Yep, the 0-0 draw with Newcastle in game 3. Only other clean sheet was first game against Everton
That makes it tough to get wins, if youâre always going to concede a goal then you obviously need at least two to get a win.
For the 14 games since that, 10 of them were in a formation where Leeds just let opposing midfielders drift into empty space in front of the back 4 unopposed and score loads of goals. They conceded the same goal in about 6-7 games.
Since the Man City 2nd half things have shored up somewhat. Itâs a worry but the difference has been theyâre scoring multiple goals in loads of games. Teams genuinely seem stuck playing against 2 strikers and not sure how to defend against it. Itâll change shortly enough though
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Thatâs very interesting, hopefully they can get a few more results before they get figured out. Iâd like to see them staying up and 19 points has them more than halfway there with less than half the games played.
Looks like it might be a straight shoot-out for safety between themselves and West Ham. Forest will get out of trouble and itâs hard to make a case for anyone from Fulham up being sucked into it. West Ham have improved a bit under Nuno but very clearly made an awful decision when dismissing David Moyes 18 months ago in search of a âsexierâ style of play.
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Sure lookit, Fulham, Brentford, Brighton and maybe even Bournemouth could be dragged into the dogfight yet. As for Sunderland? I think theyâll be relegated with Wolves and Burnley
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Unlikely. They have 27 points already. 34 will be enough.
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Wow, that would be some collapse by Sunderland. Theyâre in sixth.
I donât think 34 will be enough the way Wolves are going. Nearly every team has an auto 6 points against them
Based on the games Leeds have played thereâs very little between the team in 7th and 16th so any bad run could suck anyone in. Brentford and Bournemouth arenât good. Fulham the same. Leeds Forest look amazing but theyâre not.
Elland Road for an evening kick off is unlike most other grounds in the Premier League and you can see how itâs now messing with a lot of teams. Chelsea just didnât want to know. Palace looked like a bad Championship team.
Sunderland will have a very dodgy January. Huge amount of their squad off to AfCon. Theyâve enough points on board to be safe but I can see them going on a terrible run and getting dragged to the outskirts of it.
I hope we get back to the championship which is way better and also easier to get tickets.
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Leeds away to Sunderland next Sunday afternoon. A Leeds win could start the Sunderland slide.
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It will
for the Leeds bize
How the magic faded â John Gilesâ last days at Leeds United
Revered Irish footballer did not get send-off he hoped for after Don Revieâs departure to England, his final game coming in the notorious 1975 European Cup final
, Irish Football Correspondent
Saturday December 20 2025, 8.50pm GMT, The Sunday Times
Giles envisaged a grand send-off in front of a packed Elland Road for his final Leeds appearance, but never represented the club again after the 1975 final
EMPICS/BARNABYS
To anybody stuck on a present for their 60-something Leeds United-supporting uncle/aunt, I recommend a ticket to the Dublin showing of Paris 75, which tells the story of the 1975 European Cup final, the last game John Giles played for the most unpopular team in English football. Leeds Unitedâs battle with Bayern Munich in the final summed up why Leeds were both loved and hated with such a passion, in Ireland as much as anywhere, a fact amply demonstrated when 50,000 long-suffering and devoted fans turned up for their friendly at the Aviva Stadium against AC Milan in August.
As Giles was by some way the most successful and brilliant Irish player in English football for more than a decade, Leeds rivalled Manchester United as the most widely supported team around the country, with Liverpoolâs appeal also growing. However, while Liverpool were making sensible decisions about who would replace Bill Shankly as manager, Leeds pursued the wrong path when Don Revie left, rejecting Giles as the appointed successor, and instead the Dubliner would follow Revie out of the club.
Giles had the chance to go out on a high, by hoisting the European Cup, the one trophy which had eluded Revie, but again the team just came up short, this time with a huge whiff of scandal over both the officiating of the French referee, Michel Kitabdjian, and the rioting by Leeds fans in the stadium which led to them being banned from Europe for four years, reduced to two on appeal.
Giles had joined Leeds 12 years earlier, having felt he was underappreciated by Matt Busby at Manchester United and was prepared to drop down a league as he felt that Revieâs young team in the Second Division were going places, and that he could be a central part of that success.
Revie celebrates with his players, including Giles, back row, right, after wrapping up the 1968-9 First Division title
PA
While Giles was never a fansâ favourite, at least outside of Ireland, Revie loved him and he was an integral part of the team who won two First Division titles and an FA Cup, though it probably should have been more as Leeds were runners up on five occasions in the league and three in the FA Cup during those times.
The 1973 FA Cup final defeat by underdogs Sunderland was particularly stinging, but just when the team were being written off, they bounced back to win the league the following season and qualify for the European Cup. Then Revie dropped a bombshell by taking the England job, on far more generous financial terms than he enjoyed at Leeds.
Revie had allowed Giles to be Ireland player-manager at the time and then recommended to the Leeds board that he be named the new manager at Leeds. However the board were sick of being pushed around by Revie and had a different idea â namely Brian Clough. âI realised that I had been turned down for a job that I hadnât applied for,â Giles later wrote. âThe sort of thing I was getting used to at this stage from the men who ran football.â
Giles became the Republic of Ireland player-manager in 1973
ALAMY
Cloughâs notorious 44-day reign at Elland Road was marked in particular by his suspicion that Giles was trying to undermine him in the role out of bitterness, something that Giles himself has always strongly denied. However, Giles and his illustrious team-mates were determined to cling on to the win-at-all-costs mentality, even if it meant that their many detractors â Clough included â labelled them either âdirtyâ or âboringâ.
