West Brom 1-0 Leeds United - YEP reaction - video Dailymotion

Yorkshire Evening Post

Leeds United journalist Joe Donnohue reflects on the Whites' latest defeat away to West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.

Transcript

00:00 Hello everybody, welcome to the Hawthorns, welcome to the YEP on Facebook or Dailymotion,

00:06 wherever you might be watching. As I say, we're at the Hawthorns, the home of West

00:10 Burnley and Shelby, where Leeds have been beaten 1-0 this evening. Not exactly the idea

00:15 of Friday night, certainly not the antidote to the 2-1 defeat against Preston on Boxing

00:21 Day. Another loss on the road, a sixth one of the season, which is a real concern considering

00:27 that Leeds are 15 points now behind Leicester in terms of points won on the road, and that's

00:36 just away from home. A distinctly different team away from Elland Road as they are at

00:42 Elland Road, and that will be a concern for Daniel Farke as he's just about to do his

00:48 post-match press conference away to my right. A really difficult evening for Leeds. Once

00:56 again, we thought that this was always going to be a difficult game. West Brom have one

01:00 of the best defensive records in the division, they are the second best team in terms of

01:06 goals conceded, they've got the most clean sheets in the league, and that was their 12th

01:11 one this evening. A clean sheet every one in two games, every other game is a pretty

01:16 good record and it's not exactly the sort of place you want to have to come to when

01:22 you're in need of a win, and Leeds found that today. We'll go through team news to begin

01:28 with, there were five changes, two of which were enforced, that was Karl Darlow and Liam

01:33 Cooper coming in for the suspended, Elan Melier and Pascal Stroik, who missed tonight with

01:38 a adductor issue, Daniel Farke has said. He believes it's a minor one, it's not one that's

01:44 going to keep him out for too long, but we'll have to wait until he speaks in his post-match

01:49 to hear some further comments on Stroik's condition. Also, Sam Byrom came back into

01:55 the side, played at left-back, with Jed Spence moving over to the right, Ilya Gruev replaced

02:00 Glenn Kamara, who didn't get on the pitch, so maybe was carrying something or maybe a

02:05 little bit fatigued, Farke keen to give him a rest, and Willy Nyonto came in for Dan James

02:10 on the right-hand side. Yeah, I mean, Leeds started the better of the two teams, but that's

02:16 sort of faded after 10 or 15 minutes, and they only really edged it ever so slightly.

02:23 West Brom kept getting in down the right-hand side, Jed Wallace was repeatedly found on

02:28 that flank, sort of behind Byrom and Somerville on Leeds' left-hand side, West Brom's right.

02:36 And ultimately, that's where the goal came from. They eventually took the Leeds midway

02:39 through the first half, through Grady de Angana, and the move did originate from that right

02:43 flank. You know, Okai Yukuslu plays a really lovely through ball in between the left-centre

02:50 back Liam Cooper and Sam Byrom. Jed Wallace is there, he makes the cut back, and de Angana

02:55 is the one closing in. His first attempt is blocked, it falls kindly for him, and he has

03:00 a second attempt, and because Karl Darlow's already dived, it's a pretty simple tap-in

03:04 for him. Leeds did have a very solid penalty claim during that first half with Willy Nyonto.

03:11 Ethan Ampadu plays a long ball over the top, and Nyonto kills it dead, takes it down really

03:16 well in his stride, and then he definitely feels the contact and goes down. Cedric Kipra

03:23 has an arm on him as he goes to pull the trigger, but he's pulled to the floor. Referee Graham

03:29 Scott waved it away. I think that was the strongest case for a penalty. There was also

03:33 one where Semih Ajayi went in for a tackle on Jorginho Ruta, which I think was maybe

03:39 a bit more speculative if you were appealing for that one as well. It was one where it's

03:45 very much in 'seen them given' territory, and on another day Leeds might have got it.

03:50 On another day that might be a different game if you go in 1-1 at the break.

03:53 Second half was a bit of a damp squib, not a great deal to write home about. Patrick

03:59 Bamford came on, Matteo Joseph came on, Firpo, Dan James was bright in the circumstances,

04:06 Jadon Anthony as well. His delivery was hit and miss from the left-hand side. But Carlos

04:13 Corberán, ex-Leeds United assistant and number 23's coach, ex-Huddersfield manager, his subs

04:18 really counteracted Farke's attacking changes, and that's something which he's already said

04:22 in his post-match press conference. Ultimately it proved to be too little too late with the

04:29 substitutions, even though Farke did make them quite early into the second half, around

04:34 15 minutes after the break. So, Leeds have something they need to fix, and it's their

04:39 form on the road. The issue is not at Elland Road. The team have been excellent there,

04:44 as we saw with the 4-0 win over Ipswich, but that, despite the fact it was only six days

04:49 ago, feels a very, very long time ago now that Leeds were beating Ipswich 4-0 really

04:55 comprehensively and really quite convincingly. Because it's back-to-back defeats on the road,

05:00 nine points off the automatics. Thankfully Ipswich didn't win tonight, they only drew

05:04 at home to QPR. They had several first-team players out, whether that's injury or rest

05:12 or selection or whatever. But yeah, they had a few out. They drew Southampton beat Plymouth

05:17 tonight 2-1, which now means Leeds are six points off them in third place, which has

05:23 come about really quickly, but that's how the championship can happen. If you hit a

05:28 poor run of form at the same time as a promotion rival, it's a good period, then you can find

05:33 yourself falling further behind. Speaking of which, West Brom on a good run, two wins

05:40 on the bounce, they're now only three points behind Leeds. So it's looking difficult.

05:46 Again, there's the opportunity to bounce back at the first time of Askin. Elland Road

05:51 on New Year's Day, Birmingham City will come and visit. But Leeds need to get back

05:56 to winning ways straight away and put together some convincing performances to remind the

06:04 teams in this league and the fans, and perhaps even themselves, that they are one of the

06:09 most talented squads in this division. Because the past two games, Preston and West Brom,

06:13 they haven't looked like it. Thank you very much for tuning in, everyone who's been

06:19 listening to this. You will be able to find Graham Smith's player ratings on the YEP

06:24 website or on Twitter, Facebook, all of our pages on that. And yeah, we will see you again

06:32 on New Year's Day. Have a happy New Year. Stay safe and keep your chins up. Bye for

West Brom 1-0 Leeds United - YEP reaction

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