During the first half we were well in the game against a lacklustre home side, but once Fulham stepped up the pace after the break our defensive frailties were exposed once again, and the result was another damaging defeat.

Javi Gracia had got his side working on defensive techniques all week, and he knew he also had to make some personnel changes in his porous defence. Wöber was always going to come back if he was passed fit, and played at left back for us for the first time, in place of Firpo. Cooper was also recalled to the starting line-up to give a bit of leadership, with Struijk dropping to the bench.

Summerville was the other change as he replaced Sinisterra, possibly because the latter was still troubled by the strain that forced him off on Monday night. But the head coach resisted the calls to give Meslier a break, having said during the week that he hadn’t been at fault for any of the eleven goals put past him in the previous two games.

And in some ways the first half was an improvement on what we saw on Monday night, with the reshaped defence looking a bit more solid, though it helped that there wasn’t a lot at stake for the home side. Last week Dan James had been effective as a ‘false 9’ in the absence of Mitrovic, but he couldn’t play against his parent club, and Fulham struggled to get any rhythm going forward.

Gracia’s safety-first approach was understandable after the maulings of the last two games, but it did nothing for the game as a spectacle. But we did have a couple of moments at the other end, the first being a Roca free-kick which he hit with plenty of power, but directed far to close to Leno, who only had to reach a short distance to his right to palm away.

Summerville was looking lively on the right and sent in a good low cross, which Rodrigo side-footed with his left, but a defender was able to get across and block his shot. Our defence was relatively untroubled, but Meslier had to make an early save from a Tosin header, and Cooper made a perfectly timed tackle to stop Willian breaking into the area.

So we could be pleased with our work during the first half, but it was a different story when Fulham stepped up a gear in the second. Initially they had been building attacks down their right flank, but they hadn’t got much joy against Wöber and Cooper, so they switched attention to getting the ball to Willian on their left, where Kristensen’s tendency to drift inside was giving him plenty of room.

And this was the route that led to their opening goal in the 58th minute. With three Leeds players facing Palhinha as he broke through the centre, Willian was left with plenty of time and space once the ball was played to him down the left. Meslier came out to meet the cross but couldn’t get the contact he wanted as it curled away from him, and as it dropped Wilson turned to smash the ball in off the underside of the crossbar.

We were close to hitting back straight away as Roca’s corner came all the way through to Summerville on the far edge of the penalty area. He took a touch and struck his shot well, but it was just the wrong side of the post and into the side netting. At the other end Fulham almost doubled their lead as Perera’s free kick smacked off the bar, with Meslier rooted to the spot.

On 65 minutes Gracia tried a few changes to get back into the game. Rodrigo had been ineffective and was replaced by Bamford, while Aaronson had worked hard but had been shrugged off the ball too easily, though he’d often found himself with no colleagues offering any support. Sinisterra replaced the American to see if he could get any joy down the left, while Harrison moved inside.

But as we tried to be more adventurous, we again found how easy it is for the opposition to break through our midfield once we have lost the ball, now that we haven’t got Adams to break up play and protect the defence. On 72 minutes a Leeds move broke down and Robinson took possession in the middle of the field, sending a wonderful long ball out to Robinson on the Fulham left.

Once again the hosts were left with acres of space down that flank, and once again Meslier came off his line to reach for a cross that was curled away from him. This time he palmed the ball onto the chest of the onrushing Perera, leaving the midfielder with the simple task of smashing the ball into the net. Inevitably the Leeds fans didn’t take kindly to going two behind, with one of the kinder chants from the away section being “Orta, it’s time to go!”

Now we had no choice but to go forward, and Roca had a good opportunity for a shot from just outside the area. He hit it well enough, but for the second time in the match he sent his shot far too close to the goalkeeper. As the pressure mounted we forced a series of corners, though Roca struggled to beat the first man with his delivery. But finally we got a goal back with 11 minutes left.

Cooper sent a cross into a crowded penalty area and Sinisterra got the ball caught under his feet, but it ran for Bamford to poke the ball goalwards and it was deflected into the net off Palhinha. It went down as an own goal, because Bamford’s initial effort was going wide before it touched the defender. On the TV replay I noticed quite a few fans behind the goal jumping up to celebrate in a section that’s supposed to be for home fans!

Javi made two more changes to try to force an equaliser, and the Leeds section of the crowd finally got their wish as Gnonto came on for Harrison. The other change saw Forshaw replacing McKennie, possibly because the American was on a yellow card. Forshaw might be the man we need as the defensive midfield player, if only his injury-hit body can last for a full 90 minutes.

Fulham were close to restoring a two goal lead as Meslier did well to keep out a free kick from Willian and collided with the post as he did so, but still got up in time to palm the ball away before Andreas could get to the rebound. After that Leeds flooded forward, but despite eight minutes of injury time and Meslier going up for the final corner, we weren’t able to secure the point we so badly needed.

With Leicester winning and Everton picking up a point at Palace we slipped further into danger, and Tuesday night’s match is looking more crucial than ever. Can we find a way of being more adventurous without leaving our defence horribly exposed on the break? We’ve only got six games left to find the answer.

Reuters

Leeds United Polls