When Clough did leave, Giles was offered the job, but he knew he would have to end his playing career prematurely if he were to take it, and then he heard the board was split 3-2 on his appointment. âI was no longer interested because if I was to take on such a difficult job, the very least I needed was the support of all the directors.â
Instead Jimmy Armfield came in, but the magic had gone. âIt had taken years to build up the confidence, the attitude, the atmosphere,â Giles told Rick Broadbent in Looking for Eric. âIt is indefinable what we had during those years but, whatever it was, it was broken that summer.â
Nonetheless while Leeds flopped in the domestic league, they were still able to turn it on in Europe, especially in the semi-final when they overcame Johan Cruyffâs Barcelona over two legs. Having been knocked out at the semi-final stage in 1970 by Celtic, this was Leedsâ Everest and they were close to the summit.
Cloughâs spell in the Leeds dugout lasted just 44 days
ROLLS PRESS/POPPERFOTO/GETTY
The final at the Parc des Princes in Paris was attended by Revie and while Armfield wasnât greatly respected by the players, there was a feeling amongst them of âletâs do it for Donâ.
Bayern, the holders, also had a team packed with experience, but Leeds started much the brighter, with Giles controlling play in midfield, and should have had a penalty when Franz Beckenbauer chopped down Allan Clarke in the box. Leeds continued to dominate and Peter Lorimer fired a trademark thunderbolt past the Bayern goalkeeper Sepp Maier. The referee initially appeared to award the goal but then went to consult his linesman after a protest from Beckenbauer and awarded an offside against Billy Bremner, even though the linesman had not raised his flag and had returned to the halfway line.
No penalty was awarded when Beckenbauer brought down Clarke in the 1975 European Cup final
ANDREW VARLEY/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
When Bayern then scored with 20 minutes of the game remaining, it was the cue for a portion of Leeds fans to vent their frustrations with numerous pitch invasions and by ripping up seats and throwing them onto the pitch. A second goal, from Gerd MĂźller, sealed Leedsâ fate, but the trouble continued late into the Paris night.
The captivating Paris 75 documentary, which comes from the perspective of Leeds fans, gives plenty of oxygen to the theory that Beckenbauer and Bayern somehow got to the referee that night, without producing a smoking gun. And not all decisions went the way of the German team. Terry Yorath somehow stayed on the pitch despite a horror over-the-top tackle after a few minutes on Bjorn Andersson, which broke his opponentsâ leg, but Leeds could rightly feel aggrieved at how it ended up.
Everest hadnât been conquered and any chance of Leeds for once holding the moral high ground had been dashed by the rioting.
âThe referee was terrible and why he didnât give a penalty when Beckenbauer fouled Allan Clarke I will never know,â Giles says. âThey were there for the taking, but it went wrong for us. It was the last hurrah for the team. I never played for Leeds again.â
Yorath, who was fortunate not to be sent off, vents his frustration with referee Kitabdjian
POPPERFOTO/GETTY
He did not know that at the time, but an offer came in from West Bromwich Albion for Giles to become their player-manager. He decided to stay at Leeds if the club would offer him a two-year contract, but one year was all that was on the table. âI received a phone call from Jimmy telling me heâd agreed terms [for Gilesâs transfer] with West Brom and then, typically and confusingly, he added that he didnât want me to go. I knew I couldnât take another year of this. A manager doesnât agree terms with another club unless he wants you to go, even if his name is Jimmy Armfield.â
Perhaps Giles wasnât such a cold fish after all.
âOne of the things I visualised, in a sentimental way, was my last game for the club. The ground would be packed, of course. It would be at the end of the season and it would be well known that I was leaving. So there would be a proper send-off and we would all make a day of it,â Giles wrote in his autobiography, A Football Man. âIn my mindâs eye it was never like this, collecting my boots on a dead day during the close season ⌠it was one of the saddest days of my life.â
⢠Paris 75: The European Cup Final Football Tried to Forget is showing at the Irish Film Institute, Dublin 2, January 3, 4.30pm.
A grand match this evening between 2 mid table teams. First clean sheet since August I think, whenever the 3rd game against Newcastle was. Could easily have won it. Defended well and made them look average. The Van Dijk header and the Etikike 50p effort were clear chances that a better team would convert.
Youâd be disappointed to only take 2 points from 2 games vs Liverpool but itâs 2 points closer to safety
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Perri should have saved it that last goal. Making 3 changes in the 95th minute cos 2 lads couldnât move is never a good thing. Newcastle had 4 subs on before Leeds had 1. Farke was too late to make changes but in fairness in such a crazy game itâs hard to know who to change.
4 games in 10 days and 3 points from them isnât all that bad considering 3 away games to Sunderland, Liverpool and Newcastle and a home game vs Man Utd. Add in injuries and suspensions to Rodon and Ampadu for some of those games and itâs actually ok. Deserved a point tonight at least.
Perfect weekend for an FA Cup match no one cares about. Get Darlow, Bornauw, Byram, Gnonto, Harrison and Piroe starting and give plenty of rest to others. Maybe a chance for Longstaff to come back in and play a load of sideways passes. For a change I wouldnât mind a bit of a Cup run the way theyâre playing. Could give it a lash once the league points keep totting up.
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Just reading the report there, leading by one on 90 minutes and losing is a tough loss. They had done well in a run of tricky games too.
Tony Yorath passed away. One of my old mans favourite players.
Edit: Terry. The oldman must be getting doddery
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Any relation to Terry?
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Gabby Loganâs father.