Alex Neil makes ‘best team’ claim after Millwall’s defeat to Leeds United, the league table is ‘no surprise’

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Leeds United reclaimed top spot in the Championship after defeating Millwall on Wednesday night, and the result prompted a very honest response from Alex Neil.

After dropping points against West Brom and losing to Portsmouth over the weekend, Leeds United were desperate to get back to winning ways.

The game against Millwall became especially important given Sheffield United were held to a draw against Bristol City on Tuesday night, giving Leeds the chance to earn a two-point cushion at the top.

However, Millwall had already beaten the Whites twice this season, and Daniel Farke feared Leeds were at a disadvantage going into the game.

That wasn’t the case on the pitch, though, and Leeds secured all three points in a 2-0 win, with Ao Tanaka the star of the show once more.

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Alex Neil says Leeds United have everything they need

Speaking to the press (via the Yorkshire Evening Post) after the latest round of games in the Championship, Alex Neil admitted his opponents deserve praise and claimed Leeds to be the ‘best team’ he’s come up against this year.

He said: “You have to give Leeds credit, they’re a good side. I thought we worked hard, showed little moments of quality keeping the ball, more so in the first than the second.

“I said to the lads afterwards, these have been excellent at home. They’ve lost one game in 18 and they’re rightly at the top of the division, the best team I’ve seen.”

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LeedsLeeds	37	23	10	4	74	23	51	79
2	Sheff UtdSheffield Utd	37	24	7	6	52	28	24	77
3	BurnleyBurnley	37	20	15	2	50	11	39	75
4	SunderlandSunderland	37	19	12	6	55	34	21	69
5	West BromWest Brom	37	13	17	7	47	33	14	56
6	CoventryCoventry	37	16	8	13	52	48	4	56

Looking deeper into the squad assembled by his opposing number Daniel Farke, Neil suggested it’s not difficult to see why Leeds are gunning for promotion given the quality they have across the pitch.

He added: “I think whenever you’re a team that wants to get promoted, what you need to do is look at the three facets of your team: the forward line, your midfield line, your back line. What Leeds have got is top six players in the back line, top six players in the midfield, top six players on the front line.

“When you’ve got that you’re not far away. And obviously they’ve got a manager who knows the course, has been promoted, knows what it looks like. So when you put all that together, it’s no surprise they are where they are.”

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Where does this Leeds team rank compared to Championship’s best ever?

Plenty of people have already crowned Leeds as the best team in the Championship. West Brom ace Jed Wallace admitted as much just last week.

And, even in spite of that disappointing defeat to Portsmouth, there’s definitely merit to the argument. Leeds will probably get promoted this season, and they have a great chance of winning the title, too.

But, where do they rank in terms of the best teams the Championship has seen over the years? Well, in that respect, they are very likely to fall short, actually.

With 79 points from 37 games, Leeds have an average of 2.13 points-per-game at the moment. Looking at the nine games remaining, we can expect the Whites to pick up a further 19.17 points to come based on that average.

That would give them just over 98 points by the end of the season. An impressive return, for sure, but compared to the highest points tallies in Championship history, that would only just get them into the top ten.

Funnily enough, it would put them level with Portsmouth — the team that hindered their pursuit of the title just last week — whose 2002/03 side racked up 98 points under the stewardship of Harry Redknapp.

Finishing with 98 points would, in theory, deliver the title for Leeds, get them back to the Premier League, and put them among the record books. But, it just goes to show how impressive the likes of Reading in 2005/06 (106 points) and Sunderland in 1998/99 (105 points) truly were.