The ACN Match Review 24/25 – Leeds United (h)

How did we play?

Rather well at times, unnecessarily sloppily at times, a bit defensively at times and pretty entertainingly most of the time. 

Leeds played maximum Farke-ball, parked resolutely around the edge of our box looking for that killer-pass but this wasn’t the Leeds or Norwich of last year; they’ve succumbed to their second-season downgrades and we are able to transition out of defence to attack with much more purpose than last season. 

Overall, this was two talented teams giving it a good go and two intelligent  managers showing each other a great deal of respect in the way they approached the game. You’d like to think any neutral watching this would expect both teams to be near each other at the top of the league when they meet again in January, and deservedly so. 

What was the best bit of the game?

Ante Crnac has lovely feet, and those lovely feet earned us a well-deserved penalty that came just as we were upping the pressure on Leeds and needed to make the most of it. Oh how I would love to be able to tippy-tap my way past defenders like he did, buying himself enough space to play the perfect ball to Josh Sargent who was only ever going to score or get taken out by a flailing defender, which he duly was. And despite Leeds milking an ‘injury’ for about 15 minutes while Sargent waited patiently to take the penalty, it mattered not. Ball smacked home, excellent bit of play rewarded, well done all.

What was the worst bit of the game?

If new Norwich are bright, zippy, creative and exciting on the eye, old Norwich still hangs about like a drunk at closing time, refusing to vacate the premises. City were in no real danger of conceding at a point in the second half when Kenny had one of those, “I’ll just switch off for a moment” moments, almost entirely ignoring the man he was marking, allowing an easily-stoppable pass to evade him and set up the Leeds goal. Our captain does a lot of very good stuff but this was not one of them, and just waving his arms in some kind of protest (at himself, maybe?) as his man slipped past him fooled no one. These things happen of course, but on these moments promotions could be won or lost, and in this performance we showed we may well be in the running for promotion. JHT was furious on the sidelines and watching the replays of this goal, you can see why. We have to do better.

Hero of the match

A massive nod to Kellen Fisher, who can play anywhere and hold his own against anyone despite having the frame of an eleven year old. But let’s give this to both managers for an excellent game of football, one you deserve for dragging yourself out in the rain on a shitty October night or having travelled god knows how many miles from Leeds via the UK’s antiquated road and rail networks. Thorup showed he’s not afraid of imposing his game on anyone and that’s why I left the ground thinking that, injuries allowing, we are absolutely in with a shout of promotion. And Daniel Farke still just plays nice football, doesn’t he? It all added up to a game that had a bit of everything, and to round it off we had a lovely, warm moment of mutual respect as Farke took some considerable time to applaud the Barclay at full time. Farke left us with expectations that we haven’t been able to fulfil since. JHT looks like the one to change that.

Summary in Five Words

We were the better team.