Leeds 1-0 Coventry ... wasteful Leeds saved again by Somma

Not bothering with a Hull write up, the time's passed.

A string of draws, a lack of wins, a concession of many goals. The last few weeks must have given our attacking players a massive headache as they strived to make up for what was lacking further down the pitch. Luckily, we've done this - when we concede we at least match what goes into our own net it seems. This'll do, but its not what we want to see too often. So everyone was expecting better at home against a team that hadn't won in their last nine in the league.

Luckily for us, we saw an elusive clean sheet and a wonderful creative display. It was a game I left thinking "why was it as close as that?" as we wasted an endless stream of tap-ins. We had plenty of attempts but so did Coventry - we were by no means the only team in the game despite what I've seen from a lot of national press... but our attempts were those that as they develop in your head you say to yourself "goal", such was the quality of the openings we created and tried our best to waste.

As the 90 approached though, I kept saying telling myself just how much we'd regret missing those chances as Coventry pushed. And on about the 86th minute Clive Platt who was absolutely immense as a target man all day, turned Bruce and strode into the box only to be foiled by another wonder-save from Schmeichel - who tipped the shot over. The two lads in front of me turned round and echoed what I was thinking "I thought it was in". We held on though and managed to miraculously achieve a 1-0 win despite our wastefulness.

The game

Onto the game then, as the team sheets were announced I was taken aback by Grayson choosing to stick with the 4-4-2 that was used on Tuesday night in the 2-2 at the KC Stadium. Everyone who had on opinion would have expected Simon to revert to this season's baby - the 4-5-1 - that's yielded more goals and less concessions as it flows between a defensive 4-5-1 and a 4-3-3 when on the front foot. We didn't though and Somma was again chosen to partner Becchio up top - which meant a return to the donkey work for Luciano.

We started the game a little slowly, and Clive Platt, the unfashionable but very effective target man set the tone for an afternoon where he would become a thorn in the side. He won almost everything against O'Brien and Bruce and was the best hold up player and winner of a long ball I've seen in a long time. This meant that the sum of Coventry's ideas was the long ball for the most part. The opening chance fell to them when they forced a corner and Schmeichel very unconvincingly punched out from a crowd with the ball falling straight to Richard Wood. A diving Becchio managed to slide in and block the shot which went narrowly wide in front of the Kop and that would be Cov's best chance for a while. Leeds wrestled control of the game with a mass of possession. 

Encouragingly, we didn't resort to the long ball as often as I've sometimes seen, with Somma on the field, it allowed Becchio to drop deep at times and link up with the midfield - this allowed us to be a little more patient in some of our buildup.

Our first effort came on 18 minutes when Snodgrass weaved an opening to cross and put a ball in the corridor of uncertainty. Becchio got on the end of it but with an odd piece of technique, prodded the ball wide from probably four yards out. Couldn't believe he'd missed that as it had "Becchio style goal" written all over it. 

Gradel was also in on the party. He and Snoddy made life a living hell all afternoon for their full backs and Jordan Clarke in particular, their right back, could not live with Max at all. He fashioned our second chance of the game all of his own doing. All he did was run at the defender, I love to see this it's a defenders worst nightmare and he managed to bypass Clarke and find his way deep inside the box, before firing wide of the near post - miraculously for him from such a distance. A couple of minutes later Gradel played in McCartney who overlapped beautifully to maraud into the box and supply a cross to Luciano, who pulled the ball wide of the far post from the corner of the 6 yard box. Again, the fans were mystified as to how we hadn't scored. Three absolute crackers of openings where it looked harder to miss.

Until Somma's tap in on 55 minutes, this had Palace at home written all over it. Hatfuls of chances, and I thought our wastefulness was a sign they'd nick one on a foray forward. If Platt had someone to run onto his excellent hold up play more often then more issues would have been caused. He was a mountain and we couldn't live with him. Too often for them though, his aerial presence was just wasted as no one was willing to break from midfield to gamble on the flick on - handily enough for us. You could sense they'd managed only six goals in their last eleven outings.

