F365 celebration police: Leeds jubilant after point in must-win

Jesse Marsch and the Leeds fans celebrated the point at Selhurst Park as though it was a boost to their survival hopes, but it could easily prove to be two points dropped. The F365 celebration police are here.

Leeds will have gone into the game thinking one more win from their last six may well be enough to keep them in the Premier League. But with the next three games after their trip to Selhurst Park against Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea, there was a conflicting must-win sense in the ether. Not win on Monday night, then lose to the three big guns and Marsch’s side could be in psychological turmoil come their final two outings against Brighton and Brentford.

It was a game of two sides giving the ball away, both with forwards unable to punish those errors. Jean-Philippe Mateta – a handful and a willing runner always – doesn’t inspire great confidence in front of goal and spurned a couple of decent chances. And Leeds created little, clearly missing the penetrative runs and smart movement of Patrick Bamford, as they have done all season.

You’ve got to wonder how different things would be had they had the striker fit for even half of their Premier League fixtures. They probably wouldn’t be in a relegation battle, Marcelo Bielsa may very well still be on the touchline and, at the very least, Daniel James wouldn’t be playing up front.

The £26m summer signing has scored four goals this season, two (both in the 3-3 draw with Aston Villa) from 13 games as a centre-forward. He wasn’t bought to play there and shouldn’t be playing there, because he can’t. Mateta, limited though he is, can lead the line and bring other players into the game. Unless a ball is weighted perfectly behind an opposition defence for James to run