Leeds United had one of their best first half performances this season at Elland Road last Saturday.
The Whites hosted Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth side, who had beaten current league leaders Sunderland in September.
Leeds United started the game slow but burst into life in the last 15 minutes of the first half scoring three goals within the space of eight minutes. Daniel James, Brenden Aaronson and Joel Piroe were all on the scoresheet before half time in a resounding win.
After the game, Daniel Farke said his team were in total control of the first 45 minutes:
“I’m not sure if I was ever involved in a game at this level with such statistics – I think there were nine shots goal and their expected goals was 0.0 and 0 corners for them.
“Yes we were in total control of the game, this was what I love when you are so dominant and have a really complex performance.
“We needed 10 or 15 minutes to find our tactical positioning between the lines and our offensive roles behind the striker in order to create a few more gaps and chances against a back six in front of them.
“Afterwards we were all over them, created many good situations, scored three really good goals and could have done a bit more second half.”
Leeds ended up with zero goals in the second half despite taking eight shots.
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What happened during the Leeds United vs Plymouth game?
Credit: Imago Images
According to Graham Smyth, Joe Rodon and Junior Firpo exchanged a few words before they went down the tunnel at half time against Plymouth. Willy Gnonto and Mateo Joseph had to step in to separate the two:
‘Rodon and Firpo having angry words as they came off at half-time, Gnonto getting in the way to push the latter down the tunnel and Mateo Joseph putting a hand on Rodon’s shoulder,’ he said.
Nobody knows what went on during the game, but it was quite concerning to see the two get into it after the first half performance Leeds delivered.
Patrick Bamford and Joe Gelhardt missed the game on the weekend with injury problems. Gelhardt was dealing with pain in his hip, and Bamford missed the game with an illness. Both players were involved in Tuesday’s training session and will be assessed ahead of Wednesday’s game against Millwall.
