Josh Acheampong could not stop him. Andrey Santos could not stop him. Moises Caicedo could not stop him. And Robert Sanchez could only bring him crashing to earth with a foul.
Jayden Bogle was the driving force behind Leeds United’s improbable comeback at Chelsea.
The 25-year-old was not to be denied. Much in the way Leeds have been irrepressible since they ran out for the second half at Manchester City on November 29, Bogle embodied that will and sheer bloody-mindedness from Daniel Farke’s side for their equaliser at Stamford Bridge.
Bogle’s brute force presented Noah Okafor with the easiest goal of his career. His boundless running is no surprise to Leeds supporters, but that burst from deep to open the scoring against Nottingham Forest on Friday put it under the spotlight. Like Sean Dyche’s team, Chelsea had no answers for it.
As you can see above, Bogle had actually made the same run down the right half-space 20 seconds earlier, but Ilia Gruev did not opt for the longer, aerial pass, as he had done four nights earlier. Bogle stayed patient, though.
The crucial sprint, which ultimately undid Chelsea, was actually a one-two between Bogle and right wing-back James Justin. Bogle gets the move going himself, dropping deep into his own half for the pass into Justin, before hurtling to the edge of the hosts’ box.
Trevoh Chalobah tries to meet Justin’s high pass first, but miscues his intervention. Lukas Nmecha tries to jump for the bouncing ball, but it evades the striker, too. Bogle then benefits from his lung-busting effort, collecting the ball (with an accidental hand) he had given to Justin outside the area before holding off three separate challenges, tying Chelsea in knots.
Only six minutes earlier, it was a Bogle blitz down that right half-space that drew the penalty-winning foul from Caicedo, getting Leeds back into the contest. The former Derby County and Sheffield United player was directly involved in both goals. Even when it seemed all hope might be lost in the capital, he kept asking questions and was rewarded.
It had felt like hope had abandoned the travelling Leeds faithful as the hour mark came and went. Farke’s side had looked totally out of shape in the first half, though they had managed to escape with just a one-goal deficit at the interval.
A draw seemed improbable at that stage, but then virtually impossible, as Jaka Bijol inexplicably recreated the penalty Yerson Mosquera had conceded at Molineux on Saturday with a two-handed push on Joao Pedro’s back. Okafor, Farke’s attempt to turn the tide, had been on the field just three minutes when Cole Palmer seemed to draw a line under the night’s events with his spot kick.
And yet, despite turning in one of the poorer performances of their winter resurgence, Leeds emerged with a point. They have now tasted defeat only twice in 13 league matches, and one of those was the seven-goal thriller against Newcastle United in January, where they led before two late goals from Eddie Howe’s team from the 91st minute onwards.
Leeds celebrate their equaliser at Stamford Bridge (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
It is worth remembering why Bogle was in these advanced positions before each Leeds goal at Stamford Bridge. The No 2 began the night as a No 7 on the right wing and even slipped into a No 10 role as Leeds chased a result in the second half.
Bogle has always been that traditional, reliable, tireless full-back, but Farke is stretching him to fresh limits in the Premier League. In the absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Pascal Struijk and Anton Stach, the manager saw fit to name six defenders and two defensive midfielders in his XI at the home of the Club World Cup champions.
It was a misshapen setup from Farke, which did not work in the first period. The 5-4-1 formation allowed Palmer, one of Europe’s deadliest forwards, far too much space.
Sebastiaan Bornauw and Bijol, who had one start in the previous four matches between them, did not know if they were coming or going with the Chelsea No 10. If they jumped out of the defensive line to follow Palmer, they left acres of space for the hosts to exploit. If they sat off, the England international had space to turn, look up, drive and pick his passes.
Coupled with Joe Rodon’s unusual stationing on the left side of central defence and Nmecha’s inability to make long balls stick, as Calvert-Lewin so helpfully manages, it felt as if Leeds’ problems were self-inflicted. It was remarkable that Farke left things unchanged at the break, and it spoke volumes that Bornauw was hooked within 10 minutes of the restart.
Bogle was the outlier.
Daniel Farke said he turned to Bogle as a right-winger given his side’s key absentees (Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
“Thank God we saw, today, he can play on the right wing because it was the first time he also had to play in the pocket,” Farke said in his post-match press conference. “I wanted also to inspire my team today with this decision, also perhaps to surprise Chelsea a little bit.
“If we wouldn’t have conceded these cheap goals, we would have seen perhaps even a bit more out of it, but he was still involved in both (of our) goals. If the game would have kept a bit longer at 0-0, we could have seen a bit more of his capability in going forward and making things happen.
“My players have shown, so many times, tactical flexibility, and they are ready to fulfil different roles. Today, without so many key players — Dominic, Pascal, Anton — it was a time to use this and thank God it was not just a theoretical plan that would work.
“They brought us into reality and, for that, all the credit goes to my players.”
It has been a barnstorming few days for Bogle. He has produced a striker’s finish while showing the energy of a wing-back, the tackling of a centre-back, the movement of a winger, the positioning of a playmaker, and the strength of a target man.
He was signed as a Championship full-back to win promotion from the Championship, but he is one of many players reaching new heights this season. With Bogle and Leeds playing as they are, you cannot see him outside the Premier League next term either.