Dominant Leeds destroy Norwich

23 Jan 2025 09:19 am, by Ellandback1


Good Morning. It's Thursday 23rd January, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...


Dominant Leeds destroy Norwich

Leeds returned to the top of the Championship with a dominant performance against an injury ravaged Norwich City side, who, without the services of Borja Sainz (suspended for six games for spitting at Sunderland's Chis Mapham) looked anything but play-off contenders. The game burst into life straight from kick-off, as Daniel Farke's men executed a breathtaking move, straight from the Thorp Arch training ground manual. Brenden Aaronson, Jayden Bogle, and Dan James combined brilliantly to set up Manor Solomon at the near post. His first time effort, smashing the ball into the roof of the net, sent the packed out crowd into jubilation.

Leeds dominated possession for the rest of the first period, creating further chances through Joel Piroe, who forced a save from Angus Gunn. While the referee's notebook saw plenty of early action, with several yellow cards being handed out to both sides, Leeds maintained their control, with Gunn pulling off a fantastic save to deny Bogle's late volley at the end of the half to keep the score at one nil.

The second half saw more of the same. Leeds were dominant, but always needed a second goal to kill off any hopes of a Canaries comeback. The double substitution of Tanaka and Byram for Gruev and Firpo had the desired effect. Leeds doubled their lead soon after as Solomon turned provider, crossing for James to volley home from the back post for his 7th of the season on the hour mark. With 16 cleans sheets already this season and a goal difference of 34, their prognosis looks bright; yet only a three point gap separates them from third, and another potential lottery play-off scenario; and we all know how that is likely to go!





Duo could be dropped for top of the table Burnley clash

Despite what turned out to be an easy win, two Leeds performances left a lot to be desired, prompting calls on social media for them to be dropped on Monday when Leeds travel to Burnley. The Clarets, buoyed by a dominant 5-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle, are seemingly hitting their stride. They already have the tightest defence in the football league, and now it seems they may have found their goal scoring touch too. They remain the only side (apart from Boro in the Caribou Cup) to win at Elland Road this season. The imminent arrival of big money signing Morgan Whittaker will give Scott Parker's team further options up front, so Leeds will need to be at their very best if they are to maintain top spot.

Brenden Aaronson and Joel Piroe have come in for a lot of criticism lately, with reports of lacklustre performances, but with few options at 9 and 10, there has become an over reliance on Manor Solomon and Dan James to perform. Plenty of names have been linked with January moves to Elland Road, but time is running out. are Leeds willing to gamble on their current squad's ability to secure promotion, or will they seek reinforcements before the window slams shut?




View all Showing latest 5 comments of 27...

1964white wrote on 24 Jan 2025 02:49 pm

Most decent

Passes - Bogle

Interceptions - Bogle

Runs/Dribbles - Bogle

Shots Saved - Bogle/Piroe

Crosses - Soloman/Rothwell

Defensive Headers - Ampadu

Tackles - Ampadu/Tanaka/Ramazani

Blocks - Tanaka

Crosses stopped - Firpo

mentalcase wrote on 24 Jan 2025 01:15 pm

1964white wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 1:10 pm Our top ten contributors of decent play vs Norwich.

31 Bogle
18 James
14 Soloman
13 Piroe
12 Aaronson
12 Rothwell
11 Ampadu
11 Tanaka
11 Firpo
10 Gruev
6 of my MOM are in that top 8, must be watching some of the game eh !!

1964white wrote on 24 Jan 2025 01:10 pm

Our top ten contributors of decent play vs Norwich.

31 Bogle
18 James
14 Soloman
13 Piroe
12 Aaronson
12 Rothwell
11 Ampadu
11 Tanaka
11 Firpo
10 Gruev

Barlow Boy wrote on 23 Jan 2025 08:41 pm

Clitheroe White wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 8:36 pm I'm happy - top of league, best squad, decent manager, finances are solid, best fans anywhere.

Could we improve in places, yes.

Will we get promoted, very likely.

If we sign anyone will it improve things...probably not because they probably won't get played anyway.
Hence why Farke says we should only sign players who will improve the squad (in other words, be in the starting X1) otherwise they are just benchwarmers.

I’d love an out and out striker, but I don’t see it happening.

Clitheroe White wrote on 23 Jan 2025 08:36 pm

GreennWhite wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:32 am It seems we are NEVER happy on this forum :x Even when we are top of the league, winning games and in a better position than this time last season we still are not good enough or doing enough to keep some fans happy :shock:
IF we do go on and get promotion what are some fans going to be like next season when we are getting beaten a lot more times than we are winning. Why cant some people just enjoy what we have right now instead of having to complain so often.
LIFE IS SHORT AND ITS ONLY FOOTBALL :scar1 :)
I'm happy - top of league, best squad, decent manager, finances are solid, best fans anywhere.

Could we improve in places, yes.

Will we get promoted, very likely.

If we sign anyone will it improve things...probably not because they probably won't get played anyway.