Miserable Fulham beaten by late Nmecha goal
Leeds claim 1-0 win at Elland Road to end our unbeaten streak
All good things come to an end, and Lukas Nmecha’s stoppage time winner did just that to Fulham’s unbeaten run, heading late in the game to hand Leeds a 1-0 win at Elland Road. A tired, uninspired performance from Marco Silva’s men meant Leeds were the team with the energy for much of the game, and their determination to win trumped what we could muster throughout the game. Today’s disappointing result makes it clear that the team have been playing on fumes for a while, exploited to great effect by Leeds - the returning AFCON and injury contingent can’t arrive soon enough, and on these events transfer activity would go a long way as well.
First Half
The 0-0 scoreline of this half betrayed the excitement and verve that was found across it. Elland Road is rarely an easy place to visit and with Leeds enjoying a strong spell of form the hosts fancied their chances against our tired, thinning troops. Certainly Calvert-Lewin had his eyes on the goal, lurking dangerously around Andersen early on and winning an early free-kick. Some good movement from the forward, the fulcrum of his side’s front three, was important for their next chance; Ampadu, having cut out a pass from Smith Rowe earlier, took the ball through midfield and moved it to an open Okafor on the left. His shot, whilst accurate, lacked the speed to require a particularly difficult save from Leno.
These early attacks were a good start from Leeds, and a taster of the threat our hosts would offer. But starting a game in a 5-4-1 requires considerable energy to maintain territorial control, as the gravitational pull of the team is rooted in the defence-heavy formation. Fulham, subsequently, had a decent period in the first section of the half, working a few quick passes around the field. You could see the individual pieces of talent there from the forwards, but our play was a little disjointed. Sessegnon’s return to the team saw him start in an unwieldy right-wing position, with Wilson tucked in to the centre and Smith Rowe pushed to the left. Our attacking radar was off, with several promising opportunities faltering with mistimed passes or tentative decision-making. The starkest of these came through Smith Rowe, fed the ball by a Jimenez flick-on and an intelligent Wilson pass to the centre. ESR had the space and time to take a shot but dithered, letting the Leeds centre-backs re-establish their defensive structures. By the time he returned the ball to Wilson, only a spitball of a shot could be thrown at goal, drifting harmlessly wide.
Our difficulties in attack suited Leeds immensely, creating a tetchy, scrappy atmosphere. They pressed well, refusing us time to build possession up slowly, and had the defensive bodies to step forward and pressure our attackers on the ball. Justin and Bogle did this effectively to shut down Smith Rowe on the left, and without Cairney on the pitch Lukic and Berge couldn’t keep possession flowing smoothly around the pitch. Critically, taking the ball off us and keeping us uncomfortable created frayed nerves at the back. An Ampadu long throw forced everyone back into the box - whilst the initial ball in was cleared by Robinson, it led to a return ball into the box to find Calvert-Lewin, knocking it down for Okafor. Thankfully, his volley flew harmlessly over.
Aaronson had a strong half, latching onto loose balls won by the Leeds press to drill into our left. Robinson was caught out a few times - on one occasion, good tracking back from Jimenez and a timely intervention from Berge denied him an assist. Another saw a corner - again, the initial set-piece led to a mishap from Leno, rolling the ball straight out to Gruev, and sharp reactions from Robinson and Andersen prevented Leeds being gifted an early opener. Okafor’s pace outweighed Castagne’s - the right-back was humbled, beaten with the ball and for speed, and a cross that angled worryingly towards the goal produced a flap from Leno to clear. Most dangerously of all, a clumsy piece of aerial defending from Andersen let Bogle dink the ball over him to find Aaronson, surging through space in the middle. Once more, a poor finish spared Fulham’s blushes, as the American couldn’t weather the bounce and lifted his effort far too high to open the scoring.
These nerves did settle, as did Leeds’ attacking energy - whilst Castagne and Lukic picked up sloppy bookings, the concentration of the centre-backs and Berge in the box improved and much of the danger was shuffled away by tight, clinical interventions. But our possession didn’t have any rhythm to it and we failed to sustain any pressure at their end. A clever Wilson through ball found Lukic on a run in the box - he controlled the ball in the air but his header with the second touch couldn’t beat Darlow. Our better moments came from the left, Smith Rowe using Wilson to try and breach Leeds’ backline - another move, in which the Welshman won a corner against Justin, produced two volleys for Sessegnon in space, but they were unwieldy and couldn’t beat the first man. Leeds produced the final chances of the half, a cross producing a Struijk header and an Okafor follow-up, but we survived, and the score remained equal.
Second Half
It was a difficult half for us - we’ve played a lot of football with the same core contingent of players for a solid month, and against a team comfortable in a physical, scratchy contest we needed much, much more than what we were seeing. Our opening moves were abated by Leeds - a Lukic cross was stopped from reaching Jimenez by Justin and caught well by Darlow, Robinson used his pace to beat Bogle but his cross to Lukic was intercepted by Gruev and whilst Wilson did well to win a free kick off Justin on the edge of the box, his effort swung the wrong way, sailing away from his teammates and the goal.
