5 things we learned

The 5 games that defined Leeds’ season

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Leeds have had a brilliant season by recent standards, but there was a lot of typical ‘Leeds’ stuff thrown in there too. It’s hard to narrow it down to just five games given the season we had, but that’s exactly what we’ve done.

Leeds United 1 – 1 Fulham

Leeds had not won a game from their first two league games and had limped past Fleetwood on penalties by the time Fulham came to Elland Road. Fulham dominated the game for large parts, hitting the post twice. I still believe that they were the best team to visit Elland Road this season. Chris Wood had missed a chance early in the game and was taking a bit of stick from the crowd, which is when he popped up with an overhead kick to snatch a point at the death, celebrating with the infamous cupping-his-ear celebration. At that point, if he’d gone on to have an average season, it would have haunted him, but he instead followed it up with the best season of his life. This game, although very early on in the season was a turning point, as it appears Massimo was already getting twitchy about Garry Monk. What a goal it was too.




Norwich City 2 – 3 Leeds United

This is the game when I really thought, we’ve actually got a chance here. We’d had a good October, losing only once, the trip to Norwich was always going to be a tough test, they were expected to be getting promoted one way or another. At kickoff we were 9th and they were 4th, by the end of it there was only one place separating us, with Norwich in 5th and Leeds in 6th, Leeds wouldn’t lose their playoff spot until April… The game itself had everything, Pontus Jansson’s first goal for the club which he celebrated in typical Pontus fashion, running full pelt straight into the crowd and resulting in a fan needing stitches I believe. Chris Wood’s goal to put us 2-1 up was a brilliant team goal and Ronaldo Vieira scored his first and only goal for the club and what a goal it was, about thirty yards out, low and hard, into the bottom corner in added time. What a moment. This was the stage of the season where Eunan O’Kane and Kalvin Phillips were bossing the midfield, I miss those days.







Leeds United 2 – 0 Aston Villa

This was the first really big game of the season, at home on Sky against a team that had yet to be beaten under Steve Bruce. I was quietly confident going into the game, but being Leeds it wouldn’t have surprised me if we’d been turned over. However that was not the case, Leeds put on a great display and the game provided one of the moments of the season, when Kemar Roofe scored his first goal with a flicked header at the Kop end. The win over Villa was especially impressive because our midfield of Vieira and Phillips dominated the much more experienced pair of Jedinak and Westwood. Chris Wood also continued his great form, despite Sacko trying to ruin that for him.







Leeds United 1 – 0 Derby County

The scoreline may read 1-0, but it was one of Leeds’ most dominating performances in a number of years. A massive game against a play-off rival on Sky, Leeds came through despite starting the game with three right-backs in the defense. Leeds had 21 shots and 8 on target, which is worlds apart from most of our performances in the latter stages of the season. Pablo Hernandez was at his scintillating best, playing with the Derby defenders like they didn’t have families to go back to. Leeds missed so many chances that it was very satisfying to see Wood rise highest from the corner and for him to power his header home. Rob Green was also coming into his own by this point, making a brilliant save to deny Tom Ince. The win moved Leeds up to third, only four points behind Newcastle.




Leeds United 2 – 0 Brighton & Hove Albion

Leeds had conceded in the last-minute to Fulham, played out a bore draw at home to QPR in the two weeks previous to the Brighton game, things were looking like fizzling out. However when Leeds are down, you know they’re just as likely to shock the world as they are to capitulate. Brighton were top of the league at the time but they were never going to get a result that day, Leeds did an extremely professional job on them. Despite Jansson’s mysterious drop to the bench, Leeds were solid in defence and clinical in attack. Rob Green made an outstanding reflex save from the boot of Liam Cooper and Chris Wood made Elland Road erupt with a looping header from a Charlie Taylor snake cross. After the game, Leeds were 8 points clear of Fulham in 7th. How times change.




Yes, the season may have capitulated after that, but it’s worth remembering the good times in a season where we overachieved massively.



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