Read Will Unwin's match report
Here’s Leeds’ Luke Ayling: “I think we played well today. I don’t think they had a shot on target and we kept them in their half for pretty much the whole second half. We just couldn’t find that final shot or goal, but we are heading in the right direction. We are happy with today.
“We have our game plan to stick to and we did that in the second-half. We kept them in and just that final ball, that final play, didn’t go for us. That has been the case a bit lately.
“We played well at Villa, had a good performance in the week and again today.”
And Jack Harrison: “They are a tough team to break down. They play a deep block and make it difficult for teams to penetrate them and score goals. We tried our best today with different ways - crosses, one-twos - but it didn’t quite come off. We fought hard to the end and managed to get a point.
“Points are crucial for us at the moment. We would like to get as many as we can and would have liked to win but we take the point, move on and get ready for the next game.”
Full-time: Leeds 0-0 Brentford
The right result in a tight game with no clearcut chances. Jesse Marsch tightened up his defence as he promised, but a draw at home to Brentford is hardly a statement result. A stay of execution for the Leeds coach?
Updated
93 mins: Greenwood’s inswinger is headed out, and Harrison’s second cross is claimed by Raya. And that’s that.
93 mins: Leeds corner. Their last chance for a winner, surely.
90 mins: Brentford waste a great chance to create a great chance when Wissa, latching onto a long ball on the break, can’t quite get his feet set in time to release Ivan Toney, who was in acres of space and clean through. Eventually Wissa has to double back and Leeds have time to reorganise.
87 mins: Another Leeds change – Roca goes off for Greenwood – before Wissa is booked for timewasting.
Updated
85 mins: Brentford venture forward, with Toney peeling off to the right and looking for Wissa with a driven cross that is put out for a corner.
Updated
80 mins: Leeds still getting no joy against Brentford’s backline, who are funnelling Bamford out to the right whenever he gets on the ball. The striker drifts left to escape the traps, and exchanges passes with Sinisterra, who is flying into the Brentford box but is crowded out and gets the ball stuck under his feet.
77 mins: Roerslev brings down Struijk with a clumsy foul to the left of the Brentford box and Roca’s cross is punched well clear by Raya. Bamford comes on for Rodrigo.
75 mins: Frank changes it up, Mbeumo making way for Wissa.
72 mins: A rare second-half attack from Brentford sees a swarm of black shirt amass around the Leeds penalty box, with Jensen eventually receiving the ball on the inside left. His whipped cross evades all attackers and is cleared – but a big warning sign for Leeds.
68 mins: Not long at all. Aaronson off, Sinisterra on.
67 mins: Pinnock misjudges a long ball in the left-back position, and is robbed by Rodirgo who finds himself leading a three-on-three breakaway. He slips is right to Gnonto, whose shot at Raya’s near post is beaten away by the keeper. That was a chance. Marsch still yet to shuffle his pack. Not long now, surely.
65 mins: Rodrigo gives away a foul he disagrees with, grabs the ball and is about to hoof it away in anger, but decides instead to punch it down into the ground. He’s booked anyway. Frustration is in the Elland Road air.
63 mins: More clever link-up play between Rodrigo and Ayling sees the latter escape down the right and deliver a chipped cross, which the Brentford defence just about clears. Brentford can’t get out of their half – but are defending very well.
Updated
59 mins: Raya called into action again, this time to rush out and clear the ball from the feet of Gnonto who had latched onto to an Aaronson through-ball. Brentford have made a change: Dasilva off, Janelt on.
56 mins: Another attack from Leeds, Aaronson storming forward with the ball and laying off to Rodrigo, who rifles in a low shot from 20 yards. Raya dives low to his left to palm it away. Leeds on the up.
Updated
53 mins: Leeds advance to the edge of the box, where Aaronson shifts the ball onto his right foot to get a firm shot away, but Raya is equal to it. The hosts playing with far more intent than in the first half.
Updated
That Man Again has made it Manchester City 2-0 Wolves.
50 mins: Ayling snaps in to claim possession in the Brentford half, strides forward and exchanges passes with Rodrigo, whose low cross from inside the box is cleared.
46 mins: Leeds begin with a wonderful move, working the ball rapidly and calmly from back to front, with Adams at the heart of some supreme one-touch stuff around the edge of the box. It ends with the unrushing Struijk just unable to squeeze his cross in as the ball runs out of play, but that was – dare I say it?- Bielsaesque.
