Play-offs and Leeds United. This is a combination that usually doesn’t work well. It never has.
Leeds fans are still probably haunted by that semi-final defeat to Frank Lampard’s Derby County a number of years ago.
But you felt Daniel Farke and his players rightfully had a spring in their step ahead of their play-off final showdown against Southampton on Sunday at Wembley.
Those nerves and that worry would have kicked straight in when the whistle blew for the start of the match and Adam Armstrong didn’t help matters when he scored after 24 minutes.
It proved to be the winning goal with Leeds going on to secure promotion to the Premier League and making a return to the big time after one season in England’s second tier.
It also means Leeds are condemned to another season in the Championship after watching two of their relegated rivals – Leicester City and Southampton – make an instant return, alongside surprise package, Ipswich Town, who are managed by the sought-after, Kieran McKenna.
One man who won’t sleep well tonight is Ethan Ampadu. A player who has performed so well for the Yorkshire outfit this season.
The Welshman decided to jump out, leave space in behind, which Armstrong pounced on and scored such a crucial goal.
Troy Deeney was critical of the player and stated that it was ‘really poor’ defending from the 23-year-old, as he told Sky Sports Football (26/05/24 at 3:55 pm).
Jobi McAnuff joined in and felt that Ampadu was being ‘greedy’ when coming out of his defensive position.
Ethan Ampadu error during Leeds United’s play-off final clash against Southampton
“It’s a great finish (from Armstrong),” said Deeney. “I know you guys are going to pick it out, but from a Southampton perspective, this is what they have been playing for all day.
“They are waiting for one of the Leeds players to jump forward, which they do there, and Armstrong really good on the shoulder and this is an unbelievable finish. He takes it early. We do these shooting drills all throughout (the season). But there, I think Ampadu is really, really poor.”
McAnuff added: “This is what you can’t afford to do. You can see here, he is just a bit greedy. He wants to go out and just press there and Armstrong, we spoke about it, he identifies where that space is and the intelligence to know when running through on goal. This is what he has done all season long. As soon as he got in, never ever felt he was going to miss and he just really concentrated on low, hard and across the keeper.”
Southampton return to the Premier League, heartache for Leeds United
The play-offs are one of the great concepts of English football. It’s an utterly devastating format and one that brings out so much emotion.
On one hand, if you want to earn promotion to the promised land. It’s the way to do it. Even better than winning the Championship outright.
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But if you lose it, then you just want the ground to suck you in because it’s the worst possible feeling.
What Leeds fans don’t want to be told is that they might also lose their star players now.
Crysencio Summerville is one of those names. He was one of the best players in the Championship, but was subbed off after 70 minutes after a poor showing at Wembley.
Another is youngster Archie Gray, you just feel a number of these players, will depart once the summer transfer re-opens.
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