Leeds slipped to their third home league-defeat of the season and if they turn in more performances like they did on Saturday against Fulham then it's going to be a long, hard-winter.

Neil Redfearn pretty much stuck with the same squad that were thrashed at Ipswich, however Rudy Austin was a late withdrawal who apparently pulled-up in the warm-up so in came youngster Chris Dawson. Former Leeds favourite Ross McCormack was named captain on his first return to Elland Road since his £11m summer move.

McCormack predictably got a hostile reception from the fans who once adored him, late on in a dismal first half, he actually ended up in the Kop, his momentum carrying him into the masses who once adored him and clearly were not happy to have him up close and personal. McCormack also had a shout for a penalty waved away, but to be honest he didn't pose that much of a danger upfront but did lead by example by covering pretty much every blade of grass on a grim-day at Elland Road besieged by icy sharp showers.

Both sides looked nervy and incapable of stringing together a sequence of passes. Fulham gad also been thrashed last week at home to Watford but neither side looked capable or determined to rid last weekends misery out of their respective systems. After a lively start by Leeds, the cold seemed to set-in, Fulham finished the half the better side although Leeds had the best chances both coming from Alex Mowatt, a rare header from Byram's cross which struck the cross-bar and Mowatt again caused alarm for the visitors with a sizzling drive going just wide. We seemed to be creating decent balls into the box to trouble their keeper Gabor Kiraly, who was wearing a pair of jog bottoms that looked like they had been bought from Primark, but no one seemed capable of applying the finishing touch to the low-driven balls and the high ones were a waste of time because there was no-one capable of winning anything in the air, that includes Souleymane Doukara who like the rest of the team gave an abject showing.

The second-half was more of the same and I suspected Fulham were happy to stick with the tempo and try and snatch something on the break and their reward came on 60 minutes when Christensen picked out Rodallega who claimed his ninth of the season from close range.

Redfearn did try and instigate changes and thankfully Billy Sharp replaced Doukara, there was much debate after the match over Redfearns decision to take off Adryan, who looked our most likely scorer, he tried the spectacular with an overhead kick which went wide and really should have done much better with Sharp's fine delivery from the left which evaded Kiraly's grasp and all the Brazilian had to do was apply a header to it but he seemed to back off at the last second so the chance went begging.

At the other end, Rodallega should have really wrapped it up for the Londoners when again Christensen picked him out and unmarked and under no real pressure he snapped his shot well wide of Silvestre's goal.

To compound Leeds's misery, captain Stephen Warnock was withdrawn in the dying minutes with a hamstring injury.

The boo's rang out at the final whistle and who can blame the fans for being nervous? We are now just five points off the drop-zone sitting in 19th place with tricky away trips to Forest and Derby either side of what will surely be billed a "six pointer" against Wigan here on Boxing Day.

It seems astonishing that we can go from playing how we did against Derby, then top-of-the-table, to this against an under-achieving Fulham side rock-bottom on confidence and actually make them look a half-decent team. Lack of width, lack of quality are the obvious factors but I think lack of Championship experience tells and Redfearn made this point in his post-match interview.

However, El Presidenti Massimo Cellino apparently muttered something to Adam Pope about the number of players sat in the stand. Redfearn is in the unfortunately position of inheriting the left-overs from the Warnock and McDermott failed eras, the likes of Norris, Morison, Murphy didn't even make the bench today. Then there's the plethora of players signed from the Italian league under Hockaday (although one suspects that Nicola Salerno, Massimo's Sporting Director made these signings). Redders faith in the youngsters is great but he also called for experience and quality.

With Leeds likely to face a transfer-embargo in January, the ongoing issue with Cellino's latest failure to pass the "fit and proper" persons test, the headaches are already here a just under a fortnight before the festive season really begins!

Photo: Action Images

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