The Yorkshire Evening Post’s Lee Sobot reacts to Leeds United’s defeat at home to Southampton, confirming the Whites’ place in the Championship play-offs.
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00:00Well, the Leeds United season has come to a conclusion. Well, the league campaign that
00:08is, of course, and it is the playoffs as expected, but it was a final day defeat to of all teams
00:14Southampton who, as we discussed in the last episode, could be the playoff final opponents
00:20for Leeds should they get there. Now we'll come on to the playoffs themselves in a little
00:25bit, but we'll start with that final day defeat against Southampton. Leeds again, just
00:29never, they never looked as if they were quite at it, did they? Of course, Southampton took
00:33the Leeds, Leeds then quickly equalised in fairness to them, but then once Adam Armstrong
00:38got, you know, once he scored and then forget actually, yeah, that was it, he scored Southampton's
00:45other goal. Yeah, I don't know, Leeds, they never, as I say, they never quite looked as
00:50if they were at it. It's very sort of similar performance type to the way they've looked
00:55in recent weeks. Yeah, not quite at their level that, you know, they can be, and that's
00:59a worry going into the playoffs, isn't it? Most definitely. Yeah, it's just not that
01:04this is just not the Leeds United that we sort of like, you know, got so much acclaim
01:07for the unbeaten run and obviously had everybody sort of, I don't know about expecting automatic
01:11promotion, but certainly hoping that would be the case. And it was, you know, you've
01:15got to say with the run they were on, it was looking like it would be the case the way
01:18they, you know, absolutely sighed through that gap to Leicester and it was in their
01:21own hands. And obviously it wasn't all of a sudden, not just on the one occasion, you
01:26know, various slip-ups during the running. And as you say, you know, going into the final
01:30day of the season, they needed, not well, not quite a miracle. But I mean, the fact
01:35is, is that Ipswich were 1-40 on to go up, you know, I mean, that says it all. And I
01:41mean, you never want to be defeatist, but I, for one, was going to Ellen Road at the
01:44weekend, just like expecting the playoffs, as simple as that, but not like just expecting
01:49them, just like convinced it would be the playoffs. I just, I just never thought at
01:51any point that it would be any different. I didn't think that Ipswich would slip up
01:55and sure enough, they didn't. I'm surprised they didn't win by a few more goals, to be
01:57honest, but it doesn't really matter because all they had to do was win. And in the end,
02:02because of their victory, it wouldn't have mattered if Leeds had got a final day victory
02:05anyway, but obviously they didn't. And yeah, you're right. I mean, I mean, I would say
02:08it was, you know, if you're being generous, a slight improvement to the QPR display. I
02:13mean, but I mean, obviously the bar's very, very low and you're losing 4-0, so that's
02:17not really saying much. You know, when Joel Peru obviously equalized, good finish from
02:22him. I think he needed that. Obviously he's been getting a bit of stick and stuff. People
02:25obviously wanting to see Matteo Joseph in the team. It was good for him to get that
02:28goal, but you know, overall as a performance, like not just him, but throughout the team,
02:33just nowhere near the high levels that they've set themselves. And it's a very, very worrying
02:37end to the season and we'll touch on it in a bit, but I mean, in terms of like, you know,
02:41their form, the form table, I mean, that's four defeats in six, you know, and just four
02:45points. And it's basically, I mean, it sounds like an exaggeration, but it's relegation
02:50form basically. That's the brutal reality of it. And yeah, and obviously, you know,
02:56something's got to change.