Leeds United star offers 'positive' view on goals issue but admits Brentford 'frustration'
Leeds United failed to score for a fourth consecutive Premier League game on Saturday.
Leeds United goalkeeper Karl Darlow has praised the ‘steel’ of his teammates to keep picking up points despite their struggles in front of goal.
Darlow kept a second consecutive clean sheet on Saturday night as Leeds drew 0-0 at home to Brentford. An attritional affair lacked any real attacking quality as defences came out on top and not a single big chance was created, Pascal Struijk coming closest with a flick on from a corner.
Leeds have now gone four Premier League games without scoring, despite taking on 56 shots during that period. But in the last two matches at least, those in front of Darlow have shored things up to keep out two dangerous attacks in Crystal Palace and Brentford - the former while being a man down for 45 minutes.
“I think sometimes you have these sorts of runs and especially in the Premier League, we just need a scruffy one to go in and we're back on our way,” Darlow said. “But it shows that we've got the steel to keep coming out with points and grinding out results when we need to.
“It's better than losing, so we take a point and move on. I think on another day, one drops and someone smashes it in the back of the net.
“The amount of pressure we put on the goal - not only tonight, but even at Palace - we've, we've put a lot of pressure on the goal. We’re a team that looks like scoring more than the opposition at the minute, so I think that's a positive from that. Hopefully [we can] start scoring goals.”
Leeds boss Daniel Farke was not alarmed by his side’s lack of goals immediately after full-time, instead pointing towards Darlow’s end and consecutive top-flight clean sheets. But he will have seen Saturday’s game against Brentford as winnable and in dropping points, an opportunity was missed.
Karl Darlow reflects on Leeds United point vs Brentford
Whether Saturday was a good point gained or two dropped depends on the outcome of Sunday’s Premier League action. West Ham are now four points shy of Leeds ahead of their trip to Aston Villa while Tottenham Hotspur host Nottingham Forest in a huge bottom-of-the-table clash.
“Slightly frustrated that we didn't come out with all three points, but where they are in the league has to be respected,” Darlow reflected. “It's another step in the right direction for us.
“Probably in the first half, we weren't as effective as we wanted to be, but second half, the last 20 or 30 minutes, there was only one team that looked like scoring. We have to take confidence from what we've done tonight and move on.
“I think we cancelled each other out and we gave it a good old go, especially in the last 20 minutes. We were winning every second ball with Ethan [Ampadu] and Anton [Stach] recycling and DJ [Dan James] comes on, there's another bright spark. So I think we were slightly unlucky not to score a goal and pick up all three.”