Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Leeds United: Press the button
The ref might have been tempted to follow Daniel Farke around with his card ready if smug eyebrows were against the rules of the game.
The easiest way to put right a bad game of football is by playing a good game of football, so Leeds went off to Hillsborough with a choice. Daniel Farke took pleasure in the stabilising effect of last week's goalless, chanceless, flavourless draw at the Hawthorns — stabilising for his team, even if it loosened hinges among the fans — and he might have been tempted, taking another away trip with the same squad, to go through the same routine and face down the complaints afterwards. Get a clean sheet. Get a point. Get Pascal Struijk on the ball. Point to new signings in the stands and others in private jets and promise it'll all get better later, that promotion will still be there when we're ready for it.
I don't know how much of Friday was all Farke, or whether we should be saying a big Bank Holiday thank you to Sheffield Wednesday and their coach Danny Röhl. Champions elect after beating Plymouth 4-0 on the opening weekend, relegation candidates after losing 4-0 to Sunderland a week later, Röhl distilled their wild season so far into one wild tactic to face Leeds. They went for five at the back out of possession, while still leaving enormous spaces for United to pass through or counter into; with the ball, they opted for playing out from the goalkeeper, but only ever started a countdown until giving the ball to Leeds. You're not supposed to chant 'Easy!' after a 2-0 win, but it's Wednesday and it's funny and it's true: 'Easy! Easy!'
Leeds United have not looked this good for a long time, and I don't mean the tidily buttoned up away kits — they were the one good looking thing at West Brom. It's tough to think when they've played better for Farke. Away to Leicester, maybe, but that was more about containment; perhaps the home leg of the play-offs against Norwich. If it wasn't done with Röhl's help then maybe it was Farke's influence, except Farke always claims that this is what teams can't do, turning themselves on and off. "It's not like you press a button and you overrun such a well-structured side," he said at West Brom, so maybe the why of how Leeds were so good on Friday is something we can't answer, and don't much need to answer anyway. The process is Farke's problem, and on nights like this we can enjoy his labour's fruits. "You just can't press a button, especially after conceding six in the last two games, and expect, okay, we are there with the same creativity and the same outcome," was his view at the Hawthorns. So maybe Leeds needed that 0-0, before they could go to Hillsborough and smash buttons for all they're worth.
Wilf Gnonto, in particular, looked like he was having a good time. Even when he was moaning to the referee and getting booked for swiping legs down the touchlines, because beneath the bluster I think he enjoys that side of things too. His role with the ball, here, looked different, perhaps with Georginio Rutter and Crysencio Summerville out of his way, perhaps with Wednesday's packed back line making it obvious that he should go up against Barry Bannan in midfield. With a starting position wide left, Gnonto took great pleasure from going into the middle and deep to get the ball, while Brenden Aaronson — the night's designated no.10 — made smart manoeuvres out of his way, Ilia Gruev popped left to bother the right-back, and Junior Firpo put his toes on the touchline to keep the attacking width on that side and Dan James did the same on the other. Wednesday had five players at the back but they didn't have the collective brains to keep up with all this.
Leedsista
Aaronson's movement was important to making this work. He still wasn't what Leeds fans instinctively want from their no.10 — Pablo, Pablo, oh Pablo. On the ball, he's too frantic and eager to get his toes twinkling, his little body lurching forward like someone's shoving a broken mop along a dry laminate floor. But if playing in the Red Bull realms taught him anything it's pressing high on big lunks, useful knowledge against these Owls, and how to move when the attack is going directly to the goalframe in the middle. Gnonto was helped immeasurably by Aaronson understanding how to get out of his way.
Aaronson was, in fact, playing the no.10 role as an enhanced version of the way Farke describes — or imagines — Joel Piroe playing it. Piroe gets criticised for not getting on the ball and creating enough, but Farke says his job is to be a "loose striker", deep lying, staying away from the ball and the defenders so he can arrive late and finish. It often looks like Leeds are playing around Piroe, and actually they are, by design, while he finds space so when a chance pops up he can score.
The problem, as we've often seen, is that way Leeds have to play around Piroe instead of, like Aaronson, with him — either on or off the ball. Against Wednesday, Aaronson was much better than Piroe at losing his markers, using the ball, and, taking Joel on for his last proud attribute, finishing. We're going midway through the first half now, and goal number one. Aaronson is over on the right for the start of this, between Jayden Bogle and Dan James, so James can see him as he backheels Bogle's pass his way down the wing; inside, Aaronson can see Gnonto with space ahead so gives him the ball. Now we're talking about Mateo Joseph, making a well-timed run between the centre-backs that opens up the entire left side — where are you, Junior Firpo? — and also guides Gnonto towards a beautiful pass for him on the edge of the penalty area, where Aaronson is also arriving. Wednesday come up with a great way of defending this — clear Joseph's legs out. Aaronson comes up with a great way of making the penalty claim redundant — taking the ball, calmly switching feet and upsetting the goalie, then dinking a shot over him into the net. Long, long ago, when Aaronson first arrived, I looked at a lot of his goals and was struck by how many were from late arrivals into the box, finishing things off like prime Lee Bowyer. This is the sort of thing I was hoping for more of in 2022.
Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman
Joseph has deserved a goal from his three league starts so far, but for now should be happy with his work on the first and the assist just after half-time that made the second half simple. In a way it was simple — popping back to help after Ethan Ampadu's up 'n' under created some defensive kerfuffle, Joseph got on the ball, whacked it up the field and let Dan James do what Dan James rarely gets the chance to do. But the way good players execute simple things brings joy to football, so pause and appreciate Joseph's vision and the control on his pass, curving it to meet James' curving run beyond the last defender, with weight to slow the ball down just in time for James' first touch. And consider that rarity: with James' pace, it feels like he should be doing this four times a game, but it needed this quality because it's all harder than it looks. And then, the finish? James could have chipped the goalie and he dived left as if to stop that; did Dan James plan, once he was down, to pull his chip to the goalie's right and still have it go into the corner of the net? My slow-motion analysis of Dan James' feet suggests he did what he meant to do, but only he will know for sure. It was great, anyway.
Simon Hooper booked James for forming a celebratory tableau in the away end amid a crowd of polo shirts and half-munched pies, and the ref might have been tempted to follow Daniel Farke around with his card ready if smug eyebrows were also against the rules of the game. Before, between and after the two goals Leeds put on a full demonstration of what Farke's football is supposed to look like, of how they're supposed to be playing, of what the controlled possession, high pressing and eagerness for the counter is supposed to be doing for them. Pulling this off a week after everything Farke looked everything terrible must have made the manager pretty pretty pleased.
There were moments when it teetered, when Joe Rodon declined a braver pass, when Jayden Bogle floundered on a good move, and one moment that felt telling when patient passing made space for Ampadu to attack the penalty area and he looked like he didn't know how to do it. There were things to boo if you wanted to boo them.
But while Pascal Struijk was the night's biggest toucher, with 133 — apparently the most of any player in a Championship game this season — everything felt different. Every patient move felt sensible, every pass felt fast, every decision felt like it was being made with Wednesday's penalty area in mind. None of this felt this way at West Brom, leaving me wondering if it's all just what we call vibes, that Leeds simply look better when they intend to play better, when they go out meaning to attack. In which case, Daniel Farke is wrong, and you can sell your two best players and you can press a button and you can produce a firework of football with what you've got left. But also, Daniel Farke is right, because all this and a few more players just might work out after all. ⭑彡