The sole commentator on my Fox Soccer Plus presentation of the West Ham / Leeds game couldn't stop remarking on what an exciting game it was. Not terribly sure I concur with that. I thought it was a pretty poor spectacle. Scrappy, bitty, uneven, stop and go, and save for 10 minutes at the start and a 5 to 10 minute period after Carew's introduction, we were barely in the game, and certainly never looked like deserving all 3 points. All things considered, I'm very grateful we escaped with 1 point. The lively Gradel could have converted that penalty, and while we could have been awarded two ourselves, we produced so little attacking threat that 3 points would have been embarrassing.
The game wasn't entirely devoid of positive things. Despite the attempts of the press to suggest Parker isn't happy, he looked every bit as committed a player as the one who has sweated blood for us in every season he's belonged to the club. Credit to Leeds though, and their non-stop pressing, that our midfield as a whole never really got going, finding time and space to be a rare commodity.
Cole looked more 'up for it' than he has for a while, and got into better positions than we've seen of late. Carew came on though to show that his control, touch and hold up play is in a different league to Coles, and when match fit, I find it very hard to believe that Carlton will command a starting berth if we persist with Sam's 4-5-1, masquerading as a 4-3-3. Carew looked pleasingly lively, and will be a handful for opposition defences.
Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the largely turgid performance was how threatening we look from the dead ball. We've already seen how dangerous Taylor is from free kicks, but today and for the first time in what feels like a decade, we looked like we could score from every corner. Tomkins seemed to be in the thick of it from every corner, and had a basketful of efforts on target.
Cons? Well, for 35 minutes of the first half we looked like we had no answer to Leeds' frantic closing down, and their rather direct brand of football. While it rarely produced a shot on goal, it was worrying that we weren't able to adapt or change systems to nullify their threat. The same went for the second half until we had a brief period of possession and energy around the 70 minute mark, with Faubert's dangerous low ball prompting the error that put us rather generously back in front. Nolan drifted in and out the game, and for large periods I wasn't even aware he was playing. Cole looked increasingly isolated as the game wore on too. I fear for Ilunga's place, as there's only so many times your left back can loft the ball aimlessly up the park, only to see it come straight back. His distribution was frustratingly 1 dimensional and I hope that McCartney can a) get fit soon, and then more importantly b) rediscover his form from a good few seasons back.
The equaliser had an inevitability about it, and Leeds deserved it over the course of those 95 minutes. Yes, we had those penalty shouts, but with a hand on the heart we just weren't at the races today and should feel lucky we escaped with a draw. There were some good, or perhaps 'gritty' performers on the park for us today, but overall the performance was flat, and unable to contend, in either half, with the way Leeds set themselves up. Too often we were harrassed and hurried into losing the ball, and never really found a solution. So, disappointed in the performance, but relieved at the draw.
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