Jobi McAnuff has told Daniel Farke a mistake he made months ago could be about to cost Leeds United promotion to the Premier League.
Another agonising play-off campaign is looking increasingly likely for Leeds United after their torrid run of results stretched to just one win in six on Saturday.
Daniel Farke’s side were held to a 1-1 draw by relegation strugglers Luton Town, with only a wonderstrike from Dan James getting them back level.
Leeds never looked like winning the match and have now dropped to third in the table, with Burnley leapfrogging them into the automatic promotion places.
The title is now in Sheffield United’s hands and Jobi McAnuff believes the Blades have much better strength in depth than Leeds, something that could have been addressed in the January transfer window.
Leeds strength in depth pales in comparison to Sheffield United
As the Sky Sports pundits dissected another costly Leeds result, the benches of the two Yorkshire sides were compared.
Leeds brought on Patrick Bamford, Isaac Schmidt and Max Wober against Luton, who have played less than 500 minutes between them in the league this season.
Sheffield United, meanwhile, have Tom Cannon, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Callum O’Hare, Kieffer Moore and Rob Holding among their substitutes for Saturday’s game at Oxford United.
In response, McAnuff said: “At this particular point, you have to question that.
“Of course you because where are your game changers? Who’s going to come on and really make that impact?
“Even with an [Brenden] Aaronson coming on today, he hasn’t scored enough goals this year or created too much.
“I think that will be the big question going into the run of games coming up here.”
What Daniel Farke said about Leeds not making January signings
It’s a question Leeds could have addressed in the January transfer window but opted against doing so.
Instead of bringing in some additional quality to help get them over the line, Farke actually reduced his options by allowing Joe Gelhardt to join Hull on loan.
Meanwhile, the Blades and Burnley strengthened considerably.
Chris Wilder recruited Cannon, Holding, Ben Brereton Diaz, Hamza Choudhury, Harry Clarke, Jefferson Caceres and Christian Nwachukwu. Burnley added Marcus Edwards, Jonjo Shelvey, Ashley Barnes, Oliver Sonne and Jaydon Banel.
Both of Leeds’ closest rivals added serious firepower to their attacks and strength in depth across the rest of the squad, allowing everyone to keep fresh.
Leeds, meanwhile, have run their best players into the ground and now don’t have enough quality to replace them.
Speaking once the window had closed in February, Farke explained why he didn’t make any signings: “I predicted a quiet window and it turned out to be a very quiet window.
“We can concentrate on football now. In general, the main topic was I trust my group. We sit top of the table, 63 points from 30 games.
“Liverpool at the top of the Premier League, pretty quiet. Bayern Munich? No incomings. Real Madrid in Spain? No incomings. If you don’t have to use January or make late moves, you are in a healthy position.
“It’s not a guarantee – it’s football. You need some luck with injuries, but overall if you don’t have to do much business in the winter after 30 games in the window, it’s normally a good sign. I’m delighted.”
Leeds were in a healthy position then, but that is no longer the case.
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