Leeds United at Burnley FC: Three Talking Points from the Cup win
The lads dug deep to beat Burnley on penalties 2–2 (5–3) and advance to the fourth round of the League Cup for the second successive season.
I am always an advocate of the need for a team in Leeds United’s current position to focus solely on the league and to ignore the thrill of the chance of a good cup run. However, the heart and determination of the team in the League Cup over the last two seasons has made it somewhat difficult for all of us not to fall in love with cup runs.
The game against Burnley also meant a lot to the Leeds fanbase because of Chris Wood and Charlie Taylor. I am not a fan who has constantly referenced either player since they departed, but for me the result gives us some closure on the situation.
We saw a group of Leeds players, most of which will not feature in the XI until the next round, show the depth and quality in the squad, and they gave me the base for the talking points from the game.
Let’s discuss the three main talking points from the game:
Strength in the defence to rely on
Some Championship teams may be concerned when they are due to face a Premier League side while three of their best central defenders are out injured, but not Leeds United. We have players who have shown time after time this season (and in previous seasons) that we can go to them when needed. The back five who started against Burnley was Andy Lonergan, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Luke Ayling, Conor Shaughnessy and Gaetano Berardi.
No Jansson, no Cooper, no Pennington.
Now Borthwick-Jackson is an exception to the point. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the greatest game and the mistakes he made did put us under pressure. However, in the previous games I have seen him play, he looks like he could develop into a top left wing back.
It’s the other four men that showed their mettle.
Andy Lonergan making his second Leeds debut was outstanding. To say the he has not played competitive football for a long time, this didn’t affect his game. I was impressed with his distribution, shot-stopping ability and his confident presence in the box. Add to all that his wonderful penalty save, and we couldn’t have asked for more from the man.
Luke Ayling led the side and is the first man on the team sheet every game. In my opinion, he never put a foot wrong on Tuesday night (as usual).
And still, the main stand out players were Shaughnessy and Berardi.
Shaughnessy once again highlighted his potential with a man of the match performance. For a lad with limited senior experience, to play 120 minutes of football against a strong Burnley XI, and to play with such confidence and maturity, is superb to see. Like I have mentioned before what I really like about him is not only his ability to defend but also his distribution. Leeds’ long direct approach faulted, especially in the first half, but Shaughnessy was not deterred and played some nice balls throughout the 90 minutes. I hope we see more of him as the season progresses.
Then we had Berardi who once again showed what it means to be a Leeds player. His give-all attitude and defensive ability was the highlight in the first half of the game. We all love him for his commitment to the shirt, but he also is a top wing back, and his hard and accurate tackling I think unbalanced Burnley and hindered their ability to create chances from the wing, which is a big part of Burnley’s game plan.
Direct Burnley could not cope with being the aggressive team
Burnley play a certain way in the Premier League with an organised and direct counter-attacking approach, and I think this was their biggest downfall throughout the game. You would expect that a home Premier League side would control the game in terms of possession and chances against any Championship side, which looking at the stats did happen. However, I think Burnley looked unsure on how to implement that sort of superiority into a win.
Leeds played a more direct approach in the first half than what we have previously seen from this Christiansen team. The direct approach was not effective for the Whites but it did mean Burnley had to play a more balanced game and to try and break down Leeds using the ball in a more astute way. They could not adapt to this, which made the game an even affair.
Leeds were able to change their approach in the second half to the more natural footballing philosophy we have seen in other games, but by this point the game had opened up more as Leeds had grown in confidence and Burnley’s confidence had hugely diminished.
Super Subs
We often see changes in games be the catalyst for a change of impetus and that’s exactly what occurred last night. Leeds changed their approach and personnel at the same time which led to us taking the advantage twice.
Hernandez and Sacko played a massive part in our two goals but more than that, they created a forward play mentality. Sacko added the pace and the ability to drive at what was a tired-looking Charlie Taylor (mostly because he doesn’t play much football these days) and find pockets of space to run into which lead to him opening the scoring.
Hernandez is made for a game like this: the benefit of facing a Premier League team is that they will rarely put pressure on the ball which is perfect for a creative player with the quality of Hernandez.
The change of Grot was also a good move as we neared extra time. I feel like, similar to Borthwick-Jackson, he can develop but is still some way off being a player to feature regularly. We needed a player who could take the chance if it had occurred, and Lasogga was the better option as we went into extra time.
Overall, it was a successful night and gave us a rush that I think can spur us on in the League. We have earned ourselves a tie against Leicester City at the King Power stadium, which will be another decent test.
However, the focus now changes to Saturday and the important game against Ipswich. We will have a full preview as always so look out for that and Let us know your thoughts on anything we write on Facebook or Twitter. MOT