Snoddy's perseverance in midfield though instigated our break through. He excellently intercepted on his flank, carried the ball all the way across the pitch on the sprint, and popped off a pass to Gradel. The cross was a little deep, but Howson had read it and burst forward to be at the back post. He knocked it down with great composure, where others in the division may have flashed at goal - and found Somma who was again the right place right time man. The guy is a goalscoring machine. One every 91 minutes at the moment. Unfortunately for Simon, he just can't drop him in this vein of form no matter how much he wants to revert to the 4-5-1.

Snoddy continued making hell for their defence and snook into the box, past a couple of defenders to force a diving stop from Westwood.

Just after that though our earlier lack of clinical finishing did nearly cost us. I think it was McSheffrey who powered down the right hand side of the box and managed to pull one across, only for Aron Gunnarsson to fire wide of the near post on the slide. Should have scored as he got in front of Bruce and was only yards out.

The Whites desperately needed a cushion as I'm sure it wasn't just me thinking "we will concede". On 72 minutes we all thought this had come. Becchio flicked on and into the path of Somma who finished first time with a lob over Westwood from outside the area. It was exquisite. The offside decision however chalked it off of the records which for a goal of such quality and technique was harsh to say the least...

In the last five minutes Platt fashioned his own chance. He received the ball into his body and managed to turn Bruce and stride into the box. He struck with power across goal but Kasper produced another wonder-save to deny Coventry. What a let off. Its lucky we have him because he seems to produce one of those point winners almost every week.

The players

Okay a review of individual performances, starting with the defensive unit. Luckily for our back line, and us collectively (as we got the 3 points) Coventry weren't any real challenge to us. The only issue was Clive Platt who won everything - but had no one running onto whatever he won to make anything of it. We seemed solid enough, and Max Gradel was brilliant at providing extra cover for McCartney. Gradel again played like a man possessed.

In midfield I have read criticism of Howson as being anonymous. Firstly, he intelligently assisted our goal. And secondly, he put a massive shift in alongside the ever more effective Johnson - who continues to impress. Howson tackled effectively, hassled, tracked, harried, and used a wide range of passing to quickly switch play from wing to wing - the speed at which we switched was vital in keeping a counter attack effective and allowed Snoddy and Gradel on more than one occasion to rampage against a single full back and create dangerous openings.  The only complaint that you could have had at him, in my opinion, was he seemed burnt out with about 10 minutes left.

Johnson was very good. He's looking more and more a key to our side and the scrapping in the deeper lying roles in midfield definitely suit his playing style. He competed physically very well and combined with Howson to snuff out most of the knockdowns that Platt fashioned and we notably won almost every second ball. This is why Coventry were stifled to the ineffective flick on - they couldn't get a ball won in midfield. I didn't see one occasion of note where a midfield player was able to run untracked at our centre backs. Rare for this season, and good to see.

Kilkenny came on and didn't really change anything, we looked no more "solid" in the 4-5-1 than the 4-4-2.

Out wide was where we had ridiculous success. Gradel was again "every f****** where" as he made their right back look something akin to what I look like defending - i.e. an embarrassed idiot. Time and again he'd pick the ball up and run at the full back, beating him with ease. The quickness he changes direction is his main asset. He can go either way on a sixpence and is impossible to defend against. He is as happy and effective using both feet for both finishing and crossing a ball. You can't predict Max. 

McCartney linked up seamlessly with Gradel and Max used deft flicks and backheels to disguise any passes to the overlapping left back. This allowed us to make something of the slower paced attacks where Coventry had men back. McCartney was a brilliant outlet on the overlap and is always willing to run and put a good ball in. He seems to pick his moment to join in very well too - not often leaving us short in his position if there could possibly be a counterattacking opportunity for the opposition.

Snoddy was giving a similar masterclass on the other wing. Many times he beat multiple men and we've seen it all season. He deserves his Scotland call-up. 

