Leeds United v Southampton | 4th May 2024 | Elland Road
I was already very stressed before arriving at the ground due to home circumstances but did wonder whether the forthcoming game did have an impact too. By being amongst our fans, talking to people and taking their photos the stress levels receded very quickly. When I’d told someone before the game that coming to Leeds games was my therapy, we had a laugh, but it is not by what happens on the pitch. As always, it is being with our fans as we have a fantastic camaraderie that is second to none who always look out for each other. The football or lack of it for the 90 minutes in between can get in the way of a good day out but it becomes secondary to other things in our lives. The game today turned out to be very painful to watch from a Leeds fan’s perspective and it did remind me of our relegation last season. The difference is we do have players who have played well for us over the year. To be honest, I was glad when the final whistle went.
We now know that the remote chance we had of going up automatically has now gone and well-done Ipswich on having two consecutive promotions and Leicester who may already be facing sanctions. We still have a chance to join them through the play offs which I know many fans have already written off as we don’t do well in them, but it’s never over until it’s over. We are due a win in them one day, whether this is the year we actually succeed, we will soon know. As it is we are facing Norwich away first before the home leg to see who will play in the final at Wembley. Time will tell what happens next.
Since the international break which put a damper on our season, plus referees since then having gone back to not letting games flow by blowing up for every little tap on an opposition player but leaving some of our players without any protection whatsoever, with thuggish behaviour on some of them, things went from bad to worse. That isn’t the reason for our demise though because on top of that we have played out the last part of the season with a whimper and on those performances didn’t deserve to go up automatically. We seem to have forgotten how to penetrate defences and shooting on sight taking far too long to get into the penalty area, got bowled over in midfield by losing the ball too easily which puts pressure on our defence. Southampton today looked streets ahead of us with their passing into space and getting into our penalty area.
Whatever happens next and yes, it is a big disappointment after the team dangled the carrot of automatic promotion in front of us before whipping it away, but what will be will be. At the end of the game today the fans left in the ground when the team went around the middle clapping everyone, showed what we as a fan base can do. They cheered and shouted, and the atmosphere just changed which is what we have been missing. Let’s not be a group of fans who only sing when we are winning, but let’s get back to that siege mentality that I know we are capable of. Despite some in the Kop getting we all love Leeds going for at least 15 minutes in the second half, the resignation of acceptance that we were not going up automatically was telling. Therefore, all those still in the ground I nominate for play off tickets and the final please!!
We started this season on the backfoot with a takeover, new manager in Farke and not knowing which players would be here so it wasn’t until late September before we started for real. Those weeks may have proved costly in the end, but we can be proud that we managed a great run at the start of the year that put us in this position. Getting 90 points after being written off is an achievement in itself and we would have taken this at the start of the season. We now have to take our chance to do things the hard way and still get promoted.
See you at Norwich, LUFC – Marching on Together!
Leeds lost the game 2-1 with Piroe equalising for Leeds (21).
Team: Meslier, Ampadu, Rodon, Byram, Firpo, Kamara, Piroe, Summerville, Gnonto, Rutter, Gruev
Subs: Joseph for Rutter (62), Gray for Kamara (62), Anthony for Gnonto (62), Roberts for Byram (78), Gelhardt for Gruev (82)
Unused Subs: Darlow, Cooper, Cresswell, Shackleton
Attendance: 36,766 (1,900 Southampton Fans)
Referee: Matthew Donohue
Booked: Gnonto, Piroe, Gruev, Firpo
