Leeds must create “safety blanket” in race for promotion

National World - LocalTV

Daniel Wales and Lee Sobot discuss the state of play at the top of the Championship table.

Transcript

00:00If we now look at how that's left the state of play in the championship, in the array

00:05of promotions, as you said before, leads are still top of the league, 53 points, a point

00:11ahead of Burnley and Sheffield United, who both sit on 52. So in terms of the outlook,

00:16it's still fine. Leads by far and away the highest scores in the league as well. And

00:22they haven't conceded too many either. So, you know, the signs are still good. It's just,

00:28you just worry that these, they have these sort of like games in them, don't they? Or

00:32these mistakes or these little sort of niggly times where you just think, oh, when things

00:37should be wrapped up and, you know, sealed and signed off and delivered, et cetera. And

00:41then suddenly something happens like that. And you drop points and you just hope it shouldn't

00:47become regular occurrences, but you just get the feeling with leads somethings it can do.

00:51Yeah, exactly. Well, it's about having sort of like a safety blanket really, isn't it,

00:56in the top two. That's what it's all about. And obviously at the turn of the year, they

00:59have themselves, you know, three points clear and stuff. And, you know, that's not massive,

01:02obviously, but it's still very, very helpful at this stage of the season, three points.

01:05And you've got to say as well, you're right about the goals. The goal difference is almost

01:09like an extra point at the moment, you know, obviously plus 29 compared to what is it?

01:1222 Burnley, 19 Blades and 17 Sunderland. So seven goals better than Burnley is, you know,

01:17quite a lot, really, you know, that'll take some, even that'll take some sort of turning

01:20over, you would think. So it almost does feel like an extra point, but it's just, well,

01:24there's a long, long way to go still. Obviously, if you've only played 26 games, you're only

01:27just over halfway through the season and stuff. But if it's like that in another 10 games

01:31time, let's say in 36 games or something, it's going to start feeling a bit too close

01:35for comfort and stuff. And whatever people say, psychology will come into it and stuff

01:39as well, because it will basically, obviously, you know, last season's sort of, you know,

01:44they were unfortunate, obviously, to come up against Leicester and Ipswich, the points

01:47tallies they got and stuff, obviously not going up with the points Leeds got, but ultimately

01:50they missed out on the top two. They ended up in the playoffs and nobody at all will

01:53want that again this season. And, you know, you look at the league table, you definitely,

01:58definitely couldn't rule it out. I mean, if you ask me now, where do I think Leeds will

02:01finish? I think they'll finish in the top two and I'd be pretty confident of that, but

02:04I couldn't be certain of it, you know what I mean? And stuff, and like some of the prices

02:08at the moment, like some bookies are still about one to 25, one to 33, you know, for

02:11like one to 16, I think the top two finishes and stuff and, you know, for promotion anyway.

02:16And obviously that includes the playoffs, but I mean, would you fancy Leeds in the playoffs?

02:20So look, you've got to get in the top two and you've got to stay in the top two and

02:23you've got to try and obviously, you know, as I say, nice, comfortable sort of like cushion

02:26in there and stuff. And at the moment now it's very, very tight and already that, you

02:31know, Leeds played Burnley away very, very quickly, you know, three games until they

02:34play them. So obviously it goes without saying that's a massive six-pointer. The thing you

02:38worry about with Burnley is their defence. I mean, they just don't concede many goals.

02:41So when they went 1-0 up at the weekend, you just almost knew that was done. Sheffield

02:45United have obviously had the takeover. So you'd expect them to be doing some transfer

02:49business in January and so obviously they'll be boosted by that. They seem to have like

02:52recovered a little bit from the sort of like, you know, Paul runner form they had over Christmas

02:56and it'll be difficult. It will be, you know, and Leeds have just got to keep churning it

02:59out.

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