Leeds United v Burnley

Saturday 14th September 2024 - Elland Road, Leeds

2024/25 Season

After the international break last week, my granddaughter and I headed to Elland Road for the lunchtime kick off. It took me a while to get going this morning as once again all the recent stresses caught up with me. My baby granddaughter came out of hospital for the third time last Saturday, but the Paediatricians informed her mum at the start of the week that she may have to go back in for further IV antibiotics. After more worries we found out that her latest samples were clear, but she may get ill again so we remain vigilant. In the meantime, in the middle of my middle daughter moving house on Wednesday, I came back home for a meeting at dinnertime which ended with another hospital visit and then admittance for my husband. He came back out of hospital yesterday after IV antibiotics and we are hoping the oral ones will clear his infection. It never rains but it pours.

We headed to Holbeck Working Men’s club before the game, and it was great to catch up with some friends from Wrexham who I haven’t seen for approx. 25 years.  As usual you catch up where you left off and I will have to share the photos from our trip to Wrexham to see Wales v Scotland in 1977 later. Friends for life though and one of the most important things of being a Leeds United fan, is the fantastic camaraderie from our worldwide fan base who get you through the tough times. Once again, thanks for all the support, hugs and kind words today as they mean a lot to me. With talking so much it meant we had to get a lift to the ground with the Shropshire Whites otherwise we may have missed kick off. Thanks for making me an honorary member for the day!

If anyone missed my appearance on the Clough Revie, The Damned Interview documentary by Chris Dawkes on ITV on Thursday, the link can be found here: https://www.itv.com/.../clough-vs-revie-50.../4x9f51x...

Going through the turnstile, I suddenly realised that it kept turning. I managed to scan the tickets (well I think I did) as it had clicked into place before the same thing happened again. After the club saying that you need to attend 80% of the games this season, this was very concerning as I couldn’t be sure that our tickets had been activated. Something I will pass on to my contact to take back to the club for their response. After catching up with my sister and friends we headed over to the opposite side of the Kop in readiness for the players coming out onto the pitch. After a minute’s applause for Sol Bamba (there will also be tributes at Cardiff next week), this was followed on six minutes for our young fan Bob as both died recently. Bob was a mascot at the start of the season, and it certainly brought a lump to the throat with the whole stadium joining in as well as both the teams stopping play.

Team: Meslier, Ampadu, Struijk, Rodon, Gnonto, Joseph, Gruev, Solomon, Firpo, Bogle, Aaronson

Subs: Rothwell for Ampadu (68), Piroe for Aaronson, (68), Byram for Firpo (78), Ramazani for Solomon (78), Tanaka for Rodon (87).

Subs not used: Darlow, Gelhardt, Schmidt, Debayo

Leeds lost the game 1-0

Attendance: 36,405, approx. 2,900 Burnley fans

Referee: James Bell

Booked: Firpo, Gnonto, Ampadu

Sent off: Humphreys (Burnley)

The game started with Leeds attacking the Kop in the first half having been turned around by Burnley. Leeds started off well with Joseph through on goal, but his shot went wide. Burnley took the lead against the run of play as Leeds lost the ball from an attacking position when Solomon slipped. The Burnley player ran the length of the pitch before putting the ball into the net as we had no answers. I always wondered why it is only our players that slip on wet pitches but also, why do we even wet them so much before the game starts? The atmosphere which had been good until then died a death for a while as the stuffing was knocked out of much of our support. We do need to get back to how we did it in the 80s, if the opposition scored, we were all there immediately chanting for Leeds. Honestly, it does make a difference. Gnonto had a shot saved by their keeper but with another chance not long before the break, Solomon was brought down in the penalty area. Not surprisingly, the linesman to our left had flagged continuously for us being offside yes neither him nor the referee saw the foul. With fans around us screaming for the penalty, it was proved by replays later that they were right. Sadly, for us, it was never given as we went in one down at the break.

The second half saw Leeds come out on the attack with Joseph seeing his shot saved by the keeper. Ampadu saw his great shot put over the bar by their keeper. With Burnley using professional fouls and time wasting, they started getting more bookings from the referee although in the first half it was us who got the first booking. Rodon got lengthy treatment alongside the Burnley player Brownhill after a clash of heads which left them both with bandaged heads. Rodon was subbed not long afterwards. We never looked like scoring to be honest and it felt like we had no one on the bench who could come on and take the game by the scruff of the neck. I do feel a draw would have been a fair result as Burnley made it hard for us to get through their defence, but we ended up with our first defeat of the season. The international break curse strikes again. It wasn’t to be, but we need to regroup as we head to Cardiff next week. Somehow, although I thought one of their players got a second booking which was the case, I failed to see their player sent off!!!

As the players applauded the crowd at the end, when Farke arrived there was a lot of loud booing on the Kop. It surprised me as I wasn’t sure if the booing was for him although, I know frustrations had already spilled over to some of the crowd during the second half. When Byram passed back to Meslier when we had been attacking, I had some sympathy for him as there was no one making room for him to pass to. My worries going forward after our sales was having a strong squad depth and whilst we have the personnel, that spark was missing once we went a goal behind. With decisions not going our way either, it was one of those days.

See you at Cardiff, LUFC – Marching on Together!