Leeds United should have made things much easier for themselves with a 2-0 victory over Coventry City, a scoreline that was extremely flattering to the home side.
Frank Lampard’s Coventry City looked like a tough test for Leeds this week, with four consecutive league wins behind them and the playoffs in sight.
Daniel Farke’s team, meanwhile, hoped to prolong their unbeaten streak with a positive outcome.
Leeds defeat Coventry 2-0, but could have made it much more pleasant.
Joel Piroe and Jayden Bogle scored in the first half to put Leeds two up before the half-hour mark, capitalizing on their early control as the Sky Blues strangely showed the away side a lot of respect.
Leeds, on the other hand, did not let up in the second half, looking for a third goal to seal the victory, and chances were plentiful throughout.
Despite penetrating through the high line several times, Leeds were unable to add to their score of two goals and were forced to settle for a solid away win.
Dean Whitestone’s refereeing did not aid Leeds’ pursuit for a third goal, as he waved away an early penalty shout when Joe Rodon was dragged to the ground by the top of his shirt and then kneed in the head while on the deck – nothing awarded.
Baffling decisions didn’t stop there, as Brenden Aaronson received a cut-back in the second half, and was barged to the ground with no attempt to take the ball, again nothing given.
Leeds then thought they had secured a third when Junior Firpo turned in shot that took a touch off Willy Gnonto on the way through, only for Coventry’s protests to see Gnonto ruled offside by the linesman, despite being a yard on with a clear view for the linesman.
Daniel Farke not happy with refereeing decisions in Coventry v Leeds
Overall, Farke was happy with how his side performed, but he was unsurprisingly frustrated that Leeds didn’t come away from the game with a scoreline that better reflected the amount of chances they created.
He stated (via LeedsLive):
“Overall, a fantastic night. A big triumph and three points in such a difficult environment. We were aware that Coventry were in terrific form. To get here and demonstrate a well-deserved victory, I’m glad with any specifics.
“Our pressing and counter-pressing, how we created opportunities.” With our sixth clean sheet in a row, we were a little wasteful with our chances. We need to be more efficient. You can’t take too many chances.”
While Farke understands where his team can improve, he believes it would have been easier if the referees had also done their part.
“The 2-0 win was fantastic, but I believe we could have had two obvious penalties. It’s crazy that Aaronson doesn’t give us a penalty. I’m not sure how the last goal is offside. It’s generally for the attacker, but it appears we’re moving away from that.
“I understand how difficult it is, but it was a goal that should have been allowed.” I’m a bit critical of our cutting edge; we missed too many 1v1s. Despite its many advantages, it can be extremely expensive.
“Meslier made two amazing saves today; if they score in the 91st minute, they have three minutes to go and anything can happen, so we need to bury the game even earlier. “Our boys delivered an outstanding performance.”
Another apology letter from the PGMOL is set to hit Farke’s and Leeds’ mailbox.
This season’s officiating has been subpar, and this is just the latest example of a bad one against us.
Fortunately, it was little, but if Coventry had launched a comeback, consider the three goals we could have had last night based only on refereeing mistakes.
On top of that, you have to ask what went wrong with our second-half performance that prevented us from cruising to another 7-0 victory.
