There are times when the Championship can humble a team.
Leeds United’s sloppy 3-3 draw with Hull City was one of those occasions and must serve as a warning against complacency over the rest of the campaign.
Every department of Leeds’ squad is strong enough at this level that the expectation, internally and externally, is they will be promoted out of the division this season. In their New Year’s Day draw with Blackburn Rovers, they had five players with senior international caps on the bench, an embarrassment of riches few other sides in the division can boast.
But their performance at Hull — where they were wasteful in the first half, recovered to score three after the break, then inexplicably allowed the hosts back into the game to drop two points — will serve as a reminder that nothing can be taken for granted.
It was not vintage football from Daniel Farke’s side. Chances came and went without them putting Hull goalkeeper Ivor Pandur under serious pressure in that opening period. The absence of centre-back Pascal Struijk, out with an ankle injury, was keenly felt as City ran at Leeds and scored a well-earned opener through Abu Kamara.
The 21-year-old has had a humbling week of his own as he was forced to issue a public apology to fans alongside new manager Ruben Selles for a post he made on social media in the wake of his side’s 1-0 defeat to Middlesbrough. He redeemed himself with the opener and the late equaliser for the relegation-threatened side, who were afforded too much time and too many chances to take points from a game that should have been beyond them.
It was a collectively poor performance from Leeds bar three moments of quality from Ao Tanaka, Manor Solomon (for Dan James to score) and Joel Piroe that yielded United’s three goals. The result, which felt like a defeat due to Hull’s late equaliser despite the draw keeping Leeds top of the table, was entirely preventable, but tiredness and poor decision-making took their toll.
Questions will be asked of goalkeeper Illan Meslier, who for the second time this season endured a difficult performance that ended up costing Leeds points. While his showing against Hull is unlikely to be shared quite as widely on social media as his fumbled catch against Sunderland in October, he was caught in no man’s land when Kamara lobbed him in the first half before flapping at aerial balls in the build-up to the other two goals conceded.
Meslier endured a difficult afternoon (Gary Oakley/PA Images via Getty Images)
For Hull’s second, Meslier touched down a looping header that looked headed for the bar, only for the Leeds back line to freeze and allow Joao Pedro to tap in. For Kamara’s 89th-minute equaliser, the Frenchman tried to punch a corner in a crowded box and missed, before the Hull forward curled in a well-taken shot with Meslier rooted to the spot.
Meslier still divides opinion among fans, having joined United from Lorient six years ago as a teenager. While he was part of the promotion-winning side under Marcelo Bielsa and has clearly always had potential, he has not reached the level many hoped. While he has accrued over 200 matches as a Leeds player, his propensity to deliver error-prone performances still leaves doubts over whether he is a convincing first choice in goal should Leeds get promoted back to the Premier League.
Yet he was not alone in having a poor match on Saturday, with Leeds’ back line allowing Hull too much time on the ball before engaging and giving away too many preventable set pieces.
Hull should have been 2-0 up at the break after Regan Slater hit the post from close range. Corners and free kicks delivered into the area caused problems; a familiar issue given they were United’s undoing against Blackburn Rovers in the 1-1 draw on New Year’s Day, too, when Danny Batth scored a late equaliser.
Farke watches on at Hull (Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)
“Disappointed is probably the right word,” Farke said. “The first half, we were not sharp enough, so it’s an example that if we allow ourselves to be two per cent less on it, then it leads to us dropping two points. We should have been a bit sharper in the opponents’ box, but our finishing was not spot on and I don’t think we have conceded a cheaper goal all season like the situation that we conceded, and another chance where we invited them into a counter-attack where they could have scored.”
Leeds will not be infallible in their pursuit of promotion, but performances such as this, wastefully throwing away a two-goal lead, threaten to catch up with them. The gap to second and third-placed chasers Burnley and Sheffield United is now trimmed to a point and Farke’s team cannot afford to let that margin slip further after last year’s fruitless, bruising, 90-point season.
“I would be a poor leader if, straight away after the game, I punished the mistakes of my players in public or in a press conference, so I’m not willing to do this,” Farke offered on criticism of Meslier and the defence. “If you watch the game and see the players who were involved in the goals, they can’t hide behind the fact they should have done better. Overall, it’s a bit of a sign of what we are.
“We are not the finished end product who cruise easily through this league. The lads were fantastic in the last weeks. Before December started, we were not in the top two, but after December and the busy festive period, we are top of the league.
“We are one of the youngest sides in this league. We don’t play without any mistakes. It’s tough to explain or accept how we conceded the two goals, but this is what we are and what I’ve been speaking about the whole season. We are not the finished product just because we are Leeds United.”
(Top photo: Alex Dodd – CameraSport via Getty Images)
