Leeds United marked their return from the international break with a crucial 2-0 win over Sheffield United at Elland Road on Friday night, a key result against a promotion rival.
After a goalless first half, Leeds picked up the pace in the second. Pascal Struijk broke the deadlock in the 69th minute, and Mateo Joseph sealed the win with a late strike in the 90th, securing all three points.
The Yorkshire side need to regroup quickly as they take on Watford this Tuesday night, following the latter’s Saturday loss to Luton Town. The Whites are pushing for a second straight win to maintain their grip on second place as the competition heats up.
Watford heads into Leeds match on road performance concerns
Tom Cleverley plans to meet with his Watford coaching staff before their upcoming trip to Elland Road to address the team’s road struggles.
The Hornets are set to face Leeds United on Tuesday, and they’ve had a tough time away from Vicarage Road this season, losing four of their five matches. Today, they suffered a 3-0 defeat against their arch-rivals, Luton Town.
“It doesn’t take a genius to see that it was a very disappointing performance,” Cleverley said (h/t Leeds Live). “You know what you’re going to get when you come here and that is good channel balls and strong channel runs, competing, winning set-pieces, balls coming in your box.
“We didn’t stand up to that challenge well enough to start and then our own identity, which is to get on the ball, playing through the lines, getting the ball wide and into the box, we just didn’t commit to. So when you fall short in both areas, it resulted in a really poor afternoon for us.
“There’ll be an inquest into what we can do as a coaching staff to make the players realise, but for me it’s an away form thing and it’s something we really have to address. We are flat away from home, we’re not committing to trying to play football and we’re just not standing up to the battles well enough either.
“So that will result in some shaky performances and it’s absolutely my responsibility to make sure the team looks like it has an identity away from home and can start picking up results.”
