Stoke City FC 1 Leeds United FC 0 – loss of momentum. This was an under whelming performance by Leeds United characterised by Bamford’s penalty miss. When the television camera zoomed in on Bamford’s face just before he took the penalty it had failure written all over it. My heart sank. It was a catastrophic mistake and Summerville should have been the penalty taker.
The buzz from Saturday’s turn around against certain defeat by Norwich City FC certainly gave a sense of a winning mentality. Leeds United need to have start a good run of wins to challenge the top two teams. Rutter’s comment before the match symbolised the optimism in the team: “We are Leeds – everything is possible.”
Alas, the rotation by Farke didn’t work – Anthony and Gruev struggled to make an impact. Summerville was rested for this match with Gnonto back from injury. Gray was in defence again and struggled, like the rest of the team, to start the match with the same determination as Stoke.
In the first half Leeds could not cope with Stoke counter attacking – only Meslier kept Stoke from scoring. Stoke were first to the ball and stopping Leeds from building momentum with Leeds passing poor. It took Leeds nearly half an hour to manage their first shots on target. Stoke ended the first top on top with Struijk kicking away a ball drifting into the Leeds net.
Georgino had another entertaining game and paired up well with Summerville when he came on in the second half. Gnonto, however, struggled to hold on to the ball. Whilst Leeds United stepped up a gear in the second half, playing more aggressively, both sides tested the keepers.
As the game drifted in the second half Farke replicated his tactic against Norwich City and brought on three attacking substitutes – Summerville, James and Bamford. But the revival was crushed by Bamford missing his penalty.
Stoke take advantage of Leeds penalty missed and stepped up a gear themslves. Stoke got their reward with a corner into the near post and the ball bounces off Struijk who fails to clear. eeds tried to retrieve something from match as both Summerville and Struijk had their shots in front goal blocked but it was too little too late.
Man of Match: Summerville, `whose scoring form should have started.
[…] Stoke City are in the bottom three and fighting to get out of the relegation zone. Farke freshened up the squad after the physical derby with Huddersfield Town, with Roberts, Byram and James starting. It may be Tuesday night but Leeds fans have packed out the stadium. […]