Leeds United 3-0 Birmingham City: YEP Reaction

Yorkshire Evening Post

Transcript

00:00 Good evening, everybody. Happy New Year to all you Leeds United fans.

00:04 Here at Ellen Road, where Leeds have got back to winning ways this afternoon

00:09 with a 3-0 victory, a really comprehensive, convincing win over Wayne Rooney's Birmingham City.

00:15 Goals from Patrick Bamford, Daniel James and Presenter Somerville,

00:18 delivering all three points to maintain Leeds' unbeaten run at home this season.

00:24 It was necessary that Leeds got back to winning ways today,

00:30 after back-to-back defeats against Preston and West Brom.

00:34 They really did a number on the Blues.

00:39 Wayne Rooney's team, and Wayne Rooney included, had a bit of a rough ride at Ellen Road this afternoon.

00:47 Could have been a very solemn figure in the away dugout did Rooney.

00:51 Lots of chants, not all of which were clean, to say the least, directed his way by the Leeds supporters,

00:57 which I'm sure many of you will be delighted to hear.

01:00 Some of you might have even partaken in them if you were at the ground today.

01:05 In terms of the football, we'll start with the line-up.

01:08 It was a bit of a surprise as Chris Classen, the third-choice goalkeeper,

01:12 was named in the starting 11 for Leeds this afternoon because of El Amelie serving his second match

01:19 of his three-game suspension.

01:22 Karl Darlow, we just found out from Daniel Farke,

01:25 he actually dissipated his thumb in the warm-up before the West Brom game,

01:30 but took a couple of painkillers, got it strapped up and wanted to play on.

01:34 Went for a scan afterwards and it was determined that he wouldn't be able to play today.

01:39 Doesn't really have a time frame for Darlow's return,

01:42 so it looks as though it would be Chris Classen again in goal at the weekend when Leeds go to Peterborough.

01:48 But he came in, didn't have an awful lot to do, but he made a couple of good saves.

01:52 Distribution was neither here nor there.

01:55 I've seen some people say it was hit and miss, I've seen others say that they quite liked it.

01:59 So, yes, a reasonable performance from him.

02:03 The other big headline news from the line-up was that Patrick Bamford started his first start of the season for Leeds

02:10 and popped up with a goal, his first at Ellen Road since that game against Crystal Palace.

02:16 I know that you won't want reminding of that day, but it was the first time that I think that he scored in a Leeds win for,

02:23 oh, it must be two and a bit years.

02:27 It was a long time coming and you could see the delight on his face.

02:31 You could see the delight on his teammates' faces as Bamford nodded in.

02:37 Dan James' cross, which was really hung up really well to the back post.

02:42 Bamford hangs in the air if you haven't seen the goal and just nods it towards John Ruddy.

02:48 Ruddy can't get enough of a hand on it and that's 1-0.

02:52 It was a reasonably even game up to that point.

02:56 Leeds did have the better of it, but from that point onwards, Leeds really did click into second, third and fourth gear

03:03 and really take Birmingham apart.

03:06 Second goal on the stroke of half-time from Daniel James himself.

03:12 There were a few occasions during the first half where Junior Firpo cut the ball back for James and just didn't quite fall for him.

03:20 But on this occasion, just on the stroke of half-time, it did.

03:23 He put the ball in the back of the net and that was 2-0 at the break, a comfortable lead

03:29 and one which they added to in the second half.

03:32 Presencio Somerville getting on the score sheet yet again.

03:36 He was really composed in his finish.

03:40 The ball came from Jorginho Ruta over the top, Firpo on the left-hand half-space,

03:45 getting into the box and then playing a low cross back to Somerville.

03:52 He takes a touch, picks his spot in the bottom corner and puts the game to bed, really.

03:57 The reason Firpo wasn't in the starting eleven, but he was in the game for 75 minutes or so

04:04 because Sam Byron had to come off after 15 minutes,

04:08 a recurrence of the hamstring injury that kept him out for four games last month.

04:12 Hopefully that's not too serious.

04:14 Farkad needs to properly assess that, or rather his medical team do.

04:18 And Pascal Stroik, it's likely or possible that he'll be back for the next league game,

04:25 but I don't think he'll be risked against Peterborough at the weekend in the FA Cup.

04:30 So it might be Cardiff away before we see Pascal Stroik back.

04:34 But honourable mentions today, Joe Roden was an absolute rock at the back.

04:39 Bossed it, really, really dealt with Birmingham's threat whenever they tried to play on transition.

04:46 He was there, he was pretty commanding, really, really assertive in his defensive work

04:52 and came away with the ball quite calmly on countless occasions.

04:57 So, all in all, a good performance from Leeds today. Start as you mean to go on.

05:04 If you want more reaction to today's game, head on over to the YEP website.

05:10 We have player ratings from Graham Smith on there,

05:13 there's some quotes from Wayne Rooney already up there,

05:16 and plenty of highlights from today's game.

05:19 But, yeah, thanks for tuning in. Take care and see you at Peterborough. Bye for now.

Category

Transcript

Recommended