Leeds United are proving to be a solid Premier League side but not a clinical one - yet

Are you an optimist or more pessimistic? Is the glass half full or half empty?

The more rosy fans will see just one defeat in eight matches, another clean sheet and an unquestionably positive position of seventh place. The more skeptical may point to two wins in eight, four straight winless games and the failure to score more than one goal in a single 90 minutes in all bar one match this season.

A draw away from home in the Premier League is never a bad result and the blustery Wearside weather was enough for James Trafford to describe the conditions as “tough” - an adjective that perfectly describes the kind of watch the match became.

Not everything can be blamed on the blatant inclement weather, or on the disrupted week of training with Noah Okafor, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Anton Stach all missing sessions. As you will read below, the lack of attacking vigour was lamentable. And Leeds ultimately missed the chance to go fifth.

Internally, the club will point to the 40-point aim. But Sunderland were a team that had travelled to Poland on Thursday and had lost their last four league games. What cannot be denied is that Leeds look like a solid Premier League team. So even amidst the target of 40 points, many will feel this was an opportunity missed.

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Lack of attacking threat

Calvert-Lewin ended the game having failed to muster a single shot at goal. The same applies for Harry Wilson nor Brenden Aaronson. Daniel Farke rowed against the notion that Leeds are struggling to create chances from open play in his post-match press conference.

Five of United’s nine league goals this season have come from open play (only four teams are worse) and their open play xG of 5.00 puts them fourth bottom in the Premier League - only Chelsea, Coventry and Tottenham are worse.

Of course, Sean Longstaff’s chances towards the end of Sunday's clash were in-flow of the game and may well have been their best chances. But the point is, the overall trend suggests Leeds are not creating enough quality opportunities from open play.

This is underlined by the starting front three not taking any shots and also the lack of depth of quality up top. Noah Okafor had more shots (two) than the aforementioned trio combined. Perhaps this is the difference between winning and drawing.

OPINION

Wilson worry

Anton Stach did travel with the squad despite his foot issue, starting on the bench. That opened the door for Wilson to start his first Premier League start since the opening day of the season.

The winger had failed to impress after coming off the bench in the interimweeks and Farke admitted the Welshman needs time to adapt to his new surroundings and tactics. More adaptation time is needed.

While the attacker was eager to get into the action, he gave his first pass straight to a counterpart and was later shouldered off the ball, leading to a chance for Sunderland via Jaka Bijol’s short pass back. Trafford was there to spare both players’ blushes.

Wilson was always keen to get on the ball but attempted just 22 passes - only Brenden Aaronson, who also struggled, and lone striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin had fewer out of all the starters. He failed to muster a shot and only had two touches inside the opposition box.

It’s not quite clicking right now. The caveat has to be that he had not started a Premier League match since the opening day. So there was always going to be rust. But this was his chance to nail down a marker and he failed to do so.

No Bahoya again

With Okafor also benched amid his adductor problem, many eager fans had hoped Jean-Matteo Bahoya would be given the nod. This always seemed unlikely given Farke’s previous comments about using him carefully amid his young age of 21 amidst the Premier League environment. He had only been handed five minutes of action prior to yesterday.

And with Okafor on the bench, Bahoya - who seems to be keeping Daniel James out of the matchday squad - always had a tough task to get too many minutes. But Farke has thrown on his full house of attackers in matches before.

Amidst tough conditions and with the line between a draw and a win thin, Farke decided against using him. Yet only five minutes of action so far is nevertheless notable.

And fans may wonder when the boss will actually feel it is the right time to throw a player with a £21.4m buy-out clause into the action with enough time to make a difference.