Farke discussed the “embarrassment”, how it was “written in the stars” for Sheffield Wednesday to win the game.

“This is what the public do,” he said. “We didn’t lose to an under-21 team, we lost to a professional football side.”

Is that your justification for last night, Daniel?

Regardless, it still wasn’t the worst thing that was said during his media duties, it wasn't the worst bit of the night.

The boss confirmed Ao Tanaka has suffered an MCL injury, similar to Ethan Ampadu, and will be out for several weeks. Ach.

With our recent two performances and, already, our injury concerns, what else do the board need to see? We need more additions. We need more quality on the wings, more goals up top. We have to get more creativity.

Even in midfield it has taken just two weeks for big question marks to appear over the depth. It looks like it will be a midfield of Anton Stach, Longstaff and Gruev against Newcastle. Does that midfield win you a game against any other Premier League side?

James Justin is a good, solid addition and adds quality and depth to our full-backs. As long as we can keep him fit — as with Okafor, as with Calvert-Lewin, as with Ampadu… the list can go on — then he is a very astute bit of business. Only if we can keep him fit.

But the holes in the squad are so evident, we are crying out for more. Dilane Bakwa from Strasbourg has been tipped for a move to the Premier League, whether that be to Elland Road or Nottingham Forest. Fee said to be in the region of €35m. Not seen a huge amount of him, but we have to get bodies through the door, fast.

The rumour-mill has gone very quiet of late, and that concerns me. We have too many players that are not good enough but that we are relying on at the moment, even just from a squad depth perspective.

Last night showed some of these players can struggle even on a Championship level, so how can we expect, naturally with a few injuries, particularly with some of the players that we have picked up this window, to keep us in the league?

I don’t know, Leeds. I don’t know, Farke. I hope you both have something up your sleeves for the remaining days of this season. Otherwise, this could be yet another very long, arduous and predictable season in the Premier League.