Yahoo Sports Fight or flight - is this Leeds squad too nice?
When the sore bodies departed the Deepdale turf on Saturday afternoon after just scraping a draw, Leeds United knew they had been in a game.
Bullied for most of a match they dominated despite trailing, Daniel Farke's side displayed all their frustrating frailties, but also the courage to claw back an equaliser at the death.
But it was a difficult watch for Leeds fans, because we have seen this script before. A goal down from the first shot on target conceded, with Illan Meslier beaten at his near post, Brenden Aaronson and Patrick Bamford missing easy chances and Farke throwing on every attacking player within the local postcode.
"We have a young side and they were criticised when they lost two away games 1-0 and were not able to equalise, but to deal again with this challenge and to do it much better than, for example at Blackburn, this delights me," said the Leeds manager in a post-Preston interview.
Against Blackburn and Millwall, Leeds were outfought in losing 1-0. Even the idea of being outfought is anathema to a club whose legendary captain Billy Bremner had the famous motto of "keep fighting".
Much of Saturday felt like a rerun of the Blackburn and Millwall games. Preston fought for everything, seemed to play the referee at times, employed the 'dark arts', wasted time and constantly frustrated Leeds.
When United were last promoted they had a team full of players who simply would not be bullied by anyone: Mateusz Klich, Gaetano Berardi, Kalvin Phillips, Gjanni Alioski etc. Is this Leeds squad too nice?
Farke was right, Leeds didn't give up, and they got their equaliser in the end. But in a league this tight, this young side must grow up fast, and find their fight.
Find more from Adonis Storr at The Roaring Peacock.
