Cardiff City 3 Leeds United 1

​

OK, I admit I am now concerned that maybe we flattered to deceive a little in our opening games. Until the Millwall episode I think most Leeds fans, including me, thought we had a side that was probably the best in the division. We looked water tight at the back, magical at times in midfield and had goals in everyone. Now, after losing at Millwall and not really sparking and then having given two goals away in the narrow win over Ipswich and again in that first half at Cardiff, things don’t look quite so straightforward for us. It is so difficult to know what the problem really was at Cardiff. Was it the team selection that pitted us against a seemingly strong Cardiff side without Saiz and Lasogga? Was it just those first two sloppy goals we gave away? Or was it the stupid error by Coops in getting himself sent off that meant we had no way back? Hopefully it was one of those things and not the final possibility… that we are not actually as good as we all thought and once we have been through the fixtures against the sides that are currently in the top ten we may not then be in the top six.

The second half at Cardiff showed that we could actually match them if we had a level playing ground; we will never know if we could have got something from the game if we’d had a full complement of players but I think we might have.

So, once again we are left wondering and we are all looking to the next match to confirm either our optimistic hopes or our worst fears. Sheffield Wednesday is another tough test for us; they have pulled out some excellent results against some of the better teams – such as winning at Fulham and grabbing a draw at Cardiff – but have also stumbled horribly in other games that, on paper, looked easier. A decent performance and a three point haul will greatly calm all Leeds nerves and at this particular time and in a Yorkshire derby a point will not be seen as too bad. A defeat though and, early as it is in the season, we will have to accept that we are not going to run away with an automatic promotion spot and indeed if we can’t begin to get wins against the better sides we may find ourselves even struggling to get a play-off spot. No point or sense in pushing the panic button yet but a poor result on Sunday and we may all need to recalibrate our expectations.

​