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The Lottery of the Playoffs
To be so close to clinching automatic promotion back to the premier league and then fall away at the end was disappointing to see. But, looking at the overall picture and the mass exodus of players leaving or wanting to leave during pre-season the team have done incredibly well under the management of Daniel Farke.
At the start of 2024, the football that Leeds were playing was incredible, winning game after game and the team full of confidence. From the unbreakable defence, through the midfield to the forward line, everything was in place and working. These performances saw Leeds close the gap on the top teams and put themselves in contention of automatic promotion.
Cue the March international break. Leeds boss Daniel Farke commented “We had the worst possible international break. For us three players came back injured (Gruev, Gnonto and Roberts) and three Welsh players had the disappointment of not being allowed to go to the Euros. We had not one first team training session as a team.”
Some bad form and lack of confidence seem to set in and Leeds United ended the season in the playoffs, losing four of their final six matches to miss out on a top-two finish. Ninety points would have been enough for Leeds to have been promoted automatically in 13 of the past 20 seasons but it just wasn’t to be.
Attentions now turn to the playoffs with Leeds will contest Farkes former club Norwich City over 2 legs, starting with the away fixture on 12th May, followed by the home fixture on the evening of the 16th. The winner will be set for a trip to Wembley to face either Southampton or West Brom in the playoff final on 26th May.
Leeds have never won promotion via the play-offs in five attempts, so they will be hoping to change that record this time around. Farke joked “You know how my record is in the play-offs? I never lost a game – because I’ve never played in the play-offs by the way.
He added, “It doesn’t matter. Leeds have lost in the play-offs before, but it was a completely different group, I was not in charge, so it doesn’t matter. Obviously we are here to change it. That’s the reason why I’m here.”
The young Leeds team now need to use the next week to prepare for potentially 3 of the biggest games of their careers to date. We’ve seen how they can play and what they are capable of so let’s hope the heads are high and they give it their all for 1 final push towards premier league football next season.
