Good Morning. It's Monday 15th April, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Leeds are falling apart - againLeeds unbeaten home record came crashing down, and their automatic promotion hopes severely dented, as Blackburn Rovers produced one of the surprises of the season at Elland Road on Saturday lunchtime.
Having just been thumped 5-0 (Blackburn) three days previously, expectations were high in the Leeds camp, but in football, you can't take anything for granted. In fairness to the Whites, their performance wasn't all that bad, especially when compared to their previous four. They dictated play in all but the most important discipline, but were duly punished for their wasteful execution and poor distribution.
For all Leeds superiority, Blackburn produced the best two chances. Meslier had to be at full stretch to deny Szmodics, after breaking free of Ampadu on the half way line, followed by one of the best tackles you're likely to see in the Championship, with Connor Roberts denying Dolan a simple tap-in at the far post.
The creative duo were not to be denied, and combined well for the winner eight minutes from time. Dolan sliced the Leeds defence wide open, finding Szmodics in acres of space on the edge of the area. His first time effort was both clinical and assured, something desperately needed by Leeds during their final three games of the season!
Why don't Leeds have a set piece coachOn average, Leeds are producing 15.4 efforts at goal every game (second only to Southampton who have 15.6), yet have one of the worst goal ratio's from set pieces in the Championship! The amount of wasteful free-kicks and corners has been totted up, and doesn't make for pleasant reading. Leeds have scored just eight times all season from set-pieces. Only Blackburn (5) and Plymouth (5) have worse!
The club have invested heavily in the squad, and have some of the finest players in the division, so why have they not scored directly from a free kick in three years, and only once from a corner in 110 attempts? Aerials won is also a problem area for Farke's team, with only 13.4 headers won each match (19th). The Whites are top on goals from counter attacks (12), and spend the most time (42%) attacking down their left flank.
