Championship news: Leeds Utd drop to third after dismal draw at Luton Town
After dropping yet more points in the Championship, this time away to Luton Town, Leeds United have fallen out of the automatic promotion places for the first time since December.
The Whites have picked up one victory from their last six matches, with the performance at Kenilworth Road once again lacking the necessary quality, composure, and intensity.
Saturday’s result is particularly concerning in light of promotion rivals Burnley securing a big win against Coventry City, although second-place Sheffield United did fall to Oxford United.
Sports News Blitz writer Niall Togher reviews the latest disastrous performance from Daniel Farke’s men.
Low-quality game sees spoils shared
Leeds had a few opportunities early in the game when a free kick bounced off the thigh of Junior Firpo and forced Thomas Kaminski into making a good save before Manor Solomon tried his luck from the edge of the box and was also denied by Kaminski.
It was the hosts who took the lead, however, in the 15th minute as Elijah Adebayo sent Ao Tanaka tumbling to the floor on the halfway line and drove into the final third, sliding the ball down the flank to Jordan Clark.
Clark managed to cut the ball back onto his right foot and deliver a cross towards the back post, where Isaiah Jones had the freedom of Kenilworth Road to volley into an empty net.
A moment of quality from Dan James then drew Leeds level in the 25th minute, when the Welshman cut inside on his left foot and whipped the ball into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box, but that was as good as it got for the Whites.
The second half was devoid of any quality in the final third from both sides as big chances became a collector’s item.
That was until Solomon put his left-footed effort wide from point-blank range after it had looked harder to miss than score, the Israeli having been picked out superbly by James.
In the end, it was another frustrating game for Leeds, who must now rely on other teams during the last six games of the season if they want to be automatically promoted.
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Attacking output continues to plummet
The run-in is a time when your key attacking players need to step up and fire you over the line, but that has not been the case for far too many United forwards in recent weeks.
Solomon has not scored or assisted since February, Joel Piroe has not scored in six games, and Brenden Aaronson has just two goals and zero assists to his name in 2025.
For the highest-scoring and most creative side in the division, this is unacceptable and is a large factor in the plummeting form of the side.
James has been the only attacker to get meaningful minutes from the manager of late, thanks mainly to his good form.
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Farke’s bizarre substitutions
The game against Luton was further evidence that Farke has his favourites within this Leeds squad.
The German did at least hand a deserved start to Willy Gnonto in the number 10 role instead of the out-of-form Aaronson, although the Italian was hooked after only 63 minutes.
Gnonto did have a quiet game in all fairness, but so did the majority of the team and that makes you wonder why he was the first to make way before Piroe and Solomon, who have both been disappointing for multiple weeks.
It is an unrealistic expectation to expect Gnonto to be at his best when he has been given so few minutes over recent months, and that poor squad management can only be attributed to Farke.
Another player Farke has mismanaged this season is Largie Ramazani.
The winger was arguably the Whites’ best player for a while earlier in the campaign, before his injury, but has not started a game since December for some reason.
Injury-riddled Patrick Bamford, Aaronson, and – most eyebrow-raising of all – full-back Isaac Schmidt were all subbed on in attacking positions at Luton as Ramazani remained a spectator.
Whilst Farke continues to run the same players into the ground in a refusal to rotate, he has a winger on his bench who has six goal contributions in just seven starts this season.
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Make-or-break clash with Middlesbrough
It is a quick turnaround for Leeds, who travel to play Middlesbrough on Tuesday night at the Riverside Stadium.
Middlesbrough would love to put another dent in United’s automatic promotion hopes whilst consolidating their place in the play-off positions.
Farke has to find an answer to turn his side’s fortunes around, otherwise he risks seeing a repeat of the capitulation that happened at the back end of last season.
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