Leeds play out goalless draw in play-offs opener

The Yorkshire Evening Post’s Lee Sobot reacts to Leeds United’s goalless draw away at Norwich City in the first leg of their play-off semi final.

Transcript

00:00Leeds are still in the tie. I think that's the main thing to talk about. It was a goalless

00:06draw. Neither side were brilliant at their perhaps flowing best, but I think it's fair

00:11to say Leeds were slightly more organised. They looked as if they'd turned a corner performance-wise

00:16given some of the results and performances they put out in recent weeks. So despite the

00:21boring nature on an attacking sense, was it slightly more encouraging from a Leeds perspective?

00:27I think so, yes. The bar was set pretty low, you've got to say, based on recent performances,

00:31which have been nowhere near what they were like earlier on in the season when they went

00:34on the long run and everything, which had it very much looking like they were heading

00:37towards automatic promotion. That obviously wasn't the case. But yes, I think it was slightly

00:42more encouraging, let's say, and ultimately they are not just still in the tie. They have

00:47to be seen very much as favourites now for the tie, but we'll come to that a bit later.

00:52We said beforehand, after shipping in goals left, right and centre and whatnot, the first

00:56thing there, first and foremost, even though Leeds went there as favourites, was just to

01:00make sure that you stay in the tie, especially early on, and make sure that you're still

01:04in the tie going back to Ellen Road. And obviously, there was no goals, it was a goalless draw

01:08and not the most entertaining game you'll ever see. But first and foremost, it looks

01:13a lot more solid at the back, which is good. It's probably no surprise with a bit of a

01:17change in shape, obviously a three-man midfield. I didn't know what to think really going into

01:21the game. And I've got to say, when I saw the team sheet and the sort of new look midfield,

01:25it sort of raised my confidence a little bit because I've seen Archie play at number

01:2810 a few times and he does have a lot of potential, I think, to play in that position. He's definitely

01:32got good attacking qualities in his armoury as well as defensive ones. But it's fair to

01:38say he didn't have his best game. He really struggled to get involved. But overall, it

01:42did make Leeds harder to break down, really. I mean, the only thing is, is that maybe by

01:46doing that, did they lose a little bit in the final third, so to speak. And obviously,

01:51we didn't have Patrick Bamford. So we had Routier going up through the middle. It was

01:55a disappointing game from Routier, really. You really want him to step up and be not

01:58just him, but be one of the ones to really step up and shine now. And hopefully, he can

02:01do that on Thursday evening. But he never got going, really. And just very, very few

02:05chances, really. I mean, what was it? Two shots on target for Leeds and one for Norwich

02:09and struggling to remember what they were, really. And seven for them, shots, six for

02:13Leeds and 60, 40 per cent possession for Leeds. But yeah, goal is straw and it looks to be

02:18heading that way from a long way out. What you would say is, is that Leeds are probably,

02:21well, they certainly are unlucky, really, not to be heading back to Ellen Road with

02:26some sort of lead. The Nantes challenge, when I saw that straight away, I thought penalty.

02:31When you watch it back, it's one of them. It does sort of start on the outside of the

02:34area, but sort of like continues into the box. I mean, that could definitely have easily

02:37been given. And then the other one, the Firpo goal where Routier was offside. I mean, I

02:41was sort of like a bit bemused watching that back because I thought straight away watching

02:44it back, well, why is he offside? Because he looked like he was being played on by the

02:47left back. But anyway, Daniel Farker wasn't happy about those, obviously, and sort of

02:51said afterwards that if it wasn't for those decisions, if you had VAR and whatnot, that

02:55Leeds would already be automatically promoted.