Leeds United 2 West Ham 1. “Bad Very Very Good.” Because it was very, very good in the first 15 minutes, whilst Nuno called it “very, very bad.” After that disappointing collapse against Burnley last week, this win at Elland Road was more than three points— it was a lifeline, a confidence boost, and a shot in the arm for Daniel Farke. Three wins in the bag – he wants six more by the end of the season to stay up.
The Hurricane Hits West Ham
The atmosphere was a proper cauldron. The boos for Sky Sports, the Premier League anthem, the booing for Summerville, and, the boos for the ‘Taking The Knee’ (passed its sell-by date now and just divides the fans) were deafening. The crowd was ready for a fight, and Farke’s team delivered, kicking off with a blitzkrieg that Nuno Espírito Santo’s poor, sinking West Ham side couldn’t handle.
Farke’s big calls to drop Stach for Ao Tanaka and bring back the not-quite-fully-fit Noah Okafor worked. The energy was electric, and West Ham’s defence looked asleep from the start.
- 3 Minutes: A proper poaching goal. Aaronson was the sharpest man in the box, reacting quickest after Okafor’s header was saved by Areola. A simple tap-in.
- 15 Minutes: A goal from a set-piece corner. Sean Longstaff curled in an absolute beauty, and there was Joe Rodon, towering over the hapless Paquetá, to power home the header. West Ham have apparently conceded nine goals from corners already this season—a record after nine games.
The game had a real edge early on, too—those two industrial tackles showed the Whites were up for the battle. Losing Ollie Scarles to a suspected dislocated shoulder so early was awful for him, but it forced Nuno’s hand to bring on Callum Wilson. Then, worryingly for us, Gabriel Gudmundsson was taken off right before the break—massive respect to James Justin for coming in and doing a solid job.
The Midfield Machine and the Great VAR Fiasco
The rest of the first half was a conveyor belt of chances. We should have been out of sight. Tanaka fired a great chance over, and Okafor curled one just wide—that cutting edge is still the difference between being ‘nearly’ men and true contenders.
West Ham thought they’d halved the deficit when Paquetá thundered one in, but the over-long VAR check rightly chalked it off for offside. The delay due to the “technological failure” that contributed to 13 minutes of added time was a farce.
Game Management or Nervous Relapse?
At the start of the second half Farke swapped Okafor for Jack Harrison and went into game-management mode. He said he had ill players and others not fully fit, but watching us drop so deep and cede possession made for difficult viewing. It felt like we were inviting pressure.
Still, the brilliant moments were worth the anxiety. Aaronson was a man on fire. He drove a coach and horses through their midfield, winning the ball back deep and going on a dazzling 60-yard run before his fizzing shot cannoned off the crossbar. His improved dribbling was a joy to watch.
Our long-ball approach to Dominic Calvert-Lewin certainly worked to relieve pressure, but he has to score as well. That slip on the rain-drenched pitch was a painful ‘what if?’ moment.
Summerville was their best player as he constantly threatened down the wing, the ball sticking to his feet as he danced around our defence. The booing from the Elland Road faithful was loud and sustained until he was finally taken off.
In defence, Rodon was imperious, and Jaka Bijol—making his first start for the club—looked like he quickly learned the ropes next to him, stopping any more clear-cut shots on goal.
Mateus Fernandes‘ 90th-minute header was a deserved consolation for West Ham, leading to an unnecessarily frantic final few minutes of stoppage time.
We held on, though. The win moved us up to 13th in the table and puts some much-needed daylight between us and the relegation zone. It wasn’t pretty, but after a run of poor form and that defeat to Burnley, this was a massive, pivotal three points.
