At the end of full time at the St. James’ Park midweek, a lot of Leeds United fans went home very unhappy. It was their first defeat of the New Year.
The Whites had gone on a six-game unbeaten streak, with huge results against the likes of Chelsea and Crystal Palace. Daniel Farke’s tactical tweaks seem to have turned things around at the club.
It was not long ago that the club was tipped to be relegated after they entered the danger zone after a run of poor results. But after 21 games, there is a bit of daylight between Leeds and West Ham who currently sit in 18th place in the Premier League table.
Adam Pope feels that Leeds United should have won on Wednesday
Many people felt like the way the game ended was unfair to the Whites, the late penalty and winner in added time did not reflect what went on in the game. Adam Pope was one of the people who felt that Leeds could have even walked away with three points:
“I came away feeling Leeds should have won. Not even ‘oh they deserved to lose, maybe the scoreline flattered Leeds.”’ he said in the Leeds United: Don’t Go To Bed yet podcast.
“It wasn’t like that at all. They should have won the game.”
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Game management let the Whites down
It was quite a surprise that Leeds and Newcastle engaged in a high scoring game even from the first half. In the Whites’ two previous matches, they chose a more conservative style against Manchester United and Liverpool that saw them win two points from a possible six. It may have been two draws, but they are in a stage of the season where every point counts.
So seeing Leeds continue to lose the ball when attacking even when they were in the lead was very surprising. Putting the controversial penalty incident aside, sometimes it felt like the Whites were too open during the game. When they got in the lead at 3-2, fans would have expected them to kill the game.
But the team could not even keep hold of the ball for long periods, and kept giving it back to Eddie Howe’s side. This allowed them to keep on attacking and putting dangerous crosses in the box which eventually lead to the winner.
If the journalist is mathematically challenged unable to count up to seven his credibility is questionable in line with most of the dubious articles on the Leeds Press.