Perhaps the only positive from Leeds United’s 0-0 draw at Bristol City is that they didn’t lose.
The Whites dominated large amounts of the ball but failed to ever really get going at Ashton Gate and were forced to settle for a point.
Dan James and Mateo Joseph were among those to have the best chances for Leeds but in truth, they were very few and far between.
Rugby Union side Bristol Bears were in action on the Ashton Gate turf on Friday night and that must’ve played some part in Leeds’ lack of tempo with their passing.
Unlike in recent weeks, much of Leeds’ possession was as a result of the defenders keeping it among themselves, which is why Bristol City were fairly comfortable for much of the 90 minutes.
Junior Firpo importance highlighted in Leeds draw
Dan James and Sam Byram were the two enforced changes made by Daniel Farke for the match, replacing Largie Ramazani (injured) and Junior Firpo (suspended).
Ramazani was always going to be a big miss after the form he has been in and despite Byram‘s reliability as a cover option, it also highlighted the importance of Firpo.
Byram was fairly solid defensively and did try get forward when he could, but the lack of balance on that left-hand-side was down to Firpo not being available.
Despite Byram completing 64 of his 75 attempted passes, many of them were him either passing backwards or playing inside due to his inability to open his body up and play down the line.
Wilfried Gnonto was the man on the left-wing for the majority of the match but never really had anyone on the overlap like £13m Firpo often is.
With Jayden Bogle suspended next week, Byram is likely to still be in the starting XI next week on the other side, and perhaps that might suit him better.
Isaac Schmidt deserves start for Leeds next week
As mentioned, Farke is once again going to be faced with a decision to make at full-back after Bogle’s fifth booking of the season.
Clearly Farke sees Byram above Schmidt in the pecking order but if the latter doesn’t get a start at home to Plymouth Argyle, he never will.
Farke admitted in his press conference that Schmidt is better than Byram going forward and against Plymouth, Leeds are going to have most of the ball.
With Schmidt also being right-footed, he deserves to be given the chance to show what he can do.
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