Leeds: Never mind the quality, feed the width

Article by Gwyn Hughes

Those old enough will recognise where I got the title of this post but it sums up how I saw our game with Leicester at the weekend. Since we've acquired the services of two wingers in the form of Cameron Stewart and Jimmy Kebe, we've been anticipating the difference they would make to our performances on the pitch. I have to mention that I missed the first 30 minutes of the match and by what I've read we were terrific and should have been ahead. That makes me think of the Leeds under Howard Wilkinson where we used to blast teams from the off and I would welcome the consistency of that approach again. If Stewart and Kebe were on fire during this time that I missed then I apologise in advance!

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Of what I saw, it is still early days to expect any creative contribution from our new acquisitions. Kebe, to me, still looked a bit shell-shocked from the Wednesday encounter and can't find his feet let alone his head. He is way off the pace and I suspect that it will take time before we see an improvement in him. He needs some games to shake the neural rust off. Cameron Stewart showed glimpses of what he can give the team. He has an eye for goal and I expect him to grow with confidence. If we can get a playmaker signed up Stewart will get fed plenty of balls to work with. At the moment he's not getting enough of the ball. I'm afraid there just wasn't enough quality in the midfield to give our new wingers any chance of creating something for McCormack and Varney to work with.

There were pleasing performances in the game despite the defeat. It was good to see the re-emergence of the passion and the grit in the players, which was non-existent against Sheffield Wednesday and Rochdale. Rudy Austin has got his credibility back. He covered the pitch like he'd scoffed a whole packet of Tate & Lyle in the dressing room, just like he was in the games before the Christmas black hole, tracking back and cutting off possible goal creating passes from Leicester; and to be fair I thought Varney and Warnock also put in a good shifts. There seemed to be a lot more commitment and desire. And communication. The defence did well, only giving Leicester one shot on target, but the difference was there to see. That one chance proved to be crucial. But we must not condemn the team and the performance just because we got suckered at the end of the game. Leeds effectively stopped the rot in this game, against the league leaders, who look like they will be going into the Premiership next season. Make no mistake this was a close game and it could have easily ended with Leeds winning. This was a 100% better than the Wednesday and Rochdale debacles.

But didn't it feel like Leicester would nick one at the end? I felt it coming because I've witnessed this scenario so many times in the past. Sure we could have won this game in the first half, but Leicester managed to ride through these periods of pressure and stay solid and wait for their opportunity. Who else felt that Kevin Phillips was going to get that chance and win it for them? He may not have scored but he certainly contributed to the goal. It was clear to me that there wasn't a lot of difference between the two sides, only that Leicester had an arrogance about them that breeds confidence that they can win any game. And that's the quality that Leeds are lacking at the moment. At times we have been able to win ugly. I recall the win at Bolton earlier this season. Keeping a clean sheet after scoring early was hailed as a great result. But Leeds need to do that consistently, when required against certain teams. QPR are pretty good at this as well. It requires a rock solid defence performing at their best week in, week out.

What Brian McDermott would give to have Leicester's defence! Wes Morgan was an unmovable object and I wish we had someone like him. They have been building that side for a few years now and they look ready to be promoted to the Premiership. Which sadly reflects the task that Leeds have ahead of them. It took Cardiff a few years as well but it was the experience of being consistently in the top 4 places all season that created the resilience and determination to escape the division. That's where Leicester have been for a few seasons and Leeds haven't even got to that stage yet. It doesn't matter whether we should have been 2 or 3 nil up at halftime; the reality is that we were unable to convert those chances and Leicester put away their one and only opportunity. That's what counts in the end.

For a team that was effectively creeping towards the upper reaches of the play off places, Leeds didn't half surprise fans and media with such a dive in form over Christmas and new year. It could have been all the speculation about the take-over that affected the players, the possibility of new personnel coming in and replacing them. That could certainly affect motivation. But all they had to do was play at their best, show us what they could do, and surely their futures would be secure, if only for a little while longer. To me there could be no better motivation than helping Leeds United back into the Premiership. Being a part of the team that finally did it would be a treasured achievement and forever remembered by the fans.

We've also got to learn to concentrate the whole 94 minutes; how many times have Leeds let in goals at the death of games? Too many times. Watching the game today I had that oh so familiar feeling that we would let one in near the end, which proved to be the case. Let's see who else Brian McDermott can bring in this week and hope that it will be a player or players with proven quality who can make a difference and turn Leeds from a promising play-off outfit into one that has real Premiership credentials.

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