Leeds United will be licking their wounds after an Aaron Mooy inspired Huddersfield Town defeated them to leave Gary Monk’s side languishing in the 22nd spot. Thus the match brought about Monk’s and United’s 4th loss of the season. Australian Aaron Mooy, who was brought by none other than Pep Guardiola due to reasons best known to the Sky Blues showed what Leeds were missing. He absolutely bossed the midfield and was commitment and quality personified.
His involvement was put under question after the player’s heavy involvement in the two World Cup qualifiers for Australia. But he showed no signs of any fatigue and was his usual nippy self on the pitch. The Australian got closest to scoring with a decent low strike but the best was to come after 10 minutes as he smashed a 25-yard shot into the top corner after the break.
Leeds seldom threatened themselves and the scoreline was a predictable one in the end without any added drama. Chris Wood sent a header wide for Leeds before the break and could have snatched a barely-deserved point late on, but failed to properly connect with another headed opportunity. After the match, a sullen and dejected Gary Monk stressed on the need to put the match behind them and focus on the next one, which will come as soon as Tuesday.
Monk said:
“I’m disappointed with the result, of course. We went out there with the intention of trying to grab the initiative but partly due to the way (Huddersfield) set up it became a bit of a nothing game.
“We have to get a real reaction now on Tuesday. We need to take the three points, it’s as simple as that.
“It’s very important that we get this Elland Road monkey off our backs and get the three points.”
But a feeling is now emanating from the club that the Manager might not be in total control of the situation the club find themselves in at the moment. 12 points in arrears already with only 6 matches played, the feeling around the group is that of a dejected one. The fact that Gary Monk was speaking about the 7th match of the season as a must-win match let slip the vulnerability he finds themselves in. But with almost all of the season still to go, Leeds can’t afford to think that they have blown it up. Next up is a match against Blackburn Rovers, who are a level below them in the ‘dejected meter’ as they currently occupy the bottom position of the 24 teams. Leeds can’t let their soft-hearted concerns for their opponents come into play and just need to put their heads down and go for the 3 points.
HERE IS THE LEEDS UNITED PREDICTED LINE-UP (4-4-2)
