Leeds must be more “consistent” in Championship promotion race

National World - LocalTV

Daniel Wales and Lee Sobot discuss Leeds United’s automatic promotion hopes.

Transcript

00:00If we look at the All-Ireland promotion race itself, obviously Sheffield United two points

00:06ahead now, let's be honest, would be more than that, would be four if they hadn't been

00:10abducted two points, obviously. And I think what's annoying about that from a Leeds point

00:13of view is that Leeds, when they've come up against Sheffield United this season, have

00:16outclassed them on two occasions, certainly at Elland Road and obviously, you know, towards

00:22in the second half at Bramall Lane as well. So you'd say on paper and at least head-to-head

00:28Leeds are the better side, but it's just Sheffield United at least are winning the

00:34games, you know, like the ugly game sort of thing that Leeds are, as we've seen, are struggling

00:40more so in. Leeds United probably winning the bigger games against the sides around

00:44them, but not doing it against the sides, you know, further down in the table where

00:48Sheffield United, apart from maybe Hull, are doing that and Burnley as well. And that's

00:53a real issue, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, you talk about them being the best side of the

00:58division and stuff, but the thing is, the table doesn't lie, does it? And as you say,

01:01they are two points clear, Sheffield United, and as you quite correctly say, they've had

01:04two points docked as well. So there would be four points clear and stuff. So mathematically,

01:07Sheffield United are the best team in the division at the moment. And that's fair enough

01:10and fair play to them. They basically just feel a bit more consistent or certainly at

01:14the moment anyway, you know, it's like with Leeds at the moment, you almost feel like

01:17you kind of, you don't know what you're going to get. And that's almost going for the, that's

01:21never been the case with the home form, really. It's almost been a case of what you're fully

01:24expecting to win at home. But I mean, even these home games now, obviously like Swansea

01:27and stuff like that. So they're just more consistent. And obviously, you know, there's

01:31a two point gap now. There's still plenty of time to change it. Obviously seven games

01:35left. They've also got the goal difference, which is an awful lot better. And like, you

01:39know, like I say, the thing is with it as well is ultimately if the season did stop

01:42now, it would be happy days because they are still in an automatic promotion place, but

01:45it's only goal difference, you know, and it's very, very, very tight. I think a few people

01:49have already been quite surprised at the odds, the way the bookies see this, like Leeds are

01:52still odds on favourites to win the league, only just, there's not an awful lot in it,

01:56but they are still odds on favourites. There's still about two to seven to go up. So, you

02:00know, there's, you know, obviously, you know, that's still a very, very short price. But

02:05I think a lot of that's down to the fact that obviously, you know, Burnley have to play

02:08Sheffield United. So there's going to be some sort of like, you know, opening there for

02:11Leeds to make inroads in terms of obviously they both can't win that game. And also people

02:16will look at Leeds as running and they'll say, well, you know, playing most of the teams

02:20towards the bottom half of the table. But, you know, in saying that a lot of the games

02:24recently have been against sides of that ilk as well. You know, like you look at your

02:27Portsmouth and QPRs and stuff like that. And obviously they haven't got, you know, they've

02:31got one point from those two games. So yeah, I don't know. I can see why they are still

02:35short price favourites and stuff, obviously, albeit nowhere near what they were before,

02:40but they're just going to have to turn a corner results wise. It's as simple as that. It's

02:42very, very hard ones to call. People ask me all the time, what do you think now? And almost

02:46part of me thinks I can see this ending up in playoffs. I really can, but I mean, you

02:49know, I just hope I'm wrong, but I think if I'm making a prediction now, I still think

02:52they'll finish top two because I think they've got the players to do it. They are in the

02:55top two. Now they've got the fixtures to do it. And most of the times in about a setback

02:59that tended to bounce back, but it's getting to the stage now where they're going to have

03:02to bounce back with not draws with wins, you know, and obviously two massive away games

03:07coming up now at Luton followed by Middlesbrough. And then obviously the home game, the following

03:11weekend against Preston, I think they're going to have to get like probably, you know, nine

03:14or seven points from those to try and kick on. And just because you don't want any nerves

03:17going into like last game or, you know, penultimate game or whatever like that. So it's very,

03:21very delicately poised. And yeah, I need to bounce back. Simple as that.

03:25Yes. Yes. They certainly do. Obviously games are running out. I think if we look at one

03:29positive perhaps from Saturday, that is, that is Willie Nunn. So obviously he's had his

03:34injury troubles this season, obviously just coming back from one as well, but a great

03:39strike to put them level late on in the game against Swansea. And do you think he's now

03:43in line for a, for a start going into the next fixture?

03:46Yeah, a hundred percent. I think he probably would have started at the weekend, to be honest,

03:50if it wasn't for that ankle injury on international duty. I mean, everything, everything would

03:53have suggested that he obviously came off the bench at QPR, you know, after poor performance

03:58from Aronson really. And it's funny, really, we're talking about a change now coming just

04:02when Aronson's gone and scored, which is the one thing we said he needed to do was to get

04:05end products, get a goal or get an assist. And obviously going after 35 seconds against

04:09Swansea, but Nunn had such a big impact in that game at QPR. And, you know, obviously

04:14I think because of the ankle injury, that's probably why he was on the bench. I think

04:17otherwise it might well have been a change there. And one minute within coming on, absolutely

04:21blockbuster finish, you know, and it just looks like making things happen, really. It's

04:25incredible, really. I think Aronson's had 37 consecutive starts, you know, which is

04:29an awful lot of starts in a row. And, you know, Daniel Farker has really kept the faith

04:32in him. And, you know, obviously he deserves enormous credit for his work rate and his

04:35discipline and et cetera. But the facts are that Nonto just produces more of an end product

04:41really and stuff. And, you know, it's looked that way for some time.

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