Leeds United key man singled out as Sheffield Wednesday boss makes promotion race prediction

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Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl has tipped Leeds United to overcome their transfer difficulties to challenge for promotion once again.

His Owls side fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Whites on Friday night at Hillsborough and rarely troubled the visitors, who dominated possession for the most part.

Goals from Brenden Aaronson and Daniel James settled the game, giving Leeds a first win of the season. Leeds, already without departed stars Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter, were missing Patrick Bamford and Max Wober through injury and included two goalkeepers on their bench.

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But Rohl said the team Farke put out was still a difficult one to play against, as the game went on to prove.

"You saw a good Leeds side, a lot of quality," he said. "Should not be an excuse but I think in some moments you saw the difference. You have to make a lot of things right. Maybe also in some situations a bit of luck. A team very close to the Premier League.

“Even if they lost some players, you see they're still a good team and will still play for promotion. I think this is now also a bit of a new situation for [our] group. Now we change some players and they have to grow together, find together. You'll learn a lot about characters, how they act, how they work, how they handle disappointing moments. It's a process. The next couple of weeks is about taking it forward."

Though Leeds' quality told in the end, Rohl was still disappointed with how his side defended in key moments, like the two goals they conceded. 

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"Especially the second conceded goal, it's too easy," he said. "It's a five against one situation and we stay in one line instead of covering our team-mate. It's difficult to take something when the opponent is so strong. It's a bit disappointing today. You can concede a goal against them but even in this goal you can defend differently and we have to. All in all they controlled the game and it was hard. But we know this, it's about brave decisions. Sometimes you have to suffer, stay together, this is normal. This is what we have to take from this game."

One of the key operators throughout the encounter was Leeds winger Willy Gnonto, who appeared all over the pitch to take possession and probe the Owls.

At one stage he picked up the ball in a deep-lying central midfield position to start an attack. At other times he was central or wide left, but almost always a factor and a thorn in Wednesday's side.

"It was a key point, he created an overload - there was four in the middle, a diamond and we tried at half-time to adapt," said Rohl.

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"Even if you mark him he has solutions one against one and it's hard to come back. It was a good move but this is a key player in this league. It was good to see such a player but it's hard to defend and if you open up more space then you come into a duel and then you have to run and run and run. The first goal was about closing the passing line vertical instead of speculating.

“All in all they had a lot of ball control today."

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