Match Day Thread LEEDS UTD v NORWICH CITY, WED 24TH JANUARY ko 19.45

As HMQC is still unavailable here is the MDT

We'll travel to Elland Road on Wednesday, January 24 (KO 7.45pm) to face Leeds United in a rescheduled Sky Bet Championship fixture.

The game was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday, January 27, but was moved to a midweek slot due to both sides' progression to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Norwich go into this one with three wins in a row, two of those in the league - most recently beating West Brom 2-0 at Carrow Road thanks to goals from Josh Sargent and Jonathan Rowe.

The Opposition

After winning just one of their opening five league games, Leeds United have turned their season around and now sit just outside the automatic promotion spots.

They had a difficult Christmas period where a 4-0 win against Ipswich Town was their only victory in five games, but have since won three consecutively.

One to Watch
Georginio Rutter

French striker Georginio Rutter joined Leeds in January 2023 but was unable to help them stay afloat in the Premier League.

He has enjoyed a good season in the Championship where his partnership with Crysencio Summerville and Joel Piroe up front has seen them score a combined 26 goals, while Rutter also has nine assists to his name.

The Manager
Daniel Farke

The Leeds United head coach is no stranger to supporters of Norwich City as Daniel Farke spent five years at Carrow Road, twice winning the Championship title.

The 47-year-old has also managed Borussia Dortmund II and was with Borussia Mönchengladbach prior to being appointed Leeds boss in the summer.

Last Time Out

The sides met in October at Carrow Road where Leeds United took home the three points despite Norwich taking a 2-0 lead into half-time.

Shane Duffy and Gabriel Sara netted in the first half before the visitors completed a second-half turnaround.

An own goal was followed by a Crysencio Summerville brace in the final 15 minutes.

 

Sterling stuff!

 

Nice one Bure. Big challenge this one as both sides are unbeaten in their last four games.

 

Hey Bure - i'm back, but i'm not interested in taking over your run of success! Great thread. Keep 'em coming!!

 

Hard to believe Rowe is only our 3rd ranked player on Whoscored

 

Interesting that Rutter is the second highest rated player in the two teams (Summerville the highest rated); 21 years old, 26 games, 5 goals, 9 assists and MOM 5 times. He's clearly a key player for them.

 

Also interesting to see -- though the WhoScored line-up doesn't include him -- that Leeds' Bulgarian DM, Ilia Gruev, has played in their last four games. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the starting line-up again tonight.

 

Didn’t they spend something like £30m on him last January? I would hope he can put those numbers up in the Championship. Very good player form what I’ve seen of him, certainly a better player than this level

 

Yes, he was one of two players, the other being US international Weston McKennie, brought in by Jesse Marsch that January to try and turn their season around.

 

http://www.fawanews.com/Leed_United_vs_Norwich_City_1.html

 

How long is Hanley out for?

 

Hard to live with Rutter, James and Summerville when they are on form. Strangely when they’re out of form it seems to be all at the same time.

Gruev has played well, he has been kept out by Ampadu who has recently been required at CB so he’s having an extended chance and Bamford hitting form and his work rate means Piroe is relegated to the bench.

Nice match thread too

 

Barnes for Nunez is interesting with Sara likely to move in to the number 10 role

 

Bamford unmarked

 

Getting nothing from this ref

 

How in the world did Sara miss that? What a perfect end to the half that would have been.

All-in-all, not a bad half. Clear-cut chances for Leeds are rare with the defence mostly doing okay, and we are getting some play in the final third of the pitch.

City are still in the game - just got to keep the Leeds goal count down

 

Nor are Leeds. No case for saying he's favouring the home side. Perfectly justified Yellow Card for Gibson.

 

That miss from Sara was terrible.
I think my old granny could have put that away.

 

Ref is ****ing awful agree, but at least on 3 occasions Leeds players threw themselves to the ground with no contact.
And why was 1 of our coaching staff booked?