Leeds 2-3 Fulham: Cottagers fight back to pile pressure on Jesse Marsch
By Mitch Wilks
Fulham came from behind to snatch a 3-2 win away at Leeds United, leaving Jesse Marsch's men without a win in eight Premier League games.
The pressure was on Leeds to find a positive result against Fulham, who at the start of the season would have been considered a direct rival in the league. And while the performance started out positively, the afternoon would only get worse despite pulling ahead early on.
With Leeds without a league win since their 3-0 triumph against Chelsea back in August, Harrison Reed having a shot cleared off the line by Marc Roca wasn't the ideal start. Crucially, a goal from Rodrigo after just 20 minutes settled the nerves in a game where three points felt vital. The Spaniard was alert to follow in the rebound as Bernd Leno initially denied Jack Harrison.
That lead lasted just six minutes, though, with Aleksandar Mitrovic capitalising on poor defending to head in Andreas Pereira's corner at the back post with ease. Suddenly, Leeds were under pressure to please the home crowd and regain the lead, but they struggled to carve out clear cut chances.
Instead, it was the visitors who came mightily close to pulling ahead, with Illan Meslier denying Pereira with a smart save to keep Leeds level heading into half-time.
Brendan Aaronson latched onto a perfectly weighted pass from Luis Sinisterra moments after the break and turned well to find an angle at goal, but curled his shot inches above the crossbar. And it was that chance that summarised a painful period for Jesse Marsch's side, who had their tails up after half-time, but lacked the composure to finish them.
Patrick Bamford was introduced after an hour and needed just five minutes to force a low save from Leno, bursting through from Aaronson's through ball.
The more chances Leeds spurned, the more inevitable a Fulham goal looked against the run of play. It was no surprise, then, when another poorly defended corner allowed Pereira to cross onto the head of Bobby Decordova-Reid at the second attempt, who put Fulham ahead with 15 minutes to go.
Tension inside Elland Road continued to increase as Marco Silva's side kicked into gear. Leeds switched off after going behind and Fulham punished them as a result, with Reed doing brilliantly to pick out Willian inside the box to bag his first goal for the club.
Chants of 'sacked in the morning' echoed around the stadium with Leeds looking down and out. Crysencio Summerville's injury time strike made it 3-2, but it proved no more than consolation as Fulham held on to clinch back-to-back wins and move up to seventh in the table.
Marsch's future as Leeds manager suddenly looks in significant doubt.