Boro back to reality with late Leeds sucker punch

Article by e-Middlesbrough correspondent Stephen Davison

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After an impressive start to the season, Boro were brought back down to earth with a bang away at Leeds. An opening day victory over Birmingham was followed by an equally impressive display in beating Oldham 3-0 away in the first round of the league cup, so hopes were high that the Boro could go away to Leeds and take all 3 points.

Aitor Karanka made 2 changes to the season opener. Kenneth Omeruo came in for the injured Ben Gibson and Damia Abella, the latest recruit brought in this summer from Osasuna, started at right back in place of Seb Hines. Adam Clayton was on the bench for his debut after eventually signing from Huddersfield in the long running soap opera transfer of our summer.

The club sold its full allocation of tickets and as I entered the ground, the Parmo Army was already in buoyant mood and very vocal, which is no surprise.

Elland Road has not been a happy hunting ground for the Boro in recent years. The team has regularly gone to Leeds and performed well, outplaying the opposition yet still coming out in arrears; this year proved no different and followed the recent trend.

The game started at a fast pace and Mejias had to be aware early on. He had to come out quickly off his line to thwart a very early Leeds attack, he smothered the threat but Dan Ayala still had to be on his toes for the rebound as a weak shot was goal bound. That proved to be all that the opposition offered in the first half. Boro controlled possession and looked completely at ease without troubling the Leeds goal to much. The ball was mainly in the midfield of the park and Boro were patient in their approach, passing very much the order of the day. Leadbitter and Whitehead controlled the centre of midfield and snuffed out any chance Leeds had of building, they quickly won the midfield battle. The game was disrupted by Leeds at regular intervals, mainly at the expense of continuous niggling fouls on Lee Tomlin, who looked frustrated at times with the treatment he was receiving. The referee had to intervene at one point when Tomlin was fouled and it almost bubbled over as he very nearly reacted to another foul from behind.

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With the Boro controlling possession, they needed to try to enforce themselves more on the game and provide more of a goal threat. As the game settled, Kike started to drop deep in order to try and get into the game. Just before the half hour mark, Boro did step up the pressure and throw in from the left fell to Albert Adomah near the penalty spot. With his back to goal and the ball coming at an awkward height and angle, Adomah hit an overhead kick straight into the bottom right hand corner, scoring what looked to be a perfectly good goal. The Leeds defender dipped his head to challenge and never got anywhere near the ball, he couldn't stop the ball hitting the back of the net. As the players celebrated and the referees assistant made his way back to the half way line, referee Stuart Atwell blew his whistle and disallowed the goal. The Leeds players looked just as surprised as the Boro players at the decision. What should have been 1-0 was still 0-0. I can only imagine the referee chalked the goal off for a high foot and dangerous play, if this was the case he had made a mistake, but he made his decision and a free kick was awarded. At that point I feared it was going to be one of those days where the luck isn't with you.

Half time came and the score was 0-0, Boro had dominated the opening half and would surely look to build on the foundations that they had set.

The 2nd half started as the 1st had finished with the Boro having lots of the ball but no real cutting edge. Reach was seeing more of the ball on the left wing but struggled to get past Sam Byram at right back for Leeds. When Reach did get the run on Byram he struggled to put a meaningful cross into the box, he must have wasted half a dozen good crossing opportunities and the frustration with his delivery was felt in the away end. As the 2nd half progressed, Leeds come more into the game, they did not ever look like scoring and were kept at arms length, but they seen lots more of the ball and it started to become more of an even contest. Whitehead was subbed and Clayton come on for his debut at his old club. He was met with boos from the home support, I'm sure he was expecting it.

The game drifted a little for 20 minutes and neither team looked dangerous. The Boro had started the game playing possession football and looking sharp, as the game went on they appeared to get dragged into playing as Leeds were playing and the rhythm had gone. Tomlin struggled to make an impact and the link up play that he been so impressive the week before was missing, as he was given no time to pick his passes. Kike remained dangerous with his movement but with little support and quality in the box he was never going to score and keep up his goal a game ratio.

As the game entered the last 10 minutes, Nsue was brought on for Reach, which led to Adomah moving to the left and Nsue taking up the right wing position. Luke Williams was brought on to replace Tomlin and sat in the whole behind Kike.

Leeds, having never looked dangerous, appeared content to take a point and showed little going forward. On 85 minutes Williams cut inside and unleashed a shot that was blocked by the Leeds centre half debutant Liam Cooper, who had been solid throughout. A routine ball was played forward by Leeds on 87 minutes and there looked to be no danger as a loose ball fell. Adam Clayton had not tracked Tonge who shot from 20 yards. Mejias in the Boro goal saved but fumbled the ball straight back into play, and another Leeds debutant Billy Sharp, lived up to his name, gambled and nipped in to slot the ball past the floored Mejias. Leeds led 1-0 and had barely been in the game.

With not long left on the clock to rescue a point, the Boro tried to build a head of steam and grab a late goal. Clayton played a lovely 40 yard pass behind the Leeds defence and Williams trapped the ball but had to cut back, he played the ball back to Kike at the edge of the box but his shot was poor and cleared the bar.

Clayton played another defence splitting ball between the Leeds rear guard but Ayala was inches from getting on the end of it.

Full time came after that attack and Boro had been mugged late on for all 3 points going down 1-0. The negatives were obviously losing, not scoring and having lots of possession. The positives are that not many teams will beat them if they continue to play this way throughout the season. The performance was a good one up to 70 minutes and we never looked like losing. The reality is that we did and we need to move on.

Karanka was not happy after the game and stated that he was not happy with the performance and the pace that we played at. I think that is a little harsh as for the best part of an hour, we looked different class to the opposition but lacked a cutting edge. Karanka was obviously furious with the decision to cancel out Albert Adomahs 'goal' in the first half.

Damia Abella looked solid enough at right back and could prove to be a big player for the club this year. Clayton will bed himself in with time and will be in the starting 11 once he has settled and trained more, buying into the manager’s philosophy and plans. Patrick Bamford is still being strongly linked with a move from Chelsea on loan along with George Saville, and the exciting youngster Lewis Baker. A deal is already in place for Bamford and it is anticipated that it will be concluded early next week. He is likely to be available for the home game against Sheffield Wednesday.

Karanka has still further stated that he wants cover at right back, another wide man and another forward, so the transfer dealings haven't finished on Teesside just yet. Avdija Vrsajevic of Hadjuk Split had been identified as the right back, but the Bosnian international has had a work permit application declined so the club must find an alternative now.

It is likely that there will be outgoings as well. Kei Kamara has not been part of the manager’s plans and if a bid is made for his services he will likely be departing Teesside. Jason Steele is being heavily linked with a move away from the club, and as Karanka has openly told him he is 3rd choice, if a bid is made it is again likely that Steeley will be sold. The youngsters in the squad will more than likely be farmed out on loan, which has very much been the way the Boro have continued their development over last few seasons.

On the subject of the keepers, it will be interesting to see if Karanka makes a change for the away game at Bolton. Mejias made a mistake which cost the team minimum a point at Elland Road. He had looked far from assured all game in truth. If you ask any Boro pundit or supporter who they would pick in goal everyone has a different opinion. None of the keepers appear to be a stand out, which is why many thought Karanka would go and bring Shay Given back to the Riverside on loan for a year this summer, but that move was never even rumoured. For what its worth, my choice would be Jason Steele, as in my opinion, he is by far the better of the 3.

We move onto the Macron Stadium on Tuesday to hopefully get back on track at Bolton. It’s far too early to get downbeat after one defeat but we don't want to make it a habit.

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