Stoke City       0                       

Leeds United  2  (Piroe 42,63)

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26th December, 2024, EFL Championship.

24,738.

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Could we do it on a misty, damp and chilly Thursday night  in Stoke? Well, yes we could! In just the same manner in which we have dominated so many poor teams at Elland Road this season, we were able to comfortably see off a woeful Stoke City side without too much trouble with a goal in either half from Joel Piroe. Our record against the bottom half teams this season has been first class, beating nine of them, drawing two and with just the one defeat at 13th placed Millwall. Admittedly we have played most of those games at Elland Road – 8 of the 12 in fact, but, even so, we have largely done what we needed to do against the poor sides in the table.  Just a reminder, one reason our away record has not looked as our home record is that we have far more top half teams away from home – those 8 poor teams I just mentioned that we’ve easily beaten at home should give us a great chance of improving our away record in the New Year.

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It should have been another four or five goal demolition job tonight really but, as so often this season, we failed to embellish a totally overwhelming performance with the number of goals it deserved. Our shooting was again woeful at times, the only criticism that can really be laid at our door this season. Time after time our forwards found themselves on the edge of the area with a clear sight of goal and little pressure on them but time after time we screwed the ball wide of the target instead of curling it around the keeper into one of the corners! Just five times did we hit the target from 20 efforts; Stoke managed to get two of their three shots to hit the target by way of a comparison!

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It’s hard to be too critical of our team when we sit top of the table and when we’ve scored more goals than any other Championship side and yet, and yet, I think we’d all agree we should have scored plenty more! Even Daniel Farke said of the performance that it was: “Not one of our shiniest. We should have shown more cutting edge, but we had control.” And that pretty much sums it up, we did have almost complete control (76% possession for example) but boy, we could have had a bag full of goals if we could but shoot straight! We watched as Joel Piroe put a point-blank header wide; Manor Solomon got his legs mixed up and could only knee a Dan James cross wide when it looked easier to score and fired another good chance well wide; and Mateo Joseph, from the edge of the area with only the keeper to beat struck his shot wide. The composure we showed against Oxford was gone again. Well, not quite all gone. Joel Piroe did show excellent composure for our opening goal, through one on one with Johansson, the Stoke keeper foiled his first attempt but, when the ball broke free Joel needed only one touch to set himself and then one to lash the ball into the roof of the net! Similarly he was on hand at the back post to head home the second from a clever Dan James lob. Those were both good finishes.

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The reason we have to be critical of our wasteful shooting is that, against better teams a) we’ll not get as many chances and b) they may well bury the ones they get. Even tonight, Stoke had two gilt-edged chances that, on another day, would have earned them a draw, as undeserved as that would have been. In the very first minute our defence was all at sea in the mist as Stoke got a ball across the six-yard box and only the quick reactions of Illan Meslier saved our blushes. In the second half a whipped left wing cross was met by a Stoke head and that went inches wide. On another day…

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We should also mention the Stoke goalkeeper, Viktor Johansson, he was another reason we didn’t at least match the four we put past Oxford last time out. He saved a couple of decent efforts from Brenden Aaronson and one from Jayden Bogle early in the game.

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So, another totally dominant performance against another very poor side but we should have scored more. None the less what a great position to be in, top of the table at the halfway point in the season and with the top four sides beginning to break away from the pack. We’d have taken that had it been offered us on day one! Now, let’s put Derby to sword on Sunday to keep this momentum going. We dominated them a few weeks ago albeit they’ve had a couple of decent results since, not least beating the Albion this week. Come on Leeds, let’s end the year on  high!