Phil Hay was taken aback by a “weird” incident from Leeds United’s 1-0 win over Norwich City on Wednesday (24 January).
The Whites went into their Championship match at Elland Road on Wednesday evening hoping to reduce the distance between themselves and the automatic promotion slot to two points with a victory.
And Daniel Farke’s team got off to the perfect start as Dan James produced a brilliant cross for the in-form Bamford, who scored his fourth goal in five games for Leeds United with a stunning header inside the six-yard box.
Leeds led for throughout of the first half, but the second half nearly saw a dramatic turnaround in performance as the Whites were bizarrely forced to camp inside their own half by a determined Norwich, a situation that Farke may have caused strategically.
And Hay responded on his personal Twitter account (January 24): “Really risking a Norwich equaliser here. The press has dropped off, the block is low, and the movement is fairly passive. Weird.”
Very strange
For much of the season, the Whites have been known to thoroughly destroy opponents at Elland Road before the 80th minute, but they allowed Norwich back into the game in the second half when they were comfortably up.
Whether it was a tactical strategy by Farke or his team was forced to take such a dangerous approach in the second half, Leeds supporters will never know, but it is not something the German is known for.
Leeds put themselves in a great position early in the first half when Bamford scored with a beautiful header, and they could have easily scored two more if they had been more potent.
Because of the rigorous nature of the Championship, clubs as large as Leeds simply cannot become complacent or they will be punished, and the Whites came close to that fate.
The Canaries have been impressive in recent weeks, with a significant improvement in performances and results, while the Whites nearly lost a key three points midway through the second half.
