Leeds United: Time for United to grasp the nettle in race for the top six

There is obvious tension in the scramble for sixth place and little in the way of solid initiative. Leeds United’s own chances of qualifying for the play-offs are still on the wrong side of good but in a clutch of clubs where only Millwall have any impetus, all bets are off. The Championship’s top five have breathing space and, with 12 games to play, are in the process of locking themselves in. Below them the league remains wide open.

Bristol City hold sixth place and have been around that position for most of the season but Johnson can see his players treading water. City, like Leeds, have won once in 10 games and suffered the psychological torment of surrendering heavy leads at home to Sunderland and away at Elland Road. On Sunday, against Cardiff City, they fashioned one shot on target and lost to a late goal.

“We played with fear when on the ball,” Johnson said. “That’s what I want to take away.”

He warned his squad that those who fail to hold their nerve or stick to his plan “won’t be at this football club as of next season”.

Johnson’s pointed comments were down the scale from those of Wilder, who went nuclear after Sheffield United enraged him by losing at Hull City on Friday night. Wilder, a lifelong Blades supporter, has the club within two points of the play-offs but in what might have been an attempt at reverse psychology, he read the riot act and dismissed his side’s prospects.

“I’ve been going on about trying to get into the top six but looking at that I must be off my head,” he said. “I must be away with the fairies. That was the biggest game of the season by a million miles and we’ve not turned up. We’ll try and have a strong end to the season but Friday has shown that we’re short and don’t have enough to get in the top six.”

Outwith the top five it is hard to know who is. Leeds’ 1-0 win over Brentford on Saturday was their first victory since Boxing Day and the club lie in 11th place. Brentford remain a point ahead in the table but cannot get themselves on a roll. Preston North End, in ninth, won once in February and Middlesbrough are seventh under Tony Pulis without showing drastic improvement since the sacking of Garry Monk. A 96th-minute equaliser held Boro to a 3-3 draw at Sunderland on Saturday.

Leeds travel to The Riverside on Friday night and can no longer differentiate between must-win fixtures and run-of-the-mill matches. Paul Heckingbottom joked about it last week when he was asked if Brentford’s visit to Elland Road was “must win”.

“It’s been the first question before every game,” he replied.

Each slip promises to be costly now and not just for Leeds. Millwall were nobody’s tip this season but are within six points of Bristol City after five wins from eight matches.

The simple calculation for Leeds is that a win at Middlesbrough, before the Championship’s other fixtures play out on Saturday, would temporarily place them within three points of sixth, and within two if Sheffield United fail to win their game in hand at Reading tonight. United’s season hinges on genuine consistency, something they have lacked since Christmas, but Heckingbottom said on Saturday that he would concentrate on keeping the chase alive week by week.

“What will be will be,” he said. “I want us to stay in the hunt.”

United might be tempted to think that they are catching Boro at a convenient time. Rudy Gestede, the striker who Pulis was using to lead the line, will miss the rest of the season with a fractured ankle. Adama Traore, Boro’s electric if unpredictable winger, was sent off at Sunderland after a clash with Bryan Oviedo and is at the mercy of an appeal to the Football Association. Boro threw money at their squad in the summer but the impact of that investment has been questionable.

Ashley Fletcher and Martin Braithwaite were released on loan in January; Britt Assombalonga, their £15m striker, last scored on Boxing Day.

Leeds had the measure of Boro during the first half of the season, beating them 2-1 at Elland Road prior to Monk’s dismissal. United, and their then head coach Thomas Christiansen, made a specific point of targeting Boro out wide, pressing experienced left-back George Friend and a less-proven right-back in Conor Roberts.

Pablo Hernandez dispatched one back-post cross in the first half and Gjanni Alioski tucked away another in the second.

A repeat of that result on Friday would bring Heckingbottom’s squad into close contention and United know from bitter experience that the Championship can swing quickly. Leeds were eight points clear of Fulham on the night of a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage last March, fourth in the league with 10 games to play. Fulham knocked Leeds into seventh and finished five points better off after coming to life in the run-in.

“I don’t know exactly what position we were in last season but we got reeled in so anything is possible,” said United midfielder Eunan O’Kane. “That’s the way the Championship is.”

It never changes and a reflective weekend leaves many in the division wondering who will grasp the nettle.