Leeds caretaker boss has promised to stick to his patient passing style for tonight’s trip to AFC Bournemouth, even though we took a while to get going on Saturday at Birmingham.

Redfearn told the official site “There is no point us lumping the ball up there because we have got footballers that like to pass it. We need to be brave enough to pass it and in the right areas. We need to be patient and we will need to defend well. We play a type of football that is measured and controlled and is in keeping with sides that are going to be successful”.

Maybe, but have we got the players we need to imitate the style of the top sides and paly in that way? At Birmingham we looked laboured and found it hard to find the passes we needed to get through a crowded midfield or beat the offside trap, and above all we were lacking width. It was only when Austin and Doukarra came on that we adopted a slightly more direct style that we got back into the game.

Maybe the desire to dispense with route one football was behind the decision to dispense with Matt Smith, but Billy Sharp didn’t seem to find the system much to his liking either. Sharp looked frustrated at the lack of service, but he likes to stay forward and have the ball delivered to him, while Doukarra is happier making quick runs from deeper positions. Elsewhere on the field the many foreign imports will of course be more used to the continental passing game.

And Redfearn is warning that he expects a tough game tonight against another footballing side, who convincingly beat us 4-1 in the same fixture last season. “They have blown a lot of teams to pieces, especially at home. They are a good team and they are a good football side. Not only are they a good football side, they also play at a good tempo. It is a little tight pitch but they still manage to get it down and pass the ball out of tight areas.”

At least the manager will have another option for team selection tonight, with Sam Byram returning from the three game ban that resulted from his sending off at Watford. We have no new injuries, but Redfearn said that we have one or two unspecified niggles, knocks and doubts. He suggested that as we are playing three games in eight days he might change the team round a little and that Doukara and Rudy Austin might get a start after both made useful contributions after coming off the bench on Saturday.

The home side have one or two injury doubts of their own, including Yann Kermorgant, who scored two of their goals in that game last season, but is now struggling with a shoulder injury. Brett Pitman is likely to replace him, while his fellow striker Tokelo Rantie is also doubtful. Elliot Ward will definitely miss the game after knee surgery.

And they could do with their star strikers tonight, as they seem to have hit a bit of a bad run after winning their opening two games, with only two points coming from the four they have played since. But their midfield player Harry Arter told the Bournemouth Echo they have played well in at least part of those matches.

“I would like to think we are close to matching some of those performances from the end of last season. In the first half against Nottingham Forest, we probably played as well as we did against Leeds. We played well in patches against Norwich and Rotherham and are close to turning 45 minutes into 90-minute performances. Hopefully, those displays are just around the corner and we can start to maintain our performance levels for longer.”

So maybe Redfearn is right to expect a difficult game despite their recent results. I’m going to stick my neck out and say that Leeds will return from the south coast tonight with our second consecutive draw.

Photo: Action Images

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