Did Millwall defeat show Leeds shouldn’t be afraid to go route one?

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Leeds lost their first match of the season against Millwall and perhaps they can take something from their victors’ style.

Leeds fans look on during the Sky Bet Championship match against Nottingham Forest.

It was probably the biggest shock of the Championship weekend when Millwall inflicted the first defeat of the season on table-topping Leeds United.

The English second tier’s tightest defence and most prolific attack was beaten 1-0 at the New Den in a scoreline that actually flattered Thomas Christiansen’s men rather than their hosts, with the Whites having just one off target shot all game while the Lions had at least four other great chances to find the back of the net.

Thomas Christiansen, manager of Leeds United, looks on before the Carabao Cup Third Round match against Burnley.

Results like this do happen and come the end of the season it could be seen as an anomaly in an otherwise superb campaign for Leeds, but if it useful for one thing it is to learn from mistakes.

And one thing that it perhaps highlighted is the Yorkshire side’s reluctance to play ugly. Since Christiansen was appointed head coach over the summer the team have adopted a high pressing and fluid passing style, much like at Barcelona where the 44-year-old learned his trade as an academy player.

Yet against Neil Harris’ physical and direct team this came unstuck, despite the fact that by the 72nd minute – just before Aiden O’Brien scored the only goal of the game – the away side had two imposing attackers on the pitch together in Jay-Roy Grot and Pierre-Michel Lasogga.

James Tarkowski of Burnley and Jay-Roy Grot of Leeds compete for the ball during the Carabao Cup Third Round.

The opportunity was there to play the South Londoners at their own game, particularly late on when the need for an equaliser was becoming increasingly desperate, and launch the ball into the box to utilise the height and strength of Grot and Lasogga.

This is not to say that Christiansen should abandon his principles when it comes to football because, in truth, it has served the Dane brilliantly for the vast majority of 2017/18 so far, it is just that perhaps there should be a Plan B when the tiki-taka doesn’t work.