Fewer touches than Darlow: Leeds must axe 3/10 dud after Millwall nightmare

Leeds United have been brilliant in the Championship of late but their FA Cup dreams were crushed in the fourth round as Millwall ran away from Elland Road as 2-0 winners.

While Daniel Farke’s side were not at full strength, it was still a selection of players who should have made it through.

It was Femi Azeez who proved to be the difference between the two sides and he could have had a hat-trick too just to compound Leeds’ woes on Saturday.

An FA Cup exit is not the end of the world, however, with the Yorkshire side’s sights firmly on winning promotion out of the second tier come the end of the season.

How Leeds lost to Millwall

Azeez was the star of the show at Elland Road and he will have left Ethan Ampadu going to bed with nightmares this evening.

He opened the scoring far too easily in the eyes of Farke as the Millwall forward skipped inside and danced past Ampadu without much difficulty before finding the net via a deflection.

Ampadu was again at fault moments later when Azeez could have found his second. The Welshman was robbed of the ball before the Lions star thundered the crossbar. Despite desperate pleas that the ball had crossed the line Leeds escaped.

There was no denying the Millwall number 11 in the second half, however, as he marched through and made it 2-0 with a low finish past Karl Darlow.

Still, Farke’s side certainly should have scored. Making his first start for the senior team, Sam Chambers came closest in the first half, drifting in from the right and testing the palms of Liam Roberts. Their best chance came from the penalty spot after Willy Gnonto had been tripped.

Pascal Struijk stepped up to take the second half spot kick but his low effort was saved well to his left by the aforementioned Roberts.

Truth be told, it never looked like Leeds’ day and as much as the supporters will look at the likes of Struijk and Ampadu for reasons why they lost, they should also look at their centre forward.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Mateo Joseph’s performance in numbers against Millwall

In the days leading up to deadline day young Mateo Joseph was the subject of a £10m bid from Spanish side Real Betis.

The 49ers didn’t like the sound of that, rejecting the bid and keeping the forward at Elland Road at least until the end of the season.

Yet, on the evidence of his showing on Saturday, perhaps they ought to have taken that money. Indeed, Joseph was simply not good enough.

Handed a dismal 3/10 post-match rating by Leeds Live’s Isaac Johnson, he wrote that the striker ‘made too many loose passes when Leeds were on the attack.’

That is certainly reflected in the stats on what was a pretty dire afternoon for the 21-year-old.

Despite featuring for the entire 90 minutes, Joseph had fewer touches (26) than goalkeeper Darlow (38) and successfully completed only nine of his 17 passes at a success rate of 53%.

Ceding possession on 12 occasions, the attacker also lost three of his five duels and failed to have a single shot as Alex Neil’s visitors held onto their clean sheet.

With Joel Piroe given the afternoon off, this was a wonderful opportunity for the youngster to showcase why he may have been worthy of that £10m price tag.

Instead, he simply showed why he deserves to be on the bench next time out.

Related

He’s outscoring Piroe & Solomon: Leeds must regret selling outstanding star

Leeds United might regret allowing a clinical attacker to slip through their net too soon.