Leeds United at Elland Road and away from home have been the personification of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They efficiently dispense meds at home but sabotage themselves when not at the foot of Beeston Hill. Daniel Farke suffers a lot of friendly fire from the supporters and those who post extensively on social media—the German showed his mettle in the first two festive fixtures.
What seemed like an aberration at first, dropping Ao Tanaka for the game against Stoke City proved to be a masterstroke as Ethan Ampadu slotted back into the team as if he were never gone.
Those inside the Bet365 stadium would have struggled to see most of the game as the Staffordshire fog descended for 90 minutes. What was not difficult to see, however, was Joel Piroe’s clinical finishing. He slotted two goals in the second half, dispelling concerns over his suitability as an attacking outlet for the club.
The Dutchman’s double was needed at the Ally-Pally, considering how poor Leeds supporting Luke Humphries played – and could not finish legs.
The Square Ball and other pundits voiced that four points from the collective of Stoke and Derby games over Christmas would be a realistic achievement. With 75% of the job accomplished on Boxing Day, the team headed to Pride Park.
Yet, (Kevin) the Carrot was dangled to go for the win. Playing at the lesser fancied kick-off time of 5:45 pm, Leeds had seen promotion rivals Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, and Sunderland AFC all drop points earlier in the day.
Considering how uninspired the Rams were in the matchup at Elland Road, Farke must have regarded the benefits of ‘going for it’ despite claiming not to look at the table until May.
Daniel remained untroubled by the concept of more points and made four changes to the starting eleven. Largie Ramazani, Mateo Joseph, Wilfried Gnonto, and Ao Tanaka all joined the team.
Paul Warne would still have been seething at the woeful performance before Christmas at Elland Road, in which no player looked capable of threatening Leeds or putting multiple passes together.
Warne was subtly reminded of how poor his team were in West Yorkshire when assembling his party playlist for the upcoming NYE celebrations when adding, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ by D:REAM to his queue.
As the home team, Derby had a plan this time, at the very least. Stay in the game and rely on Curtis Nelson to keep the back line straight while hoping that Ebou Adams could orchestrate forward motion – but that appeared to be secondary, as Derby found it hard to craft out chances, making just four shots in the game, compared to Leeds’ 17.
Leeds were frustrated but not deterred. Eventually, the Yellow-and-Blue clad away strip could cut through the Derby at will. Farke’s plan could create scoring opportunities but not score them. As delightful as turkey with no flavour, which you have probably been exposed to recently. A better gift for Christmas being that Leeds United jersey you unwrapped.
For all the changes to the team, it was the American stalwart, the Medford Messi, Brenden Aaronson who provided the goal to settle the game. The strike was the perfect accompaniment to a fantastic team play.
The away contingent who made it to the East Midlands roared, and contempt for the USMNT member has indeed faded – as those who booed him in the pre-season friendly against Valencia, owing to his seven goals and two assists in the EFL Championship in 24 games.
Come the final whistle, Leeds United sits atop the division with a comfortable 51 points after this 1-0 win in the East Midlands. Yet the bigger revelation is that the team was able to win twice away from home and keep as many clean sheets in the process. The Leeds United schedule now sees them take on Blackburn Rovers at home.
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