Leeds United journalist Joe Donnohue reflects on the Whites' latest defeat away to West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.
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00:00 Hello everybody, welcome to the Hawthorns, welcome to the YEP on Facebook or Dailymotion,
00:06 wherever you might be watching. As I say, we're at the Hawthorns, the home of West
00:10 Burnley and Shelby, where Leeds have been beaten 1-0 this evening. Not exactly the idea
00:15 of Friday night, certainly not the antidote to the 2-1 defeat against Preston on Boxing
00:21 Day. Another loss on the road, a sixth one of the season, which is a real concern considering
00:27 that Leeds are 15 points now behind Leicester in terms of points won on the road, and that's
00:36 just away from home. A distinctly different team away from Elland Road as they are at
00:42 Elland Road, and that will be a concern for Daniel Farke as he's just about to do his
00:48 post-match press conference away to my right. A really difficult evening for Leeds. Once
00:56 again, we thought that this was always going to be a difficult game. West Brom have one
01:00 of the best defensive records in the division, they are the second best team in terms of
01:06 goals conceded, they've got the most clean sheets in the league, and that was their 12th
01:11 one this evening. A clean sheet every one in two games, every other game is a pretty
01:16 good record and it's not exactly the sort of place you want to have to come to when
01:22 you're in need of a win, and Leeds found that today. We'll go through team news to begin
01:28 with, there were five changes, two of which were enforced, that was Karl Darlow and Liam
01:33 Cooper coming in for the suspended, Elan Melier and Pascal Stroik, who missed tonight with
01:38 a adductor issue, Daniel Farke has said. He believes it's a minor one, it's not one that's
01:44 going to keep him out for too long, but we'll have to wait until he speaks in his post-match
01:49 to hear some further comments on Stroik's condition. Also, Sam Byrom came back into
01:55 the side, played at left-back, with Jed Spence moving over to the right, Ilya Gruev replaced
02:00 Glenn Kamara, who didn't get on the pitch, so maybe was carrying something or maybe a
02:05 little bit fatigued, Farke keen to give him a rest, and Willy Nyonto came in for Dan James
02:10 on the right-hand side. Yeah, I mean, Leeds started the better of the two teams, but that's
02:16 sort of faded after 10 or 15 minutes, and they only really edged it ever so slightly.
02:23 West Brom kept getting in down the right-hand side, Jed Wallace was repeatedly found on
02:28 that flank, sort of behind Byrom and Somerville on Leeds' left-hand side, West Brom's right.
02:36 And ultimately, that's where the goal came from. They eventually took the Leeds midway
02:39 through the first half, through Grady de Angana, and the move did originate from that right
02:43 flank. You know, Okai Yukuslu plays a really lovely through ball in between the left-centre
02:50 back Liam Cooper and Sam Byrom. Jed Wallace is there, he makes the cut back, and de Angana
02:55 is the one closing in. His first attempt is blocked, it falls kindly for him, and he has
03:00 a second attempt, and because Karl Darlow's already dived, it's a pretty simple tap-in
03:04 for him. Leeds did have a very solid penalty claim during that first half with Willy Nyonto.
03:11 Ethan Ampadu plays a long ball over the top, and Nyonto kills it dead, takes it down really
03:16 well in his stride, and then he definitely feels the contact and goes down. Cedric Kipra
03:23 has an arm on him as he goes to pull the trigger, but he's pulled to the floor. Referee Graham
03:29 Scott waved it away. I think that was the strongest case for a penalty. There was also
03:33 one where Semih Ajayi went in for a tackle on Jorginho Ruta, which I think was maybe
03:39 a bit more speculative if you were appealing for that one as well. It was one where it's
03:45 very much in 'seen them given' territory, and on another day Leeds might have got it.
03:50 On another day that might be a different game if you go in 1-1 at the break.
03:53 Second half was a bit of a damp squib, not a great deal to write home about. Patrick
03:59 Bamford came on, Matteo Joseph came on, Firpo, Dan James was bright in the circumstances,
04:06 Jadon Anthony as well. His delivery was hit and miss from the left-hand side. But Carlos
04:13 CorberĂ¡n, ex-Leeds United assistant and number 23's coach, ex-Huddersfield manager, his subs
04:18 really counteracted Farke's attacking changes, and that's something which he's already said
04:22 in his post-match press conference. Ultimately it proved to be too little too late with the
04:29 substitutions, even though Farke did make them quite early into the second half, around
04:34 15 minutes after the break. So, Leeds have something they need to fix, and it's their
04:39 form on the road. The issue is not at Elland Road. The team have been excellent there,
04:44 as we saw with the 4-0 win over Ipswich, but that, despite the fact it was only six days
04:49 ago, feels a very, very long time ago now that Leeds were beating Ipswich 4-0 really
04:55 comprehensively and really quite convincingly. Because it's back-to-back defeats on the road,
05:00 nine points off the automatics. Thankfully Ipswich didn't win tonight, they only drew
05:04 at home to QPR. They had several first-team players out, whether that's injury or rest
05:12 or selection or whatever. But yeah, they had a few out. They drew Southampton beat Plymouth
05:17 tonight 2-1, which now means Leeds are six points off them in third place, which has
05:23 come about really quickly, but that's how the championship can happen. If you hit a
05:28 poor run of form at the same time as a promotion rival, it's a good period, then you can find
05:33 yourself falling further behind. Speaking of which, West Brom on a good run, two wins
05:40 on the bounce, they're now only three points behind Leeds. So it's looking difficult.
05:46 Again, there's the opportunity to bounce back at the first time of Askin. Elland Road
05:51 on New Year's Day, Birmingham City will come and visit. But Leeds need to get back
05:56 to winning ways straight away and put together some convincing performances to remind the
06:04 teams in this league and the fans, and perhaps even themselves, that they are one of the
06:09 most talented squads in this division. Because the past two games, Preston and West Brom,
06:13 they haven't looked like it. Thank you very much for tuning in, everyone who's been
06:19 listening to this. You will be able to find Graham Smith's player ratings on the YEP
06:24 website or on Twitter, Facebook, all of our pages on that. And yeah, we will see you again
06:32 on New Year's Day. Have a happy New Year. Stay safe and keep your chins up. Bye for