Leeds United      2    (Ramazani 4, Aaronson 7) ​

Watford               1    (Baah 47)                           

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22nd  October 2024. EFL Championship

34,968.

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That was the least convincing performance of the season for me . Yes ok, we still dominated the game and had loads of chances but, unlike all the previous games, it just never felt like we were in total control.

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It started well enough – perhaps too well – with two gifted goals in the opening seven minutes. We learned after the game that the Hornets’ keeper, Daniel Bachmann, only passed a fitness test the day before the game after struggling in their 3 – 0 defeat at the weekend, perhaps he was still not right. Pascal Struijk sent the ball through the inside left channel to Junior Firpo who held the ball up well before touching it back to Ramazani. Largie tried a speculative whipped shot from the edge of the box which deceived Bachmann and the ball squirmed through his gloves and overt the line in mid-air before his despairing lunge could claw it back. Three minutes later, and having been reminded by the Leeds fans that it was “your keeper’s fault, one-nil!”, he was at it again.

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This time it all started with a fine tackle by Joe Rodon in front of the Kop. Five passes later and Jayden Bogle was haring down the right wing before pushing the ball through for Willy Gnonto. Willy crossed low to the near post and Bachmann palmed the ball straight into the path of Brenden Aaronson. For once, with no time to think about it, Brenden expertly guided the ball back past Bachmann and Leeds were in overdrive! (Apologies for that one, only older fans will spot the pun!). You do wonder if there are higher forces at work in the beautiful game that we don’t understand; we all said after the blunder by Meslier up at Sunderland that “luck evens itself in the end” but to get our pay back so soon makes you wonder!

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To be fair to Bachmann, he did seem to put the errors out of his mind as he pulled of a few decent saves after that. On the half hour for instance he swatted away another fierce Gnonto shot albeit the ball flew at speed straight at him from a narrow angle. It took the Hornets fully forty minutes before they tested Meslier and when they did, with a powerful curling shot otherwise destined to fly inside the right post, Illan was equal to it with a full length dive to push it around for a corner. Another Willy Gnonto shot on the angle that was deflected wide was the only other real sight of goal in a strange first half. Leeds had dominated, but the early goals seemed to either lull Leeds into a complacent mood or to shake Watford into a determination to not  concede any more. They made six changes from the side that got walloped at Luton on Saturday which might explain their desire to make amends. We possibly missed the energy and pace of Largie Ramazani too, he went off injured in the 14th minute to be replaced by Manor Solomon. It was a surprise to me that we didn’t plump for Dan James in a more like for like change. But, if we thought the first half was strange, the first twenty minutes of the second half were unfathomable!

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It would prove to be the first period of any length all season when we simply lost our way. Conceding a soft goal within two minutes of the restart probably didn’t help. It looked like we were still in the dressing room as a long ball from Struijk was nodded on by Solomon but then easily collected by the Hornets who immediately swarmed up the right flank. The ball arrived at the feet of Kwadwo Baah far too easily, without any Leeds challenge, and then he surprised Pascal with a little turn of pace to get to the byline and stab the ball along the line of the six yard box. It cannoned off Meslier’s boot, struck Joe Rodon and Baah, following in, prodded the ball home. The nerves immediately began to jangle. I’m sure like me, many Leeds fans have, whilst enjoying our recent supremacy, been equally aware that it would be entirely in keeping with our history and reputation to suddenly find a way to mess things up!

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Watford finally found their early season good form and Leeds were under pressure for those twenty minutes after the break. We were uncharacteristically caught in possession too often, our passing was sloppy and often a yard short while Watford were more precise and now had the momentum in the match. We finally got to hear some noise from the Hornets fans too, although there was much less than their full allocation at the game. Watford quickly won a corner and the nerves jangled again.  Meslier punched that one away well but Watford were first to the loose ball and got another shot away albeit mishit over the bar and striking the Norman Hunter signage on the very top of the South Stand! Leeds were pushed back so deep that it was often just a case of launching the ball up field to clear our lines but that merely signalled the start of the next Watford wave. Larouci then got past Jayden Bogle and fired another shot over our bar and Leeds looked ragged. For this spell of the game Watford gave us more trouble than any side had done all season. We had a one goal lead but it didn’t feel like it at all, the impetus was with the Hornets. Tom Ince, he who the Leeds fans reminded was much like his dad, fired a free kick in from the right that Meslier messily clawed away for another corner that we dealt with easily enough.

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Thankfully, we re-found our mojo for the final half an hour, quite what changed I’m not sure but maybe Watford just started to think it wasn’t their day and they’d blown themselves out. Leeds then had more than enough chances to put the game to bed, starting with a clever effort by Jayden Bogle similar to the goal he scored against Coventry, bending the ball in from the right. This time it struck the far post and came back to Willy Gnonto who couldn’t quite sort his legs out. The ball got away from him but Joel Piroe was there, seemingly with the goal at his mercy but somehow he merely passed it straight at the keeper. There were other chances too – the best a free header by Mateo Joseph that he got all wrong, heading it straight at Bachmann with all eight yards to aim at. Willy saw a terrific long shot brilliantly tipped away by Bachmann too.

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At the end of the day all that mattered was the three points and, but for our old Achilles heel of poor finishing, the final score would have been comfortable enough. It was a reminder though that we’re not going to walk this Championship, other teams will take heart from the way Watford pushed us back for those worrying twenty minutes. Bristol I am sure will be watching the video at this very moment.

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The positives were those chances we created – 24 shots managed, although only seven, a very poor ratio, hit the target. You could argue that Watford could have won the game had it not been for the generosity of Daniel Bachmann. Manor Solomon is clearly not yet back to his best so the minutes he got was useful and similarly for Dan James. Once again the pick of the Leeds side were Tanaka and Rothwell in midfield while Brenden Aaronson was much better than he was against the Blades last Friday and Willy Gnonto was unlucky with several fine shots. All in all it was perhaps a useful reminder that we have to be on our game every minute of every game.