I had been working on a preview but didn’t get it up, but went ahead with bets on this game as I was anticipating a weaker United performance and a stronger Leeds performance.
The loss of Casemiro and replacing him with Fred and also Eriksson with Salitzer were two downgrades for this game. While Marsch getting sacked was a positive for Leeds are they were not making progress under his watch, though they did have a habit of playing well against the better sides.
In the end, I placed money on:
Bamford to score 2, 30.0, €18 – Bamford had been critical of Marsch and I was thinking he might up his performance for this game. He got an assist for the first goal and was the target for Summerville’s pass for the second goal, but outside of that Leeds created very little. With Casemiro out it would have been better to pick a midfielder to score such as Ngonto, Harrison or Sinistara as they’d likely get more space.
I also placed money on Leeds to be winning 2-0 at HT and partially cashed out when they were 1-0 up and under pressure so I didn’t make or lose any money on this bet.
Last bet was Leeds -1 for €12 (as well as Leeds score four and win at 90.0 for €6). When Leeds were 2-0 up in the second half it got to nearly even money but felt it wasn’t enough. In the end Ten Hag made the right substitutions and got United back into the game.
This is also in keeping with this Leeds teams character of playing well in fits and starts and not able to hold onto a lead or close a game out. In hindsight I should have laid that bet once the subs were made. Aaronson did hit the post with a free kick at 1-2 but United were the superior side.
They play again on Sunday at Elland Road. It is notable that three of the four defenders for Leeds got shots at goal (Struijk, Wober and Ayling). Struijk went off injured so Wober might switch to left back for the Sunday game, this will increase his chances of scoring (Firpo came on last night but Cooper was injured). Ayling has got shots on goal in the past two games now also.
Bank is now at €268