Manchester City's Phil Foden, right, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during an English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, March 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Daniel Farke leaped onto the field and made a point of embracing each Leeds player as the energetic, high-volume strains of Status Quo’s Rocking All Over the World heralded the end of play.
The German team has risen to the top of the Championship for the first time this season after 12 victories and a tie in their last 13 league games. They are now ahead of Leicester, the previous runaway leaders, on goal differential.
With eight games left, Leeds might have found themselves in the lead at the ideal time, but Ipswich and Southampton are still very much in the running for the two automatic promotion spots.
Wednesday, March 16, 2024, saw Ipswich defeat Sheffield 6-0, with Nathan Broadhead scoring the team’s third goal.
Roundup of the championship: Ipswich stormed over Sheffield Wednesday, taking six. Read more
The fact that Leicester lost the 17-point lead they had over him at the start of the season highlights the fact that Farke is clearly creating something truly unique at Elland Road. Despite Leicester’s current game, Leeds, surprisingly, have the greatest defensive record in the second division.
“I’m really proud of the boys; they have such unity in the dressing room,” Farke remarked following his team’s victory over Millwall’s petty, spoiling tactics, as they resisted being drawn into a string of pointless arguments.
“We shall ask ourselves why one day if we fail to savor this moment. However, we also need to make sure that we stick with it and finish in the same place.
Leeds needed thirty-three minutes to get past the wall of bright orange Millwall defenders. The Italy winger, Wilfried Genondo, produced a wonderful change of pace that allowed him to cut inside and, without losing step, direct an incredible left-foot shot between Matija Sarkic and the post.
Just as amazing as the finish was Patrick Bamford’s decoy play that confused the defence. The center forward has seen a recent upswing in his career, but those who were skeptical of Bamford’s ability would have been hard-pressed to watch the player take a split second to gauge Gnonto’s intentions before cutting past a defender and deftly creating vital space for his comrade.
Before halftime, Farke’s squad should have likely been awarded a penalty, but referee Stephen Martin, who may have been too casual, exacerbated tensions in the community by calling Jake Cooper’s high knee to Joe Rodon’s face leniently.
Cooper could consider himself more than a little lucky to have gotten away with that one, considering he had been booked previously following an ultimately humorous wrestling match with Gnonto and was also involved in a few other controversial episodes.
Leeds had a fair bit of control over the midfield thanks to Ilia Gruev, so although Farke’s team was in charge, they were unable to put Sarkicic to the test as often as their manager had planned.
After Neil Harris returned for his fourth tenure at the Den, Millwall’s obduracy of a well-organized low block made it plain to see how they had not only remained unbeaten but also amassed 10 points during the prior four games.Even though the visitors are still only four points above the relegation zone, the former Millwall striker should have little trouble allaying the Den’s concerns about relegation based on this generally encouraging data.
Though they never made things easy for Leeds, his squad did experience a bit of luck when the outstanding Georginio Rutter forced Sarkic into a gravity-defying double save after Crysencio Summerville’s defence bisected left-wing movement.
Enthused by a quartet of substitutions and suddenly possessing the upper hand, Millwall came dangerously close to tying the score when Cooper’s deflected shot from George Saville found him, only for the villain of the afternoon to miss the mark at close range. After that, Michael Obafemi danced past Rodon and Archie Gray, but made a mistake when Ethan Ampadu put pressure on him.
The players had a double warning from Farke, and it required a superb clearing by Japhet Tanganga in the eleventh hour to deflect Bamford’s attempt that was headed for goal. Dan James, who came on as a substitute, then extended the home team’s lead.
After creating the opening goal for Genoa, Rutter’s cross allowed James to trick Joe Bryan and then shoot with his left foot from the edge of the six-yard box, slicing through a mass of legs. Harris stated, “I felt Leeds deserved to win.” “They are a future Premier League team.”
