Leeds United have come under pressure since their 1-0 defeat at Fratton Park against Portsmouth on Sunday. It has allowed Sheffield United to go level on points with them and the Whites are now just two points ahead of Burnley, who are sitting just outside the automatic promotion spots. Just a fortnight back, it seemed Leeds earning automatic promotion would be a formality, but the race is tight again and the Whites are now under pressure to respond with good results. Daniel Farke is facing the music and questions are being raised on whether Leeds will fall away in the final ten games of the season.
The Yorkshire giants have dropped five points in their last two league games, which has again made the automatic promotion race enjoyable ahead of the final ten games of the campaign.
Sheffield United and Burnley are breathing down their necks and Leeds United are under pressure to respond with two good results ahead of next week’s international break.
Farke is facing questions again about their style of football but the Leeds manager is unlikely to change course and will back his players to get the season back on track this week.
However, ahead of hosting Millwall on Wednesday night, Leeds are under pressure and barbs are being thrown at Elland Road with suggestions that the Whites could capitulate at the business end of the season.
Sheffield United have less risk of slipping away than Leeds United – Alan Pardew
Back-to-back poor results have increased the scrutiny on a Leeds side who did stumble in the playoffs last season and failed to get promoted despite scoring 90 points.
Leeds do not want to finish outside the top two this season but former Premier League manager Alan Pardew feels they are facing the risk of slipping away in the final ten games of the season.
He insisted that while Leeds’ numbers look good on paper, he would back Sheffield United to stay on course over the Whites because Chris Wilder’s team are a safer bet because of the way they play.
He feels Leeds could panic if results don’t go their way and if the Elland Road crowd get on top of the home side, it could influence Farke’s decisions.
“The stats look good”, Pardew said on talkSPORT.
“Goal difference is 49, 76 points from 36 games, won 22, only Sheffield United have won more. But the difference with Sheffield United is the way they play and the way Chris sets them up.
“There is less risk of them slipping up. They get it forward quickly, get it wide, balls in the box.
“If Leeds get a bit nervous and the crowd gets nervous, the manager takes the flair players out, oof.”
Pardew should look at the defensive stats before making his claims
It seems Pardew has not checked the numbers for the season properly or else he would not have made such a claim about Sheffield United being more secure than Leeds.
His claim that Sheffield United play with less risk than Leeds has no factual basis as Leeds have only conceded 23 goals in 26 games, which is four less than the Blades over the course of the campaign.
Farke’s men also have 20 clean sheets to their name while Sheffield United have 19. Yes, Leeds are definitely more adventurous than Wilder’s team but that has not come at the cost of their defence.
  Can you name the missing player from these 10 famous Leeds United photos?
Over the course of the campaign, Leeds have been the better team and two bad results should not change the outlook of the whole campaign.
Pardew, like most pundits, is suffering from recency bias rather than analysing the season as a whole and it is leading to narratives that are just not true.
Farke and his players won’t care about what people outside the club are saying, but lazy analysis of games is leading to bizarre claims being made about Leeds.
