Heidi's blog Leeds United v Norwich City 22/1/25
Leeds United v Norwich City 22nd January 2025 at Elland Road
I was very thankful that we’ve had a run of games which have meant there hasn’t been much travelling for me. I know there are plenty of fans who have travelled from afar to the games but as it took me such a long time to get the strength to set off to the game tonight, I was grateful for only having a 20-minute drive to Leeds. Having Leeds in my life at least made me make an effort and as always, once I met up with other fans, chatted or took their photos, my mood and energy levels did improve. It was nice to talk to some fans from Berlin at Billy’s statue as that is where my mum was born.
Team: Meslier, Ampadu, Rodon, James, Byram, Bogle, Rothwell, Aaronson, Piroe, Solomon, Tanaka.
Subs: Gruev for Tanaka (55), Firpo for Byram (55), Ramazani for Solomon (74), Gnonto for James (74), Guilavogui for Rothwell (89).
Subs not used: Darlow, Schmidt, Wöber, Joseph.
Leeds won the game 2-0 with goals from Solomon (1), James (65).
Attendance: 35,157, 954 Norwich fans.
Referee: Matthew Donohue.
Booked: Tanaka, Byram, Rothwell, Piroe.
Leeds got off to an even better start than they did against Sheffield Wednesday when Solomon scored again but within a minute after a great cross from James. I’d only just got into my seat and saw the ball hit the back of the net in front of the South Stand. Sadly, the anticipated continuation of Leeds challenging didn’t happen as the game felt very lethargic without too much movement going forward. I was thankful for the half time whistle even though we’d had a chance just before the break when the keeper saved from Bogle.
The second half started off in the same way and when Tanaka brought their player down and the referee spoke to him, I hadn’t realised he’d been booked early in the first half. I’d seen Byram booked but missed this one. When Farke had our first subs ready to come in was unanimous around me that Tanaka would come off as a tactical sub which proved to be the case. It took for the subs to come on for the game to spring into life and although Leeds had come close to scoring, it didn’t take long to get a second goal on the day. This time Solomon was the provider as he put a cross to the left of the goal for James to score in front of us. Ramazani saw the keeper make a great save from his shot from the edge of the box too. Norwich tried getting into the game in the last 10 minutes when they started to get in plenty of spaces down the wing, but Leeds held firm getting a second home win, three points and another clean sheet this week.
We head to Burnley on Monday who won 5-0 away at Plymouth today, keeping their promotion hopes alive too. It will be a challenging game I’m sure but as long as we turn up and compete, anything can happen. See you there, LUFC – Marching on Together!
I was very thankful that we’ve had a run of games which have meant there hasn’t been much travelling for me. I know there are plenty of fans who have travelled from afar to the games but as it took me such a long time to get the strength to set off to the game tonight, I was grateful for only having a 20-minute drive to Leeds. Having Leeds in my life at least made me make an effort and as always, once I met up with other fans, chatted or took their photos, my mood and energy levels did improve. It was nice to talk to some fans from Berlin at Billy’s statue as that is where my mum was born.
Team: Meslier, Ampadu, Rodon, James, Byram, Bogle, Rothwell, Aaronson, Piroe, Solomon, Tanaka.
Subs: Gruev for Tanaka (55), Firpo for Byram (55), Ramazani for Solomon (74), Gnonto for James (74), Guilavogui for Rothwell (89).
Subs not used: Darlow, Schmidt, Wöber, Joseph.
Leeds won the game 2-0 with goals from Solomon (1), James (65).
Attendance: 35,157, 954 Norwich fans.
Referee: Matthew Donohue.
Booked: Tanaka, Byram, Rothwell, Piroe.
Leeds got off to an even better start than they did against Sheffield Wednesday when Solomon scored again but within a minute after a great cross from James. I’d only just got into my seat and saw the ball hit the back of the net in front of the South Stand. Sadly, the anticipated continuation of Leeds challenging didn’t happen as the game felt very lethargic without too much movement going forward. I was thankful for the half time whistle even though we’d had a chance just before the break when the keeper saved from Bogle.
The second half started off in the same way and when Tanaka brought their player down and the referee spoke to him, I hadn’t realised he’d been booked early in the first half. I’d seen Byram booked but missed this one. When Farke had our first subs ready to come in was unanimous around me that Tanaka would come off as a tactical sub which proved to be the case. It took for the subs to come on for the game to spring into life and although Leeds had come close to scoring, it didn’t take long to get a second goal on the day. This time Solomon was the provider as he put a cross to the left of the goal for James to score in front of us. Ramazani saw the keeper make a great save from his shot from the edge of the box too. Norwich tried getting into the game in the last 10 minutes when they started to get in plenty of spaces down the wing, but Leeds held firm getting a second home win, three points and another clean sheet this week.
We head to Burnley on Monday who won 5-0 away at Plymouth today, keeping their promotion hopes alive too. It will be a challenging game I’m sure but as long as we turn up and compete, anything can happen. See you there, LUFC – Marching on Together!