Leeds 3 City 0

Keegan opted for a more defence minded team than last season with Anelka playing on his own up front, Horlock and Foe as holding midfielders with Berkovic and Bernabia pushing up to support Anelka from midfield. In defence, Sun Jihai was preferred ahead of Richard Dunne with the rest of the team as expected.

City started brightly and dominated the game early on, Leeds finding it hard to come to terms with City’s crowded midfield and their crisp passing game. Despite the early domination it was Leeds who took a 15 minute lead when Barmby reacted quickest to a deflected ball, Getting in just ahead of Nash to score on his Leeds debut.

City continued to push in true Keegan style with Leeds content to sit on their lead and hit City on the counter attack. The blues looked impressive going forward and created a number of chances, most notably a stunning left foot drive from Sun Jihai that cannoned back off the post. Anelka had a chance to open his account when Robinson failed to deal with a chest high back pass but he wanted too much time, allowing Matteo to get a foot in to deny him.

Just as it looked like City would go in at the break just one down, Viduka broke City’s woeful off-side trap and comfortably slotted the ball beyond Nash to give Leeds a two goal cushion and a huge psychological advantage as the whistle went for half time.

City continued to push after the break but Leeds seemed to have the measure of their tactics. Berkovic hit the bar and both teams had good shouts for penalties turned down. Howey, at half time, Berkovic and Sun Jihai all suffered knocks and had to be substituted. Keane came on for Leeds and sealed the game with a chip over Nash to give the score a somewhat strange look to it when compared to the balance of play. Leeds had further chances but in the end took the points with a 3-0 win.

City must take on board the lessons of this opening day encounter, the most important being to take their chances. Leeds just about deserved their win but the real difference between the two sides was chances taken. City need to work on the off-side trap if they continue to play it at this level. The result was disappointing given the hype that has surrounded City since promotion but the performance against one of the big six was promising, it was certainly an improvement on their last Premiership opening day.

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