We had to get something from this highly eventful tussle with Newcastle United, and we came back after going behind when we might have folded under the last head coach. But will the draw prove to be enough?
Sam Allardyce thought we came away from the Etihad with a lot of credit last week, but he still made three changes to his starting line-up. Quite a few of our fans would have been pleased to see Roca left out, with Greenwood coming in, but less so to see Gnonto left out for Rodrigo. The other change was the return of Koch after the slight injury he had last week.
Right from the start Leeds looked fired up for this game, being very quick to close Newcastle down and flying into tackles, although as the game progressed some of the challenges became a little too reckless. We had to withstand some pressure in the opening stages, but after only six minutes we came downfield to grab the opening goal of the game.
Bamford popped up on the left-hand side and beat his man before sending his cross into the six-yard box, to find three Leeds players rushing in to meet it. Rodrigo got to the ball ahead of McKennie to send a header into the corner, and when Pope could only palm the ball out, Ayling was left with the simple task of knocking it into the net. I couldn’t believe how much space the Newcastle defence had left them all.
And for much of the first half we stayed on the front foot, and had a great opportunity to extend our lead on 28 minutes. Firpo burst into the box and was brought down by a clumsy challenge from Joelinton, who stretched for the ball but got nowhere near it as his legs tangled with Firpo’s. I hoped Rodrigo was going to take the penalty, but up stepped Bamford, despite his relatively poor record from the spot.
And he missed again, getting no real power nor sending it close to the corner, so Pope was always going to make the save if he went the right way. As Bamford had already copped some social media abuse even before this game I thought his critics would be out in force again, and they have been. It’s now got so bad that the club have put out a statement saying "The time for this behaviour to stop is now. Those making threats do not reflect our fan base and are not welcome at our club.”
The penalty miss didn’t just affect the scoreline, as the whole momentum of the game changed, with Leeds slightly deflated and Newcastle relieve by this let-off. And only two minutes later they were awarded a penalty of their own. Firpo slipped as Willock reached the penalty area, causing Wöber to panic as he came across and take the Newcastle man’s legs rather than the ball.
Like his opposite number, Robles also went the right way, but Wilson’s penalty was well-struck and right in the corner, so he stood no chance of reaching it. From then till the break the visitors began to take control, but thankfully without inflicting any further damage before the break. One thing we did see before half time was the Weston McKennie long throw, an attacking weapon that had been kept secret up until now.
Allardyce made his first change at half-time, with Forshaw coming on to replace Greenwood. I thought Greenwood was a little unfortunate to be taken off as he had made a couple of good runs, but we needed a little more steel in midfield. The second half began in the same vein as the first, with Leeds playing at a high tempo, but Newcastle began to create the better chances.
There was a half-volley from Wilson that flew just over the bar, and when they did get the ball in the net, the goal was disallowed for offside. Then Firpo flew into a dangerous lunge, which caused a VAR check to verify that a yellow card was sufficient punishment. There is a case for saying that we would have been better off if a red card had been issued to him, there and then.
Gnonto replaced Harrison, but before he could make his attacking talents count we went behind due to the third penalty of the game. As a deep cross came into the six-yard box Firpo had his hands way above his head, and VAR confirmed that the ball had just grazed one of his fingertips on the way down.
There was a debate over whether Firpo had been shoved in the back before the ball hit him, but if anything he was going backwards into Willock, who just stood his ground. Robles did his best to distract Wilson and got booked for his efforts, but the striker kept his head and sent the spot kick into the roof of the net as our keeper dived to his right.
But big Sam’s Leeds are made of stern stuff, and with the crowd roaring them on they came back at Newcastle, in search of the equaliser we desperately needed. Though one fan got a bit carried away and confronted Eddie Howe in the dugout, before the security got hold of him and marched him away to the inevitable lifetime ban.
And in the 79th minute we were back on level terms. Gnonto worked his way into space on the left and sent over a good deep cross, and a couple of shots were charged down before the ball fell to Kristensen on the edge of the area. He hit his half-volley very well, though it needed a big deflection off the head of Trippier to wrong-foot Pope before it finished in the net.
From then till the 90th minute Leeds seemed to be the more likely to win the game, until Firpo clattered into the back of Gordon as the Newcastle man broke through. Thankfully it was judged to be outside the box, but a red card was waved in Firpo’s direction. I’m not sure if it was a second yellow card or a straight red for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, but Leeds were down to ten men.
We still had to face the free kick from Trippier (one of only three Englishmen to score in a World Cup semi-final) but the wall did it’s job and we got the ball clear. Sam made his last two changes. I’m not sure how Aaronson coming on for Rodrigo was going to improve things, but substituting Bamford for Struijk was clearly to restore the right number of defenders, and ensure the ten men could at least hold on for a point.
Six minutes of injury time were announced, and there was one late scare when Schar hit a fierce shot from outside the area, but he didn’t put it right in the corner and Robles was able to make the save. We still tried to get forward as much as we could, but time ran out and we had to settle for a point. There were some more positives to take from another good performance against difficult opponents, but right now we desperately need results.
Everton’s defeat by Man City today will be a big help, but we need a minimum of a win and a draw from the last two games. Can we do it?