A round-up of what the national media are reporting after Leeds United bowed out of the FA Cup with a 2-0 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage on Tuesday evening.
'Leeds need more of an edge'
Jacob Steinberg wrote in the Guardian : "It says much for Fulham’s progress under Marco Silva that they dropped their standards and still reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. There were a few wobbles, a few worrying moments, but the final score felt right.
"Leeds had simply not done enough in the final third and, although there were some encouraging signs for Javi Gracia, he will demand better finishing when his struggling side return to west London to face Chelsea on Saturday.
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"Gracia will know Leeds need more of an edge if they are going to stay in the Premier League. Their away form remains wretched – only two wins on the road all season – while their lack of oomph in both boxes is a worry...
"It was not to be for Leeds, who have not been in the last eight for 20 years. There were more near misses, Crysencio Summerville and Brenden Aaronson going close, but Fulham held firm."
'Luck deserted them'
Adrian Kajumba penned in the Daily Mail : "As he watched a string of far simpler opportunities come and go for his side, new Leeds manager Javi Gracia must have cursed at the two spectacular goals that sent Fulham into the quarter-finals.
"Fulham’s finishing from long-range was in sharp contrast to that produced by Leeds from much nearer to the target.
"Luck deserted them at times with two goals ruled out, the first harshly. They were wild and wasteful at others and how they failed to convert any of their 16 attempts was a headscratcher.
"One late penalty area scramble contained three near misses in one frantic attack and confirmed, if there was any remaining doubt, that it was not their night.
"Leeds now have just their relegation battle to focus on which resumes not far from Craven Cottage, at Chelsea, on Saturday...
"If only Leeds could take chances as well as they created them."
'This is not their fight'
Phil Hay wrote in the Athletic: "The FA Cup is where the playing field levels, at least for a while. You get Cardiff, you get Accrington Stanley and then, last night, you have Fulham away for a place in the quarter-finals. It is not a doddle but it is not asking the earth either. It might have been that finishing 11th with Watford in 2019 mattered more to Gracia but the FA Cup, as he said, is where everyone can live a little.
"The circumstances for him at Leeds, evidently, are not as they had been for him at Vicarage Road. Watford were into Gracia’s rhythm by the time the FA Cup engaged them. He has barely had time to work out the floor plan to Leeds’ training ground yet and he was not brought in as head coach last week to specifically clear a path to Wembley but the club have given the impression this season that from their point of view, Wembley would be nice.
"It was still in view at Craven Cottage, only for the balloon to deflate in a 2-0 defeat. Fulham came up with Hollywood finishes from Joao Palhinha and Manor Soloman and very little else, Palhinha’s a superb hit after he read Tyler Adams’ pass and hustled Marc Roca. Leeds were compact and dangerous until they needed to plunge the knife in, at which point they could not finish their dinner...
"Common sense will say this is not their fight either, that somewhere along the survival trail they could be grateful the FA Cup is not diverting them. Modern football decrees that the league is king but there is something a little sad about that, and something uniquely tingling about a cup run coming over the horizon."
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