Then, Leeds pounced. Capitalising on a lull in our momentum, their backline advanced into our half, smothering our half in the Yorkshire rose. We couldn’t breathe - every pass was made under duress, and with defenders snarling around the pitch in search of the ball our lightweight attack were shut out of the game. The few moments we did breakout were turned against us as well - Aaronson continued to drive the team forward, and a particularly dangerous break was cynically cut short by Wilson hauling him down, an ugly challenge that yielded a booking (those with a long memory may recall a similar challenge he was sent off for in a Euro 2020 game against Denmark).
The hosts were on top, but their finishing touch was eluding them. Robinson found himself targeted by Aaronson again, and crosses poured in along the right - a particularly nippy move saw the American guide a ball to Calvert Lewin in the box. The striker was smartly-placed for the delivery, able to reach it before Andersen, but he steered the effort narrowly wide of the goal beside the right post. It was the best chance of this period, and shook our defenders awake - excellent clearances from Andersen and Cuenca repelled the next crosses from Okafor and Aaronson. Yet the danger still lurked. A Calvert-Lewin run, smartly liberating himself from Andersen, was cut out by Castagne, darting across from the right to stop him. It freed up the left channel though, and as Bogle returned the ball to attack, Okafor held up the ball before feeding the overlapping run of Gudmundsson, unopposed and bursting into the box. He had the world at his feet, but he overplayed his hand, letting the ball run too far, and as the angle tightened he lifted the ball hideously into the stands, to the ire of his teammates.
Silva, realising our doldrums football was handing the initiative to Leeds, needed to make a move. It was the end for Lukic, hobbling and deeply ineffective in midfield, and Sessegnon, scarcely involved on the right flank. On came two key performers from the Middlesbrough game, as Cairney and Kevin arrived to revitalise our afternoon. It was timely, too - right after the change, a nice combination from Justin and Ampadu cut horizontally through the team and produced a close effort for Leno to smother. We needed possession, and Cairney was the man to provide it.
There could have been an instant response following the tinkering. Kevin’s arrival allowed the frontline to take a more natural look, with the Brazilian on the left, Smith Rowe returning to the middle and Wilson assuming his preferred RM slot. Cairney occupying the space behind them increased the tempo of our play, and let the team resemble our usual positive shapes. Smith Rowe almost did the spectacular, in the right position to latch onto a poorly-executed headed-clearance from Darlow, but he couldn’t take advantage of the keeper’s venture beyond the box and smacked his effort off target. Moments later, a move worked by Cairney saw Jimenez collect the ball from a Wilson dink onto the right, but as he moved away from Gudmundsson his volley sailed away from the target.
Farke didn’t take long to make a change of his own, as Gnonto swapped for Okafor on the 70 minute mark. Whilst the Swiss forward had been decent, his replacement turbo-charged the speed of the attack, and gave our defence another set of headaches to contend with. Castagne, already struggling to handle things on the right, had to raise his game further to manage the Italian - his close-quarters defending meant our backline were dragged into a variety of contortions, giving Leeds a number of options in their pursuit for an opener. It brought Calvert-Lewin into the game, producing chances and set-pieces, one of which needed a firm stop from Leno.
As the game entered the closing stages, we needed to get Cairney back on the ball and consolidate possession for a while. But our performance on the ball was insipid, and key moments were falling away from us. Robinson had a horrible session, receiving the ball from Cairney on the edge of the box but turning and scuffing his own pass straight to Darlow. Given how loose he was in defence, such wastefulness was being pounced upon by Leeds, who had introduced Tanaka and Nmecha for Bogle and Gruev to turn the attacking lens on us further. Conversely, our changes were increasingly negative - Smith Rowe had to depart for King, but on his return to injury he looked peripheral, and taking off the creators Wilson and Jimenez for Diop and Kusi Asare signalled a reliance on physical stature to see out the closing stages. We were buckling, and the hosts knew it. Justin, now free to dominate the right-wing, bossed Robinson into submission, putting numerous balls into the box and forcing a series of corners that he had the privilege of taking. Headers from Struijk and Nmecha, won amongst a sea of defenders, gave us scares - whilst the former flew over the bar, the latter was flicked on at the near post and marginally missed the top-left corner of the goal.
The initiative was theirs though, and just as in the first half we couldn’t escape our own final third - leading to the inevitable. Aaronson, driving his team forward once again, produced a scrappy couple of tackles from Cairney, and then Robinson on his teammate Gnonto after Ampadu had fed the ball forward. The captain was not finished though, and continued his movement forward into the space Robinson had left behind - it was spotted by Tanaka, lifting the ball into the channel for Ampadu to collect. Cuenca had realised the danger but it didn’t matter - Ampadu had crossed the ball into the box, over the entire team, and Nmecha on the slide volleyed ahead of Castagne to guide the ball to Leno’s left, giving Leeds the winner they coveted. We were stunned, so much so that we almost conceded straight afterwards - traipsing forward, a smart through ball from Aaronson set Nmecha off again, driving into space through our half to reach the left of our box. A terrific hand from Leno denied them a second. It didn’t matter though - the most we could muster in response was a yellow card for Kusi-Asare, clumsily bundling Struijk over, before the defender cleared Cairney’s final cross to secure the win for the hosts.
