Match Recap: Leeds are gifted a goal, but give away two goals as Brentford wins 3-1

Leeds still have not won at Brentford since 1950, as the Whites dropped another match in West London as Brentford won 3-1 over Leeds, sending the Yorkshire side to another defeat that leaves the club looking over their shoulder as the rest of the league is catching up to the lead that Leeds grabbed on everyone else after the first seven matches.

Leeds United looked very shaky early on, as Ollie Watkins had a good attempt on goal within the first two minutes after a cross was allowed to go into the box and no one picked up the young forward, only to see his header go wanting and Leeds had to make a hasty clearance.

Leeds would continue to be on the back foot for the first ten minutes in the match, as Brentford would feel slightly unlucky to have not scored after all of the good attempts on goal that they had.

Phil Hay had a fairly generous description of the match in his above tweet, as it appear that Brentford was actually just bossing the game, keeping possession and pressure on the Leeds end while Leeds chased the game with absolutely no response at all.

Saiz and Alisoki combined for a pair of shots on goal in the 16th minute, and Saiz broke into the box in the 19th minute, only for all of the other Leeds players to expect Saiz to shoot while Saiz picked out a pass that everyone else failed to run on. Alioski stretched out to meet a Saiz pass into the Brentford box in the 22nd minute, while Brentford was still able to put pressure on the Leeds goal.

Brentford was rewarded for their pressure after a routine cross into the box was fumbled by Andy Lonergan and Brentford’s Maupay beat everyone else to the loose ball and headed it into the net. A massive mistake from the keeper, which will fill Thomas Christiansen with dread, as Felix Wiedwald, who had been brought in to be the starter, has looked shaky and now Andy Lonergan has made a pretty inexcusable mistake.

Samu Saiz was his usual menacing self down the left hand side, and whlie Brentford failed to have an answer for him, all of the attacks that Saiz provided went for nothing. Pierre-Michel Lasogga continued his feast-or-famine form, as he attempted to lob the keeper after breaking free into the box, only to put his shot high into the London night, sailing over the bar.

Finally, in the 44th minute, Pontus Jansson lunged into a rash challenge, sending Maupay to the floor after crashing into his ankles and left the ref no choice but to point to the spot. Ollie Watkins then somehow put the ball over the crossbar, and missed the penalty completely.

Leeds would have gone into the break feeling a tad relieved that they were only down by one goal, as Brentford had absolutely bossed the match for large stretches of the match will very little fight-back from Leeds. Samu Saiz was the lone bright spot for Leeds during the first half, and it’s getting concerning that I keep writing that phrase over and over again and while nothing seems to change.

Lasogga and O’Kane off while Pablo Hernandez and Kemar Roofe came on to try and make a difference for Leeds. Leeds had considerably more attacking intent in the first ten minutes, with Gjanni Alioski missing two chances at the far post and was caught offside another time. Brentford battled back with a Ollie Watkins sending a shot off the crossbar after slicing past Berardi on the left-hand side. Jansson gave up a free kick after being put into a bad position after Lonergan’s pass had put him in a difficult position, although to be fair to Lonergan, Jansson looked legitimately nervous with the ball at his feet.

Ronaldo Vieira had a pair of wonderful shots on goal that were saved, but the breakthrough for Leeds came from a poor job by Brentford keeper Bentley did, as he failed to catch a easy cross, only for Alioski to head the ball into an empty goal. Leeds continued their pressure on the goal, but a few corners and a free kick went a bit wanting.

Brentford and Leeds traded chances for a few minutes late in the second half, and then Christiansen again showed his attacking intent by putting on Jay-Roy Grot for his typical 10 minute chance to run around.

And again, Leeds are unable to hold on, as Brentford’s Yoann Barbet sent a free-kick past everyone, including the keeper Andy Lonergan. And while Leeds fans will feel hard done by, it still means that Leeds were unable to at least snatch a point and surrendered another late goal. Brentford scored in injury time to cement their win, but it was truthfully already lost once the free kick bounced into the net.

Leeds lose another, and the negativity surrounding the club will reach a fever pitch during the international break. The club has only one win in their last eight, and at this point, even people such as myself, who would consider sacking TC to be a mistake, have to be questioning the manager and the recruitment.

Everything is terrible.