Sheffield Wednesday 1 Leeds United 1 (3-0 on penalties) – no romance in the Cup. For a club in crisis relying on teenagers in the team this should have been a straightforward win. But the will to win was missing and the collapse at penalties was even more embarrassing than the drubbing by Arsenal. This was a low week for Farke.
There is something about the romance of a cup that seems to elude Leeds United. Not since Jermaine Beckford scoring the winner against Manchester United when Leeds were in League One have they made any impact. Since Bielsa Leeds have been abysmal. Farke’s record is equally poor. Against Sheffield Wednesday Leeds were strangely muted in the first half – not the response we expected after being beaten by Arsenal. The second half response was still not enough.
Granted the line up was significantly changed by Farke. This started out as a grossly unequal competition. Leeds, able to rotate with Okafor, Bornauew and Bijol getting to start.
It was a strange atmosphere at Hillsborough with Wednesday fans opting not to attend out of protest against the owner Chansiri with huge areas of the stadium being empty and a Leeds away end left to do the singing.
Leeds started well playing mainly in the Wednesday half against a back five with an average of 19 years whilst Wednesday looked for the rare occasion to counter attack. It was a very championship style from Wednesday. Leeds had to be patient to break through a packed defence.
Despite all the possesssion Leeds found it hard to break down the Wednesday defence with Nmecha having to wait 15 minutes for a shot on target. It was then nearly 30 minutes before Aaronson had the next shot on target. Harrison and Okafor were getting crosses in but they were poor or no players there.
Leeds went into the break wit Farke hugely frustrated with the players not clicking and breaking down Wednesday.
Things improved at the start of the second half as Leeds shot tally increased. But Farke had had enough as on the hour Gnonto and Calvert-Lewin were introduced. Finally the crowd had a name, with Gnonto, to sing for. It was great to hear Calvert-Lewin having his name sung straight away. Gnonto immediately added threat on the right.
Despite the pressure it was a Darlow error from a save when the rebound shot went through his legs. Leeds, against the flow of the game found themselves behind due to an own goal. Leeds had to respond and forced a double save from Horback.
Farke threw the kitchen sink at the match as Stach and Bogle – with boos – came on. It was the Bogle-Gnonto partnership that finally showed some flair that the Wednesday defence could not handle. Bogle and Gnonto caused mayhem in the penalty box with Bogle nutmeggiing the keeper to equalise the score.
We got to see the value of Calvert-Lewin who nearly won it for Leeds three times in extra time, but was denied and Leeds went to penalties. Leeds lost the penalties from the beginning with the two strikers Piroe and Calvert-Lewin being saved and missing the goal. Then Longstaff had his shot saved. Whilst Sheffield Wednesday made three text book penalty goals.
There was no romance of the Cup Leeds, instead, a dismal performance that will lead to questions being asked of Farke’s tactics despite the shrewd signings during the summer.
Man of the match: Gnonto’s late arrival added much threat to the Leeds attack that led to the goal.
