Brenden Aaronson at Leeds

Aaronson almost with another assist. Cross comes in from the left, and Aaronson with a great flick on far post. Bogle makes a mess of it, though, and it dribbles across the face of the open goal. Should have been assist #2 for BA.

 

With Marsch? Doubtful. With Marsch and with Adams staying fit? Almost certainly.

Bournemouth have several issues this season, but the oceans of space that have emerged in their midfield since the 5th minute of the United game is palpable and Brentford in particular exploited it ruthlessly.

Teams that play a very high press, as Leeds did under Marsch, need a DM to stay at home and mind the shop while the rest of the midfield and the full backs bomb forward. Tyler is excellent at that

 

He starts and Tanaka, who is much more highly regarded and has been an ever-present, is on the bench. And for a game where Leeds will definitely be targeting a result.

I said a few weeks ago that while he may have lost his starting place, he remained an important player. Looks like I was being overly pessimistic

 

Whistled a shot over the bar from the edge of the D on 61 minutes.

He's been an absolute pest for Sunderland all game, esp. with runs infield from the right. He may well go 90' or near enough.


Edit:
He did in fact go 90' in Leeds' best away game of the season by some distance.

 

he's had a v good game

 

Brenden Aaronson – 9
Aaronson got a standing ovation against Crystal Palace last time out, and today he was Leeds’ best player. Another stunning performance from the American, who got an inch-perfect assist for Calvert-Lewin.

https://www.leedsunited.news/match-...-perri-struggles-but-unlikely-star-gets-9-10/

 

The assist was excellent, he had a shot cleared and he generally gave the Sunderland defence the run-around all day long.

Being dropped has given him something of a boost. Every so often good man managers take a guy aside to say "you're getting a dog's abuse and it's got to you. I'm, resting you on Saturday, mostly tactically, but also to get you out of the firing line to let those clowns see what we miss without you."

 

Leeds are now 7 points clear of the relegation places with an appreciably better GD than every team around them except a rapidly-improving Forest.

I'd be astonished if they go down

 

The assist today. Very pretty play all around.

 

Player Ratings: Sunderland 1 Leeds United 1 - Aaronson star man

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/s...derland-1-leeds-united-1---aaronson-star-man/

Don't bother clicking the link, tho, it's ad-hell. The headline says it all.

also...

Flashscore Man of the Match: Brenden Aaronson (Leeds United)

 

Calvert-Lewin's celebration - pointing to Brenden immediately ater - spoke volumes: "I scored it but you made it. Great stuff!" in effect.

Leeds have turned the corner. Pep's regard for Farke was always well-founded. Now it's clear why

 

For comparison they were 2 points clear of relegation after the same number of games the last they were relegated.

 

MOT forum:

- Brenden has been on a very good run of form in December. I don't think it's a coincidence that we are unbeaten over that period. He's had a couple of assists including the DCL goal today. And today I noticed that he was moving the ball quicker and not allowing the opponent time to hack him to death. Let's just hope he continues at this level.

- Best game today since he arrived that I remember. Needs to show more consistency though, can he do it for 1,2,3,4,5 games. Felt he was very good today. Some nice runs and control. End product still iffy.

- Brenden was excellent from the start today.

- DCL's form is the talking point but is this the best version of Aaronson we've seen?

- Farke said: “We needed Brenden Aaronson today. I said to him before the game 'listen, you're the only player in the Premier League who can cover 50km’.

 

Really happy for Brenden.

Hasn't been smooth sailing in leads but its nice to see him having a purple patch.

 

I hope he can continue to play like this.

 

I'm one who wrote him off. The crow tastes great!

 

No team in the last 10 seasons has been relegated with 11 points after 10 games. Leeds hit the 11 points mark after 9.

The last promoted team to be relegated after such a start was Man City in 2000-01, though Villa only stayed up on the final day of the season in 2019-20.

 

Additionally, WHam has blown a couple of chances to snag points. On the other hand, Leeds have ManU 2x left, with ManU having a decent season, while WHam have Wolves 2X, with Wolves, uh, not having a decent season. That's a potential 6 pt swing there, otherwise, both WHam and Forest (who have Villa 2X) will need to up their game and/or Leeds will need to really get cold.

 

BA is pretty good at soccer but did he miss a chance at greatness in the marathon?

 

I have noticed that many American players have a certain style of running that easily enables you to pick them out.

Relaxed shoulders, long arms, short strides.

Brenden and Gio are prime examples.

This is how a track and field or football coach would coach you, especially when running short sprints.. I guess a lot of American kids have the benefit of being coached across various sports, something a lot of players from other countries don't have.

 

Leeds-Man U is the grudge match to end all grudge matches, especially on the Leeds side. In the UK, only the Old Firm is in the same category. It really is impossible to overstate the level of animosity between the two clubs. You're in "you've beaten those Manc c*%_s so relax, you can get relegated and it'll be alright" territory.

The form book goes out the window - into the trash can and off the the incinerator in fact - for these ties. You'd give even a very bad Leeds side a 50-50 chance of a point from one of those games and this is a quite decent Leeds side that's playing well. Both matches ending in draws is a real possibility and a Leeds win in one of them shouldn't shock anyone either.

 

Leeds:You took everything from me!
ManU:I dont even know who you are.

 

Back in the early seventies Leeds and Man United hooligans went on a rampage. Manchester United spent a season in the second division where they regularly outnumbered home fans and went on a wrecking spree. Leeds were fairly new to the top flight and they attracted every thug in West Yorkshire (casual fans had rugby league). Add that to a whiny manager, a team that relished in the dark arts, a bunch of marginal decisions that cost them championships, and Yorkshire exceptionalism and you had a recipe for general thuggery, pitch invasions and setting concessions stands on fire.

Add that to 500 years of animosity between the red rose and the white rose (don't remind them that most northern families backed the same side) and you get to where you are today.