Daniel Farke was pleased to see Leeds United come away with a point at Watford on Friday night.
Leeds were a long way from their best at Vicarage Road but in games that you don’t win, it is paramount not to lose in order to keep the points tally ticking over.
The Whites had clearly seen some of their momentum halted by the international break based on their first-half performance, in which they were comfortably second best to Watford.
Injuries to three key players in Willy Gnonto, Ilia Gruev and Connor Roberts certainly didn’t help, but neither did the breaking up of key partnerships across the pitch that have developed so well recently.
Though he was considerably short on options, perhaps Farke’s biggest regret from last night was not continuing with Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu together at centre-back.
I saw Farke learn last night one player simply cannot start again for Leeds this season
Ampadu and Rodon formed the bedrock of Leeds’ incredible run before the international break, which saw them win 12 of 13 league matches in the calendar year of 2024.
In the 12 they played at centre-back together, Leeds conceded just three goals and perhaps even more impressively, none of those were from open play.
As soon as that partnership was broken up last night, though, Watford were able to score twice from open play and though it is not down to one man alone, a lesson must’ve been learnt by Farke.
Liam Cooper was making his first league start since New Year’s Day and it has to be said that it is no coincidence Leeds looked considerably more shaky at the back.
The 32-year-old did not cover himself in glory on two occasions for Watford’s second goal, and his overall presence just seemed to have those around him more on edge.
BBC pundit Jon Newsome said after the game Leeds look a better team when he is not in it, and there is no doubt their best spell over the 90 minutes came after he was replaced by Junior Firpo.
Cooper visibly ‘deflated’ by second half substitution
No one will have been more frustrated than Cooper that he had a negative impact on the team after finally being handed an opportunity to start.
Cooper had offers to leave in January but instead chose to stay and fight for his place, despite the fact he is out of contract in a few weeks and unlikely to be handed a new one.
But as mentioned, it was pretty clear to see that Leeds were much better when he came off the field. Ampadu and Rodon simply has to be the partnership going forward for the rest of the season.
The 32-year-old was replaced just after the hour mark for Leeds and BBC journalist Jonathan Buchan noticed he was visibly ‘deflated’ when taking his seat on the bench.