Pablo Hernandez's tears, benching Kalvin Phillips and can Leeds United recover to have ultimate last laugh? The Final Word

PAIN: Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa goes to comfort a very upset Pablo Hernandez following Monday's 2-0 loss at Brentford.

AFTER seeing Leeds United's automatic promotion hopes dealt a likely fatal blow at Griffin Park, the YEP's Lee Sobot looks at a few key talking points from Easter Monday's crushing 2-0 loss at Brentford.

What went wrong and can Leeds recover?

Leeds approached the Easter weekend knowing that ten points from a last possible 12 would seal an automatic promotion place.

There were even mathematical possibilities of sealing automatic promotion in Monday's clash at Griffin Park should Sheffield United slip up in their two assignments over the weekend.

Instead, the effects of a 2-0 defeat at Griffin Park coupled with a six-point Easter haul for the Premier League-bound Blades has Leeds facing the very likely prospect of their top two hopes being over even before kicking a ball in Sunday's penultimate game of the season at home to an Aston Villa side who Leeds are likely to find the team to beat in the dreaded play-offs.

So what went wrong? Pressure? Nerves?

Nobody ever said taking ten points from a final possible 12 would be easy and it has to be remembered that Good Friday's visitors Wigan Athletic are scrapping for their lives in a bid to beat the drop.

But Brentford are about as mid-table as it gets and, more to the point, Leeds have already shown this season they are capable of beating any side in the division and comprehensively too.

As was the case in Friday's loss to Wigan, the Whites again bossed both possession and the shots count with 18 attempts at Griffin Park compared to Brentford's 12 and 63 per cent of possession.

But yet again, the percentage of United's attempts that actually hit the target was again extremely low with only three attempts testing Bees custodian Luke Daniels.

Brentford also only managed three shots on target but crucially two of them found the back of the net and United's lack of a cutting edge in front of goal has been the story of their season.

Yet even allowing for the healthy number of attempts on goal, Leeds have still massively lacked their usual swagger and fluency in their last two games with mistakes also creeping in at the other end.

So will United be able to regain their stride for what is now almost certainly going to be a bid for promotion through the play-offs and more to the point, will United's players be able to recover from the obvious emotional blow at letting such a glorious opportunity slip through their hands?

Plenty of people have quite rightly stressed the point that almost everyone would have settled for a place in the play-offs at the beginning of the season but that was before Bielsa's hugely improved Whites lit up the Championship with football that suggested automatic promotion could be theirs.

Emotionally, there's a big difference between jumping into the play-offs from seventh or eighth to dropping into them from the top two.

It's not yet mathematically over but it says it all that Sheffield United are 2-9 to beat already-relegated Ipswich Town at Bramall Lane on Saturday and victory in that will leave the Whites goosed considering their inferior goal difference.

If Ipswich can cause a shock then great, though even then Leeds would need to halt the momentum of an Aston Villa side that have now won ten in a row, not to mention needing to do the business at Ipswich and another Blades slip up at Stoke on the final day.

More likely is the fact that Leeds might well need a result at Ipswich on the final day to avoid finishing fourth and facing Villa in the play-offs semis.

Leeds are only five points clear of fourth-placed West Brom who have a better goal difference and finish with a home clash against third-bottom Rotherham United and trip to sixth-placed Derby County - possibly the side most likely to face the Whites in the play-off semis with Middlesbrough and Bristol City the other protagonists in that battle.

Unbelievable to be even contemplating such a thing given United's golden opportunity to finish top two.

There was almost a feeling on Monday that promotion had gone, that Leeds were destined to another season in the Championship, when the rewards for winning the play-offs are the same as finishing in the top two in terms of a place in the Premier League.