The wide play was the key to our success and we play a lot worse when we don't seem to want to utilise the wingers as often as we did on Saturday. We should constantly be spraying the ball out wide, as any side in this division will struggle to cope with them. Its been so long since the club has seen wingers of this quality and its very refreshing to see. It adds a whole new dimension to our play - which we hadn't seen for years prior to Snoddy and Gradel's arrival really.

Up front, Becchio looked far from his usual self. The chances he usually buries and thrives on went begging and this must have had an impact on him as he struggled the rest of the afternoon. He did link up well with the midfield but he's seen far better games being the focal point up top in the 4-5-1 setup.

Davide was again fantastic. He can hold the ball up and use it intelligently, he never rushes and when the ball is at his feet, you have a feeling he's calculating what to do with it next. He reminds me very much of Berbatov in the way he plays. He's methodical, skillful and predatory - with vision to score from anywhere and a finish that seems to find the net without needing a host of chances. (He isn't as lazy as Berbatov and he probably is in fact a more efficient scorer, at our level anyway)...

He has an ability to play in the wide men, give it back to Howson or Johnson when the chance is stifled or take a snap shot and finish when the ball arrives at his feet. He really is undroppable at the moment. If only he was better in the air and a touch stronger, we'd have one of the best strikers in the division. He's up there as it is. How he made it to age 25 before being "discovered" mystifies me.

To sum up, a good three points and an encouraging clean sheet. Bigger tests are to come, but this should spur us on nonetheless.

Grayson

"We know whenever we play against Adie's teams that they make it hard for you, but we showed a real professional performance, both in the way we defended as a team and with the way we utilised the ball."

"We started well, we were nice and bright and on another day we could have had three or four by half-time"

"You wonder if it's going to be one of those days. But we said at half-time they had to be patient and stick at it which we did. Then we saw it out well which was good because you're only one ball into the box away from that."

On Snoddy and Gradel:

"They were outstanding," 

"Eventually Coventry had to double up on them. They have quality and know how but they have a great work ethic and they have good relationships with the full backs."

"They can be unplayable sometimes because defenders don't know if they are going inside or outside. They were great but full praise for the whole team."

Somma:

"Davide scores goals," beamed the boss. "Luciano could have had a couple so could Max, but you have to give credit to Dave for the goals he scored."

"The players have worked hard for that and I don't just mean on Saturday," added the boss. "They've worked hard on the training pitch. All of them."

"They fully deserved the clean sheet. Hopefully now we can carry that forward and keep scoring the goals as well."

The Support

Not very good. I was in N7, the only part of the Kop from what I could tell was singing the majority of the time - mostly thanks to a southern mentalist singing WACCOE. The south stand looked good. I think I'm going to sit there next game, looks more entertaining.

A funny aside. Snoddy was lining up a corner kick whilst Becchio was receiving treatment and the Kop began singing "Snoddy, Snoddy, Snoddy... Oi, Oi, Oi" over and over again. You could see him looking shy and self conscious, he was faffing with the ball, putting his head down. It made me laugh. He eventually waved, albeit not looking at the crowd. Nice to see a humble footballer who doesn't crave the attention. Max was more than willing to respond on a couple of occasions to our singing!

McSheffrey also got a "You're too shit to play for Leeds" chant which made me laugh. He's had a cry about it today saying he didn't know why he got booed. He had a go at Grayson before the Cov. away game:

“They had first dabs on me to stay there,” “Michael Doyle played 55 games for them last year and I think the first two signings they should have made in the summer were me and Doyler."

"But Simon Grayson and his staff didn’t want me – it’s as simple as that."

“I haven’t spoken to him since I left, which I find a bit disappointing on a man-to-man basis.
You expect better man management really, a bit more respect, but that’s all in the past now and there are no sour grapes."

You weren't good enough Gary... Doyle possibly, but you - no. Don't question Grayson. Sam is better, Gradel is better, Watt is better - and all probably on a snip of the wages.

Man of the Match

For me its Gradel. Was unstoppable and did everything. Flying tackles, tracking back and made their full back look a prat. Match winning performance, again. The commitment is unquestionable with him - we could see that after 10 minutes of his loan debut and what a signing he's turning out to be. He can only get better - and he is doing just that.