Leeds United Déjà vu and Daniel Farke ‘scandal’ disagreement – YEP jury on familiar Cardiff City draw

NEIL GREWER

A game reminiscent of last season in the sense that Leeds absolutely dominated the game and stats, but failed to win.

However, different to last season in that Leeds did not lose and fought back from a two-goal deficit, and were the better team by far.

United have to be disappointed not to have won, with Cardiff scoring from their only two shots on target with Illan Meslier being a spectator for most of the game and needing binoculars to watch it.

Composure was lacking from Leeds’ finishing whilst concentration was lacking for the Cardiff goals, but these two features can be improved and a genuine centre forward and natural left footed left-back will help.

Ethan Ampadu had a solid, faultless debut as did Sam Byram whilst Archie Gray looked assured and confident and mature beyond his years.

The lack of a centre forward and true no10 are areas for improvement.

The first game of the season is not a good indicator for the season especially for Leeds this year with so many potential transfers in and out, but there are positives to take from the game and I have optimism for the season.

Man of the match: Archie Gray.

ANDY RHODES

As far as opening games go, this was a classic reminder of what Championship football is like.

Leeds were big favourites over Cardiff for the win but, as we all know, things rarely go as scripted in this league. Perhaps the only certainty was that United would control the majority of the game.

This meant that the front four of Willy Gnonto, Dan James, Luis Sinisterra and Crysencio Summerville – which is laughably good for this division – would be knocking on the Cardiff door all afternoon.

City parked the bus and, in doing so, allowed Leeds to attack them time and again but limited them to very few big chances.

Of course, United don’t have a complete squad as yet but the cutting edge and some experience in midfield were missing.

It remains to be seen how long Liam Cooper is injured for but the team are short of leaders as things stand.

The starting XI will look very different when injured players return and other players depart but Leeds need a squad that can handle the rollercoaster that the Championship is.

With 45 more games of this to go, we’re in for a long, old season.

Man of the match: Crysencio Summerville.

DAVID WATKINS

Well that was just like old times for Leeds, wasn’t it? Dominate the game, give away two soft goals, and almost lose the game!

The difference this time was just that our second-half dominance was finally translated into a couple of goals and a point. If we’d have lost the game it would pretty much have followed the script of so many games we watched last season.

Daniel Farke says that would have been a scandal. I’d prefer to suggest it would be the inevitable consequence of not acting in the transfer market.

Leeds amassed 72 per cent of the possession, 25 shots to Cardiff’s meagre seven and we hit the target six times to twice for the visitors.

Leeds also won 10 corners with the Bluebirds managing none! We should have won the game.

The key message has to be that we cannot continue to allow defensive frailty to determine our results. We undoubtedly have one of the strongest sets of attacking players in the division but it will count for nothing if we continue to give the opposition opportunities to punish us.

Equally, we have to find a goal-scoring forward, someone who will regularly gobble up the sort of chances we are wasting. We have to conclude that the squad we have is not good enough – just as we knew it wasn’t last year.

Man of the match: Archie Gray.

KEITH INGHAM

Well that was fun! A return to action with a late equaliser from Crysencio Summerville giving Leeds something out of a game that at half-time seemed a remote chance.

Daniel Farke gave Archie Gray his first-team debut, at 17 he became the youngest of the Gray family to start for Leeds. Willy Gnonto started the game up front while new signing Sam Byram made the bench alongside Karl Darlow.

After a bright start in which Gnonto and Summerville came close to opening the scoring, Leeds found themselves 2-0 down at the interval.

Captain Liam Copper gave Leeds hope within five minutes of the restart but turned his ankle whilst scoring, Charlie Cresswell came on for him and he impressed in the second half.

Leeds dominated the second half and really should have got the three points but it seemed that Cardiff would hold on as the game went into injury time.

Step forward Summerville, the lively winger was first to react to Sinisterra’s blocked shot to give Leeds a share of the points. They deserved three for their second-half efforts.

Ethan Ampadu impressed but Gray stood out on his debut. This jigsaw is far from complete but it has some of the pieces needed to be successful.

Man of the match: Archie Gray.

MIKE GILL

The new season beckoned with fans and players full of hope. The attendance was almost at capacity and dominance in all areas should have ensured a comfortable win for the Whites.

Daniel Farke’s possession-based game was not always entertaining to watch as the ball was passed laterally and often backwards sometimes to the frustration of the Leeds fans.

The agony was piled on by two isolated Cardiff counter attacks which produced goals by Bowler and Ugbo and had the 1,500 or so Welsh fans loudly belting out their Hymns and Arias to a bemused and mostly silent Elland Road.

Thankfully the second half was a different matter. The introduction of Sam Byram shored up the left side of defence but also got things moving offensively.

On 49 minutes, Liam Cooper rose above the Bluebirds defence to head home from a corner, injuring himself in the process.United’s pressure was relentless and urged on by a reawakened crowd, the Whites peppered the Cardiff goal with shot after shot.There was less than a minute left of added time when Crysencio Summerville scored to bring the breathless encounter to a close.

Man of the match: Crysencio Summerville.