Once again Leeds contrived to lose a match after having the bulk of the possession, this time at the hands of relegation rivals Nottingham Forest.

Yesterday’s results had put a bit of pressure on Leeds before the game even started, with wins for three of the clubs in the bottom third of the table, and a very creditable draw for West Ham up at Newcastle. All of which meant that only goal difference was keeping us out of the bottom three, so we had to make the most of the two games in hand we would play before next weekend.

In the absence of our top scorer Rodrigo, Jesse Marsch opted to start with Bamford and Sinisterra, while Aaronson was finally dropped to the bench and Harrison was able to continue as the attacking central midfielder. At the back a one match suspension for Koch and the departure of Llorente meant that we had three left-footed central defenders on the field, with Liam Cooper having to move over to the right hand side.

We began the game in our usual lively fashion, and created the first chance of the game in the opening minutes. Sinisterra headed the ball over a defender and raced into the space behind, but Navas got down to make the save as the Colombian tried to guide the ball past him. And it seemed typical of our luck that Forest took the lead with their first decent attack in the 13th minute, as Johnson twice got the better of Struijk in the space of about 30 seconds.

The Forest man was slightly offside when he collected a ball out to the wing, and Struijk was harshly booked after impeding Johnson as he cut inside. As the resulting free-kick came to Struijk at a difficult height he had to stoop and couldn’t get much distance on his header. It fell invitingly for Johnson, and he took the opportunity to send an excellent volley past Meslier and right into the corner of the net.

Despite this setback Leeds continued to dominate and create the better chances for the rest of the first half. Ayling’s long ball to the wing found Gnonto in space, and the Italian hit it first time across the face of goal to set up Sinisterra right in front of goal, only for the Colombian to get right underneath it and send the ball over the bar.

Soon afterwards Gnonto was picked out again on the left, but when he pulled the ball back for Bamford the striker completely miskicked. The chance was still there as the ball ran invitingly through to Ayling, and the full-back did well to put his shot on target but didn’t get the power with his weaker left foot, and Navas was able to make the save.

And the little Italian had a chance of his own as Williams’ clearing header went straight to Gnonto in front of goal, and he struck his shot well but put it too close to Navas, so the keeper was able to make yet another save.

We had an anxious moment at the other end when the ball came to Chris Wood after Meslier had come a long way out of his goal, but our former carthorse, sorry striker took far too long to take advantage, and by the time he’d got the ball to a colleague our keeper was back in position. So we reached half-time with the score still 1-0 to the hosts, and we went in wondering how on earth we were losing the game.

It was telling that it was the Forest manager who felt the need to make changes at the break, one to stiffen the midfield and one to shore up the right side of his defence and stop Gnonto having so much space. And it worked out for him, with our main attacking threat stifled in the second period, even when the little Italian tried his luck going down our right instead.

And as we struggled to make the same progress during the second half Marsch made the first of his own changes in the 57th minute. Summerville and McKennie came on, though I thought the American was looking slightly portly after his lack of game time since the world cup. The ineffectual Roca and Sinisterra were the players to make way.

But we still looked laboured going forward, and Forest came close to increasing their lead on the break. Williams was sent racing through and then jinked his way past Ayling, but as he tried to chip the ball over Meslier into the far corner he got a little too much on it and it just cleared the bar. Then there was an anxious moment as a Struijk foul put him in danger of a second yellow card, but the referee realised that would be a bit too harsh, despite the baying Forest hordes in the stand just behind him.

Marsch decided that was the moment to take Struijk out of the firing line and send Firpo on, with Rutter replacing Bamford at the same time. And with seven minutes left he made his final change, with Greenwood coming on for Harrison, but none of these substitutions seemed to increase the threat on the Forest goal.

At least Liam Cooper had done a good job keeping Chris Wood quiet at the other end, but late in the game the man who came on for Wood was close to sealing the points for Forest. Meslier elected to punch as he came out to deal with a free kick and got a fair amount of distance on it, but Forest were still able to work the ball out to Surridge on the left, and he wasn’t far away with his attempt to chip the ball over our keeper.

As four minutes of injury time began Meslier came up for a corner but the ball never reached him and Forest were able to play out the remaining time and hold on for a scrappy victory. But I doubt they will worry about the style of their win, as it’s results that matter at our end of the table, and this one took Forest six points above us, with our game in hand being a trip to Old Trafford.

And after the game a frustrated Jesse Marsch admitted he will have to take responsibility and said “I have to find a way to get more out of the group, so that when we’re on top in games we don’t lose them”. The stats say that we had 70% of the possession, but the figures that matter to most people is the number of goals, and tonight social media is alive with fans saying the American has taken Leeds as far as he can.

The best you can say is that the players coming back from injury were lacking a bit of sharpness and that the new signings need to develop an understanding with their new colleagues. So it might all come together in time, but time will not be on our side as the end of the season approaches. Now the board have given Marsch the players they will expect to see results, but much as I like his passion and enthusiasm, I wouldn’t blame them for making a change if we’re still in this position after another four games.

Reuters

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