Leeds United coach spotted kicking off on touchline despite win vs Birmingham
Leeds’ goalkeeping coach Ed Wootten was spotted laying into Whites players during their FA Cup win over Birmingham on Sunday.
As shared by Beren Cross via X, Wootten was seen leaving the bench numerous times in the first half of the FA Cup fourth round clash against Blues to give Whites players a piece of his mind.
Cross describes Wootten’s words to Leeds players as a rollicking, after Daniel Farke‘s side got off to a very slow start against the Championship outfit.
Leeds went into the half-time break goalless and were probably fortunate to do so, but went on to win the game on penalties after conceding late in a 1-1 draw at St Andrew’s.
- Read more: Steve McManaman raves about ‘brilliant’ Lucas Perri after what he did in Birmingham vs Leeds
Leeds were awful in the first-half vs Birmingham
Had a non-football fan tuned into the first half of Birmingham against Leeds on Sunday, they certainly wouldn’t have picked the Elland Road outfit as being the side from a higher league.
It took a superb save from Lucas Perri to keep the game at 0-0 after 11 minutes, as Blues star Jay Stansfield fired a left-footed half volley towards the Leeds goal that he was able to tip into the crossbar.
Birmingham really harnessed an electric St Andrew’s atmosphere as well as the cold and gloomy conditions to their advantage, taking the game to the Premier League side.
And so Chris Davies’ men would’ve felt disappointed not to enter the interval being a couple of goals ahead, as had they done so, nobody would’ve argued that they hadn’t deserved to be.
Wootten’s bellows of frustration and attempts to fire up the Leeds players didn’t really have an impact, as Farke’s side continued to look laboured, with just three efforts going in on the Brum goal in the first half.
Birmingham, on the other hand, fired eight attempts at Perri with four being on target, and they were able to control the possession too, recording 56 per cent of the ball in the opening 45.
Wootten’s message did eventually sink in
However, Leeds did improve in the second half and found themselves ahead just four minutes after the restart.
Lukas Nmecha smashed home a brilliant goal after being sent through by Noah Okafor just past the halfway line, with question marks over whether the Whites forward was in an offside position or not.
The officials decided to let the goal stand, and despite being dealt a crushing blow with Patrick Roberts’ 89th-minute equaliser to send the tie to extra-time, Leeds rallied again and eventually put the Championship side away on penalties.
Regardless, the way Leeds started the match will be cause for concern for Farke and his coaching staff, as they can’t afford for passive starts to become a trend ahead of the big Premier League run-in.
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