Leeds moved to avert the crisis hyperbole that another defensive dog day would have triggered by successfully erecting the barricades at the Hawthorns. A workmanlike point on the road against a frustrated West Brom did nothing for the pulse rate but registered as a gain in terms of their season so far.
This game was the first competitive outing for Leeds’s yellow away kit, a retro throwback to past glory days complete with smiley badge. The face Leeds presented was more of a gritted-teeth grimace but after conceding six goals in their first two games of the season the clean sheet was welcome.
Daniel Farke, the Leeds manager, said: “I always want to see us attacking and flying – that’s my type of football – but today it was more important to take a first step forward after a really difficult week. We didn’t deliver offensive fireworks but I am pretty pleased with this outcome.
“In football the world can change in four or five days and after really flying in pre-season we suddenly conceded six goals in two games. That does something to your confidence, belief and rhythm, so you have to react in the right way.
“You have to make sure you are rock solid in your setup, well structured and return back to your best behaviour in terms of defending, and this is what we did today.
“I would predict that not five teams will be able to drive away from here with a clean sheet this season and we did. It was definitely a valuable and priceless point.”
Both clubs reached the playoffs last season but the entertainment was a long way short of high-end fare with one shot on target apiece over 90 minutes. Farke – spooked by his side’s missteps against Portsmouth and, in the League Cup, Middlesbrough – shied away from a pressing operation and instead concentrated on defensive rigidity.
The caution was understandable but did not go down well with the throaty travelling support, who urged a more attacking outlook. Leeds offered next to nothing by way of creativity while West Brom’s limited threat came aerially from corners and Darnell Furlong’s trebuchet throw-ins.
“We didn’t create many chances but at the same time Leeds didn’t create many chances either,” said the West Brom manager, Carlos Corberán, whose side have taken four points from their opening two games.
“I am pleased with the way we have performed so far. It’s important for me that we keep doing what we are doing well without losing.”
West Brom’s captain, Kyle Bartley, had a couple of half-chances, one in each half, while the Leeds defender Pascal Struijk went close with headers in each half. But the best opportunity of a stultifying game fell to Joël Piroe just before the hour that he could only divert wide with his studs.
Piroe had a poor 64 minutes until he was withdrawn, a pale shadow of the Brighton-bound Georginio Rutter in the No 10 role for Leeds.
The Rutter deal is not completed but with the French playmaker on the south coast it is just a matter of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. He will be a big miss for a Leeds side already struggling to overcome the loss of Crysencio Summerville to West Ham and Archie Gray to Tottenham in the summer.
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“We need cover at full-back, we definitely need a midfield player and two offensive players. I can’t guarantee we’ll get all these players but come the end of the window we will hopefully be in a better position in terms of options,” said Farke. “We have to rebuild again.”
