Positives and negatives for Leeds at the King Power.

By Mike Courtney

A point away to Leicester, who made the playoffs last season and have similar if not greater aspirations this time, is positive. Our first clean sheet of the season, another positive. The return of Rudy to midfield in a man of the match performance and the captains armband a definite positive. Unbeaten start to the campaign, positive again.

Now that that's out of the way let's look at the negatives, and they were quite a few. Let's start at the back and work our way forward. The performance of Lee Peltier at right back only intensifies the need for a speedy return of Sam Byram from injury. Inept, abysmal, cringe worthy, were just a few of the phrases that went through my head as I watched with head in hands at some of his play. All epitomized by his foul throw in the second half. If one of my under 14's did this I would be hauling him off. As long as he is in the side we remain vulnerable down that flank and we need Byram back as soon as possible. Thankfully the rest of the back four were at their best and kept Nugent and Vardy relatively quiet throughout.

We had industry aplenty in midfield but little creativity going forward. We didn't pass the ball that well and were often chasing after the Leicester midfield three. We need to control the game more and get Murphy on the ball as he does have the ability to find a pass though he did seem a little flat today.
 
Up front we didn't have many chances and didn't really create anything until the introduction of Dom Poleon. McCormack was busy and got on the ball a lot but often in places where he couldn't hurt Leicester. Hunt and Varney worked hard but without any end product. When Smith came on he did pose a threat in the air but he offers little else on this evidence.

So overall a good point. B-Mac will be happy with certain aspects, especially at the clean sheet and Austin's performance, but even he must see that we need to be more of a threat going forward and we do need fresh blood out wide to add a bit of pace and craft to get teams on the back foot. Byram's return can't come soon enough as he offers a threat going forward as well as being a decent defender.

So back to Elland Road next week and the first of the Yorkshire Derby's against The Wendies and again live on TV. Hopefully we can be more of a threat in front of goal and build on the positive unbeaten start to the season. A good enough week for us Leeds fans but still a bit to go before we are a force to be reckoned with this season.

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