Kyle Newbould: I watched Leeds United's 1-1 draw vs Brighton - They've put last season's nadir firmly in the past
Key takeaways from Leeds United’s hard-earned Premier League point at the Amex.
Leeds United extended their unbeaten run to four games across all competitions with a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Brighton on Saturday. Jayden Bogle’s close-range first-half opener was cancelled out midway through the second period by a Luka Vuskovic header.
Daniel Farke’s side started the better with Bogle’s goal arriving after just 15 minutes, and they nearly had a second after the break but Ao Tanaka was offside. Leeds had to weather a second-half storm from their hosts but defended resolutely to earn another impressive point.
A point leaves Leeds unbeaten to start the campaign and is enough to keep them firmly in the top-half of the table. Below are some of the YEP’s key takeaways from the day.
Healthy competition
One change to the defensive line was expected on Saturday with Joe Rodon injured, with Gabriel Gudmundsson’s well-timed return allowing James Justin to drop into the three. But a more surprising decision saw new signing Nico Elvedi replace Jaka Bijol in the heart of defence.
The Swiss international looked confident and comfortable again, defending crosses and playing well out from the back. And it’s a promising sign of Leeds’ depth that even in the absence of someone as important as Rodon, Farke could switch things up in defence based on what he expected from the opponent.
“Jaka is important,” Farke said of the decision. “He's a key player, our vice-captain and a colossus for us. We all love him and it's also not a problem if he sometimes has to wait a bit until he's on the pitch, but Nico had also really good recent appearances in the cup and looked a bit sharper in his decision making on the ball. This gave him just the edge anyhow, and this was more or less by how the line-up was explained then.”
Trafford’s steady importance
It feels like this could be a common theme across the season, particularly in games where Leeds aren’t dominant for spells and have to weather some pressure, but Trafford’s presence between the posts makes such a difference. The goalkeeper made only a handful of saves, none world-class, but all impressively dealt with.
One of Trafford’s biggest strengths is his ability not only to make a save, but to keep any parries away from danger and he did this multiple times on Saturday. He’s been so reliable this season already and it must breed confidence across the defence to have someone like that.
At times in the past it’s felt like nervous goalkeepers have affected those further forward and defenders now know they aren’t the last port of call between attacker and goal. It would be very interesting to know how many points a season Trafford might be worth.
Last season low-point is history
Leeds’ last trip to Brighton just shy of 12 months ago had been mentioned a lot in the build-up to Saturday, including by Farke himself in his pre-game press conference. The Leeds boss brought it up after full-time too, as did Gabriel Gudmundsson when he spoke with the YEP and other local media.
That defeat, followed a week later by the 3-1 loss at Nottingham Forest, felt like the nadir for Leeds. It was quickly noticed that their first two away-days this time round were the Amex and the City Ground, with the performance and result much-improved.
Leeds are only one point better off right now than they were after three league games last season, with one of those away at eventual champions Arsenal, but they do feel like an entirely different proposition. A handful of defeats into draws or draws into wins can really help a team climb the table.