Leeds draw against Swansea felt “like a loss” as Whites drop to second

National World - LocalTV

Daniel Wales and Lee Sobot discuss Leeds United’s draw with Swansea City.

Transcript

00:00We're going to look now at the game against Swansea City at the weekend, twice Leeds led

00:08and twice they were pegged back. We'll come on to who was perhaps at fault for some of

00:14those goals in a bit, but in terms of the result itself, it's one of those draws that

00:20feels like a loss, doesn't it? And not just a loss, but a kick in the stomach.

00:26Yes, 100 per cent, accentuated by other results. Obviously, I think everybody was reasonably

00:30hopeful of some sort of favour from Coventry City and Leeds United's old friend, Frank

00:35Lampard, on Friday night. But that certainly didn't materialise. And then with Burnley,

00:42they just keep rolling on, don't they? And obviously, a 1-0 victory for them as well.

00:45So, I mean, it's sort of like double whammy. You've got those two results on top of that

00:49as well. But, I mean, all the talk before the game, Jadon Vogel did a piece with LUTV

00:52beforehand and he basically said, which was quite right, you know, he said, all we need

00:55to do is focus on ourselves and it's in our hands, etc, etc. You know, even this is before

00:59Chef United winning, he was sort of saying, you know, just got to look after ourselves

01:02and not think about the other teams. And that's totally, totally true. And that is still just

01:08about the case because they are still second, let's not forget, albeit only on goal difference.

01:12But the thing is with that, that's all well and good, you know, having that mindset and

01:15stuff, which is the way to go. But in that case, you've then got to go out and win your

01:18home games. And obviously, Daniel Farkes said beforehand, if Leeds won all the remaining

01:21home games, they'd definitely be in the top two. And I think a few people kind of like

01:24raised a few eyebrows at that and thought, you know, well, will that be enough? He then

01:28sort of backed that up by saying, yeah, but the thing is, I think we'll get some points

01:31away from home as well. Well, they're definitely going to need that now and they're

01:34definitely going to need both. And it just, yeah, it felt like one of those games where

01:37only a win would do really. And it's, you know, it's not sort of like, you know, win

01:40or bust. And it's, you know, obviously, you know, there's still favourites to win the

01:43league and there's still two to seven favourites to go up automatically. But it did feel like

01:47a big blow, 100%. And obviously with the timing of the, you know, the second equaliser as

01:51well, whenever you, you know, I mean, in any game, let alone when you're going for

01:54promotion, if you can see the goal in the 96th minute to have two points snatched from

01:57you, then it's going to feel like a massive blow, isn't it? Yeah. But it has to be said,

02:01like, even though Leeds were heading for victory and, you know, were on the cusp of victory,

02:05it wasn't a particularly good performance, you know, and that's how I felt. I think that's

02:09how most fans felt. And it just wasn't great, especially the first half and that's putting

02:13it mildly. I mean, obviously when you score off the 35 seconds, you think it's looking

02:17pretty good, which it was. But I mean, other than Aronson's goal in the first half, there

02:21wasn't too much really. And you've got to say Swansea were pretty unlucky, obviously

02:24had the penalty save, you had the head of it hit the post, there was other chances as

02:28well. I mean, they could argue that they could well have probably should have been in front

02:31at half-time really. Leeds did improve after the break and did have a few more chances

02:35and obviously we'll talk about, you know, the Melie Blunder, which, you know, they could

02:40have certainly done without. But I mean, you know, Nanto's goal, brilliant impact from

02:44him again, absolute, you know, blockbuster strike, looked to have all three points in

02:47the bag. But just there were a few sort of nerves when I think it was seven, eight minutes

02:51added time, renounced and stuff. And yeah, I've said for a long time really, that almost

02:59the most important thing for me really is sort of like the pressure and nerves that

03:03you get at this time of the season. And that's why we've said in all these shows and I've

03:07always said like, I mean, it's all well and good saying this, but the sooner Leeds could

03:12have got like five, six, seven, eight, nine points clear, you know, with like not so many

03:15games to go, the better, because obviously it takes the pressure off. And now they're

03:19very much in a pressure cooker situation. And, you know, you can ask all the questions

03:23in the world about that to players and management and stuff, but it will have an impact. It

03:26must do, you know, when it's that close at the top, it has to do. And that's my biggest

03:29worry with this really, not so much the players they've got on the squad. I think it's just

03:33like how they cope with this now really. And that like felt like one of those at the weekend

03:37when obviously just, you know, right at the def, just really poor sloppy defending and,

03:41you know, not just from Mellier, but the defence as well. So, yeah, and, you know,

03:46it's one win in five now and, you know, you can talk about each game as you want in terms

03:51of the performances and whatnot and not having to rub the green in this, that and the other,

03:54but there have been some performances which haven't been great. And the bottom line is,

03:57it's one win in five, it's not promotion form. So, they're going to have to turn the corner

04:01results wise fast. And yeah, I mean, I think most people expected them obviously to beat

04:06Swansea, they were heavy favourites, but they didn't. And, you know, now it really does

04:10put the pressure on these last seven games, starting with Luton.

04:13Yeah, I mean, you say that it's not promotion form and obviously performances haven't been

04:20good. And obviously you mentioned as well that the squad is good, but at the moment

04:25it is sort of, it's a psychological battle as well, isn't it, at this stage of the season

04:28because you can be the best team in the world, but if you crack under the pressure, you're

04:32not going to go up. So, it comes down to that a lot and Leeds, well, unfortunately, judging

04:39from last season, at least, you know, it didn't go well for them in that regard then.

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