A Farke-cry from relegation
It makes sense to start with Leeds today, because Fulham were very much the secondary side in this match. Farke has worked the side into excellent shape - I was impressed by elements of their game in September, when they were unfortunate to lose 1-0 in the reverse fixture, but today they were a more complete force, putting a solid display together across the pitch to cement themselves as the stronger team and win the three points.
Back fives are often negative and tedious, but today it worked wonderfully. James Justin is a really useful player to have - he was comfortable as a centre-back or a right back, he stepped forward to bolster attacking situations, his defensive acumen let him win numerous critical battles against Smith Rowe and later Kevin, and his deliveries from crosses or set-pieces sustained pressure on us across the whole match. A fantastic performance, one that brought the best out of Bogle in his vicinity, and one that perhaps highlights how much we miss Tete when our own right-back is unable to play. Rodon and Struijk had good matches too, and made strong interceptions to prevent Darlow being placed at risk of facing a direct shot. Gudmundsson was perhaps the only defender that really looked vulnerable, but unfortunately Sess was lost at sea and Wilson didn’t have the service to exploit this.
Ampadu in midfield was terrific again, working tirelessly to keep Leeds moving forward (again, a rather ugly comparison to our personnel here can be made) - his work across the match kept Leeds going, and directly led to their goal. Gruev was solid too, and played an important role in sustaining Leeds’ pressure around the park. This was a good platform for Aaronson to spring forward from midfield, basically operating as a RW for much of the match, and meant a steady flow of balls could be fed to him and Okafor/Gnonto throughout the game. But for wasteful finishing, they’d have led early into the first half. Calvert-Lewin also didn’t score, but he looks a fresh face again under Farke, hungry for action and goals with every step he takes, and when you can bring on someone like Nmecha, a versatile, confident forward in any position around the attack, the work the team does to begin the game can compound at the end. We were fortunate to have kept parity for much of the game - Nmecha proved one dice roll too many. It leaves them well-placed to avoid the ignominy of a yo-yo back down to the Championship, something that can never be taken for granted.
Fulham’s worst match so far?
Onto Fulham then. It was painful viewing for much of the game - Leeds made us look like a Championship side scraping for survival, right down to the fact we switched to a back five to try and scrape towards a point by the end of the match. It’s no secret that the team are exhausted - even more injuries and players limping off will surely infuriate the coaching staff at the club - but it was still a distinctly average performance at this stage of the season, and one that will be punished by effectively any side in the division in 2026.
It really didn’t help that several players had their worst game for us in months. Sess was anonymous at RW and couldn’t get involved in the attacks, meaning our play was concentrated on the left for an entire half, something easy to stop when two full-backs are effectively stationed to stop any threat arriving down the left. On said wing, Robinson had an appalling afternoon, losing track of his wing defensively and seeing his passing radar disintegrate entirely by the end of the game. Nmecha’s goal came from what must have been the fifteenth cross to penetrate the box from his side. Lukic was perhaps carrying an injury, and is one of many in need of a rest, but once again couldn’t lift the energy of the team, earnt yet another booking caused by being behind the pace of the game, and was outclassed by Ampadu.
The rest weren’t great either, if encumbered by the position changes - Smith Rowe struggled on the wing, Wilson didn’t enjoy being more central as he couldn’t use his left foot to bend the ball as much and Jimenez puffed around and had far too many failed link-ups. Kevin, unfortunately, didn’t enjoy the double right-back situation Leeds offered and was bullied a little - Cairney, whilst decent on the ball, walked into a cauldron, and for all his pretty passes only has a booking to show for his efforts. There’s some praise to offer for Berge, who whilst just as negative on the ball did seem attuned to the danger Calvert Lewin proffered in the box, and the Cuenca-Andersen partnership was at least good enough to divert some of the efforts away from Leno, but it’s a meagre list of ticks - we were poor today, and Leeds justifably won.
No points then, and a first loss of the new year. It was always going to arrive at some point, and you can’t begrudge a team still hovering around the relegation zone a performance like Leeds gave today, but it still stings seeing the run end, particularly when it comes in the form of an late winner for a newly-promoted side. There’s an opportunity though, if the club are willing to take it, to use this as the springboard for action. We’ve got a boost coming in the return of Bassey, Iwobi and Chukwueze from AFCON, with more waiting to leave the injury list around the club. Combined with a transfer or two, there’s no reason this setback can’t be consigned to history, and our good form continue long into the month.