Right, the teams are back out at Elland Road. No changes on either side just yet.
About 40 miles down the M62, Manchester City are 1-0 up against Wolves, You Know Who heading in a Kevin De Bruyne cross. A win would take City two points behind leaders Arsenal, who host Manchester United later this afternoon.
Peep peep peeeeeep. That’s all for now. Neither side have deserved a goal so far.
Nothing is too niche for the internet:
@A_Hess Funny you should ask about the snood this week, as an explainer was done by Tifo on Monday https://t.co/Iq73wzkTN0
— Asha (@Melatomin) January 22, 2023
41 mins: Leeds’ best move of the match comes when Wober snuffs out a Brentford attack and fizzes the ball into the feet of Rodrigo to spark a counter. The striker picks out Harrison with a great first-time ball but the midfielder, with acres to run into, takes a painfully heavy touch and loses possession. What a waste.
39 mins: Rodrigo does well to engineer a yard of space on the edge of the box, but his left-foot shot is undercooked and easily gathered by Raya.
37 mins: Chance for Brentford. A deep cross from Roerslev sails just over Toney but falls to the feet of Henry, who’s arriving into the box from the left. Faced with the choice to shoot from an angle or send it square for a Toney tap-in, he opts for the latter but Koch has spotted it and lunges in to intercept at the final moment.
33 mins: Toney, who a minute ago brought down a high ball with a majestic piece of control, tries to catch Meslier sleeping at the near post with a speculative shot from range. Wide.
Updated
31 mins: As if he’s been told the game needs a touch of class, Gnonto nutmegs his man on the left and plays a neat one-two with Rodrigo. The return pass is a touch too strong though and the attack fizzles out after he’s forced wide. But a welcome moment of quality from the Leeds youngster.
Updated
28 mins: Momentarily fired up, Leeds storm forward. Harrison whips a nice ball into the box, it’s only half-cleared and breaks to Aaronson, whose shot is desperately blocked by a prone Brentford defender. The volume at Elland Road goes up a notch.
26 mins: Fight! Adams and Jensen tussle for possession on the sideline and turn it into a full-on playground shoving match once the ball has gone out of play. The assumes the role of teacher, scolding the both of them and sending them on their way.
Updated
23 mins: Mbeumo whips in an inswinging cross after taking a short corner and Meslier flies out confidently to punch it away one-fisted. Pinnock retrieves the ball and shapes in a cross from the left that skips across on the top of the crossbar, but it had swung out of play.
20 mins: David Raya takes his sweet time over a free-kick midway inside the Brentford half. He looks at the picture ahead of him, identifies his target, sets himself … and bloots it straight out of play for a goal kick.
Joe Pearson solves the mystery: “I seemed to recall that snoods were banned some years ago, so I looked it up. Sure enough FIFA banned the snood in 2011. That’s just one example of the impact Carlos Tevez had on the game.”
13 mins: Wober takes it left-footed looking to curl his shot over the wall. He does that much, but the ball won’t drop it time and sails harmlessly over.
12 mins: Jensen is caught dilly-dallying on the ball on the edge of his own box and as Aaronson drives into the area, he’s brought down by Norgaard. By a matter of inches, it’s a free-kick.
6 mins: The game has settled a bit, with both sides enjoying extended spells of possession. The visitors are perhaps playing a tad deeper, with the view to breaking smartly –which they nearly do down the left until Wober intervenes with a sliding challenge.
3 mins: Little pattern to the play so far. After good works from Adams, Harrison breaks forward and tries to pick out the darting run of Rodrigo but gets his angles wrong and the striker, having to halt his run, miscontrols.
Updated
1 min: And we’re off. Brentford kick off and loft the ball towards Toney, who challenges well in the air and gets away a left-foot snapshot from an angle. It flies over, but that’s a strong first six seconds from the visitors.
The teams are out and game faces are on. As are gloves. Whatever happened to the snood, eh?
@hankbobbym tweets in: “Managerial LinkedIn top dog has to be Brendan Rodgers and his Brentian nonsense. ‘One of my strengths is I learn, and I like to learn from all sorts of people in all walks of life.’”
