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It had been a wasteful night for Leeds United before Brenden Aaronson scored a goal-of-the-season contender.
Derby County did their best to frustrate and deny the Championship leaders. They did it well until the 79th minute. But, as they have done all season, Leeds will pass and pass and pass again until they find a minuscule opening capable of hurting their opponents, and so they did with Aaronson’s winner 11 minutes from time.
Leeds had other chances and it threatened to become a costly game in the title race, but the beauty of Aaronson’s goal — which takes his tally to seven for the season and earned him a man-of-the-match award — was worth enduring the frustration up to that point.
Aaronson started the move from a deep position with five of his team-mates ahead of him in the box. After drawing out two Derby players, Kenzo Goudmijn and Corey Blackett-Taylor, the U.S. international offloaded the ball to Ethan Ampadu 10 yards behind him.
Paired with Ao Tanaka in central midfield for the game, Ampadu played the ball wide again to left-back Sam Byram.
Leeds have not been afraid to go back and recycle possession when needed this season, which is helped by creative defensive midfielders like Ampadu and Tanaka and two competent ball-playing centre-backs in Pascal Struijk and Joe Rodon.
When opponents regularly sit in and try to deny Leeds’ attacking threat, Struijk and Rodon step forward to form a crucial part of attacking moves.
Substitutes Joel Piroe and Manor Solomon were both involved in the goal. Though he has faced criticism for his subs in the past, manager Farke has said that “fortune favours the brave” when it comes to calling on his benched players to make an impact.
When Byram received the ball from Ampadu, a quick adjustment of his feet allowed him to play inside to Solomon. The winger’s deft roll to turn inside and ensure he was facing goal as Aaronson began his run into the penalty area was a key trigger in turning the move into a precise attacking moment.
Timing is key here and Aaronson’s movement was proof of his development in the No 10 role.
As Aaronson made his run, Solomon’s square pass to Piroe drew three Derby players out of shape to allow the Dutchman to poke the ball through for the assist.
There was still work to be done when Aaronson picked up the ball on the edge of the six-yard box, but his calm finish past Jacob Widell Zetterstrom capped off a “perfect team move” in the eyes of his manager.
In the second half, my feeling was we missed too many chances to win such an away game,” Farke said after the game.
“Even before the goal we had situations with Mateo, Largie, Brenden, Joe Rodon with a free header. But then we scored, for me, the goal of the season, unbelievable. I put it straight away into my poetry album and on such a difficult pitch. A perfect team move, Brenden with a perfect calm finish.”
Patience, quick thinking and a clinical finish made Aaronson’s goal perfect as an isolated move and as a way of wrapping up 2024. Leeds end the year top of the Championship on a high of back-to-back away wins. Poetry indeed.
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