Nottingham Forest 3 Leeds United 1: The Spiral Continues. These are dark days for Leeds United. Defeats against both Burnley and now Nottingham Forest—two teams below us—are dragging us dangerously close to the relegation zone. While new managers at West Ham and Nottingham Forest (Sean Dyche, in this case) have delivered that crucial new-manager bounce, Leeds have lost their initial impact and are now spiralling. Without a consistent striker, we are short on goals, and with a defence that is disjointed, we are leaking them.
⚽ A Breathless, Brief Hope
The scoreline of 3-1, while grim, doesn’t fully capture the sheer volume of pressure Forest applied. They were searching for their first league win since the opening day, and they managed it.
- First Half Chaos: Forest started brightly, with Lucas Perri forced into a sublime double save early on. Yet, against the run of play, Lukas Nmecha struck a clinical finish from inside the area in the 13th minute after Noah Okafor was strong in the counter-attack and Brenden Aaronson provided the decisive pass. It was a moment of quality, but it proved to be our only shot of the entire first half.
- The Immediate Capitulation: The lead lasted barely two minutes. Ibrahim Sangaré tapped home the equaliser (his first for the club) after Perri could only parry Dan Ndoye’s cross into his path. Daniel Farke called it “giving this lead so easily and cheaply away,” and he’s not wrong. It’s a sure sign that the new defensive pairings of Bijol and Rodon are not yet clicking.
📉 Farke’s Substitutions Should have started
The match was a low-quality affair, but Forest, under Dyche’s influence, found a way to win. They controlled large periods, particularly down the wings. Nmecha struggled against the physicality of Forest’s centre-backs, Milinkovic and Murillo, offering little in the air or for second balls.
- Forest dominated the ball and ultimately forced the game-winning breakthrough in the second half after Dyche brought on a triple substitution (Omari Hutchinson, Taiwo Awoniyi, and Ryan Yates). The change paid dividends almost instantly, with Morgan Gibbs-White flicking a precise header past Perri for the second goal.
- Farke responded with his own triple change, bringing on Calvert-Lewin, Daniel James, and Joël Piroe. The energy injection saw James force a fine one-handed double save from Matz Sels, and the impressive Gabriel Gudmundsson did go on an amazing dribble from his own half. But all hope was extinguished in the final minutes.
- Game Over: Disaster struck when makeshift left-back Jack Harrison (brought on as a late substitute) bundled over Omari Hutchinson in the box, conceding a penalty. Elliot Anderson converted decisively. Harrison’s “clumsy behaviour” (as Farke described it) was the final nail in the coffin.
❓ Where Do We Go From Here?
This loss leaves us just two points above the bottom three, and a mere point above Forest. It was our first loss under Farke after scoring the opening goal in 53 matches—a truly disheartening statistic.
The team still lacks cohesion. We had only three shots on target all game compared to Forest’s six. Until Bijol and Rodon find stability, the defence is going to cost us. Up front, the lack of a consistent goal threat is crippling, especially with Dominic Calvert-Lewin struggling for form. The manager has a huge amount of work to do, and with the international break offering little respite from the mounting pressure, one has to wonder if Farke can survive beyond Christmas if this form continues.
Man of the Match: Gabriel Gudmundsson – The only player who consistently showed fight and quality going forward.
