Not for the first time in this Championship season, patience really was a virtue for Daniel Farke’s Leeds United during their Boxing Day trip to Stoke City.
It was a classic Daniel Farke performance during the first-half in the Potteries.
Leeds United dominated, chances coming and going, before Man of the Match Joel Piroe finally broke Stoke City’s resistance on the stroke of half-time with a fierce finish from what initially looked to be an all-but impossible angle.
That the game was still goalless until Piroe rounded Stoke goalkeeper Viktor Johanssen and fired in off the woodwork, meanwhile, was largely down to the heroics of the man standing between the sticks at the other end of the Bet365 Stadium.
Narcis Pelach’s poor Potters mustered only two shots on target throughout the 90-plus minutes. Lewis Koumas’ effort almost immediately after kick-off accounted for 50 per cent of that tally, the ever-lively Liverpool loanee denied by Illan Mesler at point-blank range.
And Joe Rodon, speaking to reporters at full-time, was keen to pay tribute to the man who came to his defence’s rescue following a rare lapse in concentration.
Joe Rodon hails Illan Meslier heroics as Leeds United beat Stoke City
“We started quite slow. To be fair, Illan tonight, he made a great save,” a relieved Rodon sighs. “He kept us in the game, kept a clean sheet, and from there we dominated the game.”
Both Daniel Farke and Narcis Pelach highlighted Meslier’s role in a hard-fought Leeds victory.
Farke felt his second-minute stop was ‘crucial’, while the German’s opposite number cannot help but wonder how things would have developed had Stoke taken an early lead against a side who’s away record – heading into Christmas – ranked as only the eight-best in the Championship.
As Piroe doubled Leeds’ lead around the hour mark following a typically explosive Dan James burst, Farke’s side climbed above Yorkshire neighbours Sheffield United onto the summit.
“I thought, maybe, we could have scored a bit more first-half. But, overall, a strong performance,” Wales international Rodon adds. “Everyone knows our away form is not the best. But we knew, tonight, it was important to keep the momentum going and the boys put a shift in.
“That is something we wanted to do for the fans on Boxing Day, and we are delighted to give them the win.
“To be fair, even when we were 2-0 up, I felt the concentration couldn’t switch off because you know what this league is like. They score one, and everyone is panicking. I thought the boys put in a really mature performance.
“We controlled the game, and I thought we were really good tonight.”
Daniel Farke hails Meslier as Leeds goalkeeper silences critics
As Sheffield United’s peerless home record was ended by Scott Parker’s Burnley, Leeds seized the chance to take control of the Championship title race.
Both Meslier and Piroe have come in for their fair share of criticism in recent months. But as the former offered a timely reminder of his shot-stopping talents, and as the latter climbed to joint-third in the Golden Boot standings, this was not merely three points for Leeds United but a big statement from two of their most high-profile performers.
“The save [from Meslier] was crucial and he proved again his worth,” Farke smiles after Stoke’s winless run was extended to a ninth straight league match. “He can also celebrate the clean sheet.
“Happy with the result, happy with the win. It is not that easy when you have to play the last game [of the day] after a long wait, especially on the road. It’s sometimes tricky.
“You always speak about focus on yourself, but the players are not robots. Of course, they hear about the other results [and] it’s not easy to deliver a good performance.”
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