A good point well made. Rodgers is a terrific coach but he doesn’t half love a bit of management-speak. My own favourite of his is “You can live without water for many days, but you can’t live for a second without hope”, but it’s a matter of personal taste.
And here’s our man at Elland Road, Will Unwin:
It is cold and Leeds have not won in the Premier League since early November but Elland Road is packed with fans hoping this is the day the team clicks. Jesse Marsch says he can see an improvement each week and a morale-boosting FA Cup win over Cardiff means there is reason to be hopeful but Brentford have not lost in seven and know how to open up defences, especially one as porous as Leeds
“Brentford fan here,” writes Alex Ross. “Despite recent form, I’m Gnonto confident of a result. Hopefully we can Schade it, though.” Oh dear.
“Really looking forward to this one,” writes Shaun Tooze. “On paper it looks like an end-to-end headcase of a game. Love the spirit and craziness of Leeds, and Brentford have really impressed this season, with some very big names getting turned over. I’m expecting a ding-dong classic. So, 0-0 then eh.”
On that’s note, who’s the most LinkedIn manager? Eddie Howe and Graham Potter stand out most obviously to me – both painfully earnest and not shy of a bit of meaningless management-speak. Marco Silva too has a strong whiff of LinkedIn. Any more for any more?
Updated
Some pre-match reading: Louise Taylor on Leeds’ abundance of attacking options … and their manager’s arrival on LinkedIn:
Marsch tells Sky Sports that his side needs to “find ways to not give up goals”. Quite right.
So Jesse Marsch gives Max Wober his first start at the heart of Leeds’ beleaguered defence and rewards youngster Wilfried Gnonto for his classy brace against Cardiff by keeping him in the side, up top with Rodrigo. It means there’s plenty of firepower on the home bench, in the form of Patrick Bamford, Georginio Rutter and Luis Sinisterra. Thomas Frank brings in Rico Henry and Mads Roerslev, who will likely man the flanks either side of a back three.
Team news ahoy
Leeds: Meslier; Ayling, Struijk, Koch, Wober; Adams, Roca, Aaronson, Harrison; Rodrigo, Gnonto. Subs: Robles, Firpo, Llorente, Kristensen, Greenwood, Sinisterra, Bamford, Rutter, Gelhardt.
Brentford: Raya; Roerslev, Ajey, Pinnock, Mee; Henry, Norgaard, Jensen, Dasilva; Mbeumo, Toney. Subs: Strakosha, Hickey, Schade, Wissa, Zanke, Ghoddos, Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard, Janeit.
Updated
Preamble
Not-quite-unstoppable force, meet not-quite-immovable object. With his team winless in the league since November and tumbling towards the relegation zone, Jesse Marsch is running out of road. And with a back-to-back double-header against in-form rivals Manchester United looming, he needs points quickly. Meanwhile Thomas Frank and his gang are dreaming of Europe, unbeaten since October and playing with a carefree fearlessness that has seen off Liverpool and both Manchester clubs already this season.
Having spent the season conceding about two goals a game, you’d think any turnaround in fortunes for Marsch would hinge on a tightening up of the defence. In reality, his greatest hope right now looks to be at the other end of the pitch, where Patrick Bamford has just returned from injury – with two impishly taken goals against Cardiff midweek – and the club’s record signing, striker Georginio Rutter, has just arrived in town from Hoffenheim.
Add into the mix one of the club’s few reliable performers this term in Rodrigo, plus youngster Wilfried Gnonto, also the scorer of a splendid brace midweek, and you’ve got yourself a team who could well keep themselves up on goals alone. Will Coach Marsch prove himself a cut-price Keegan? He’d surely take it.
As for Brentford, a win today would take them to the heady heights of sixth, and within touching distance of Spurs. They have spent the season showing up their moneyed peers and there’s nothing to suggest this run of form can’t be sustained until the finish line. Frank’s team are elegant, organised and boast one of the division’s most dependable goalscorers in Ivan Toney.
Toney registered a glorious hat-trick (penalty, free-kick, long-range chip) in the reverse fixture in September and the smart money would surely be on his side coming out on top today. Then again, their opponents are reaching do-or-die territory, and Elland Road on a Sunday afternoon is a menacing prospect for anyone. Over to you, Leeds.
Kick-off 2pm GMT.
