Leeds United    4 (James 9, Bogle 57, Aaronson 67, Solomon 73) ​

Oxford United   0                                        

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21st  December 2024. EFL Championship

36,646.

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Leeds United are mostly doing exactly what all logic suggests they should do this season; thump the poor teams in the division. And we all know that‘s been a rare thing in recent years. Certainly last season we found the poor teams to be often the most stubborn to break down. At home this season we have been almost point perfect and – that Pompey aberration on opening day and the Burnley disappointment aside -  we have seen off all the rest of the visiting sides. We have the best home record in the Championship having won ten, drawn just the one and lost just that irritating Burnley game. We’ve only conceded to four sides – three to Pompey, and one each to Burnley, Boro and Watford. Interestingly, the latter three are top half teams. We’ve scored ten more goals at home than any other side apart from (strangely) Norwich, a total of 29 (Norwich have scored 26 at Carrow Road). We’ve now won nine home games on the trot, conceding just twice in those nine matches.

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I have this theory though, that our near perfect home record has a lot to do with the fact that so many poor, bottom half of the table teams, have been to Elland Road so far this season and, the converse of that,  the teams we’ve generally faced on our travels have been the better, top half teams. A cursory look at the names of the teams we’ve played at home and those we’ve faced away from home, and where those teams currently sit in the table, proves the case. Obviously there are exceptions – at home we’ve faced Blades, Burnley, Boro and Watford for example, all decent sides – but six of the current bottom seven sides have all been to ER so inevitably, that means we’ve only played one of those very poor bottom seven sides  away from home. I will be very surprised therefore if our away form doesn’t automatically improve in the second half of the season  while, equally, it won’t surprise me if our home record is not quite as perfect. But that’s all still to unfold after Christmas.

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Today, yet another poor quality outfit arrived on our home turf, tried to play a defensive game and bring all the usual shithousery with them, and failed miserably. And, for once, we were able to show some composure in front of goal – something we’ve often been missing and something that has often meant we haven’t embroidered our home victories with the amount of goals we perhaps ought to have scored. The fact we hit the target with 9 of our 23 attempts maybe also suggests we've been practising our shooting! There were still a couple of big chances squandered today – Largie Ramazani the most guilty with his second half strike that he thundered wide with eight yards of goal to aim at for example – but generally, we were clinical and assured when we got close to the Oxford goal and it was a joy to behold!

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Manor Solomon was the stand out performer today, he finally seems to be back to his magical best having struggled since his long injury lay-off. He started the rout today with a fine run down the left, beating two defenders, speeding past two more, and then picking out Dan James, who’d found acres of space at the back post.

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The U’s did undo us once in the game, shortly after the opening goal, when Placheta was able to get behind our backline . Thankfully, his finish showed no composure whatsoever and he blasted the chance well over the bar but it was a reminder that we are still far from perfect defensively although the return of Ethan Ampadu in place of Pascal Struijk seemed to work perfectly well, at least against a team as poor as the U's  Thereafter though, we didn’t allow the U’s a single sight of goal, largely because we didn’t let them have the ball… and, when we did, we won it back quickly with our usual  robust midfield tackling and pressing!

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We had to wait until the second half for the floodgates to open but, when they did it, was a flood of beautifully worked openings and composed finishes. In the 57th minute, James, Bogle and Aaronson played a series of quick-fire passes in the northeast corner to get behind the Oxford defence before Brenden cut the ball back from the byeline and Jayden slid it perfectly just inside the post.

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Then, a ridiculously optimistic  Oxford cross field pass found Solomon in space and he raced forward and then cleverly, looking as though he was passing to his left, turned it instead to his right and found Brenden Aaronson free. We’ve seen Brenden fluff his lines so many times that it was a surprise he put this one away but he did so with much aplomb! A super cool finish.

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Finally, Manor Solomon got the goal his own performance deserved. Ethan Ampadu won a strong tackle in midfield, knocking the ball forward to Joel Piroe in that number ‘10’ position he often doesn’t look comfortable in and yet often uses to feed another runner to good effect This time it was Solomon on his left and Piroe’s pass was perfect. Manor’s rifled left foot shot wasn’t half bad either!

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It could have been five or six but let’s not be greedy; this was another totally professional demolition of another poor Championship team; a team that had won just two points on the road this season, one that jettisoned its manager last week and one that looks certain to end its Championship tenure after just the one season.

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We now end the year with a couple of away games that we are quite capable of winning and, the way our rivals are turning in results game by game, we probably need to win to stay in the promotion race. Stoke and Derby are two teams firmly in the ‘poor’ category – we saw Derby recently of course – and these games seem to offer a great opportunity to start to make that away record look more positive.  Both those sides have records similar to Preston and we know how close we came to losing that one last week so we need to be ready for a similar challenge but with Blackburn hosting Sunderland and Blades facing Burnley on Boxing Day, a win at Stoke could be priceless! Come on Leeds, let’s end the year with two away wins.

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