If the night is always darkest before dawn, it was hard for Leeds United to see their hand in front of their face when they came away from Brighton & Hove Albion last season. The team put in one of their most insipid performances of the campaign that day — a first real sign the wheels may be coming off for Daniel Farke.A 3-0 demolition by Fabian Hurzeler’s side was followed, just over a week later, by a 3-1 drubbing at Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest. This was early November, three weeks before the famous formation change (to a 5-3-2) at Manchester City in their next away fixture which saved Leeds’ season.Questions were mounting for the manager, and nobody was enjoying his answers. Across a run of six defeats in seven matches, which left his tenure hanging by a thread, the Forest and Brighton losses were the worst.In a strange quirk of the 2026-27 fixture list, Leeds have been sent to the scenes of those crimes in quick succession once again. The experiences have been far more rewarding and encouraging for them this time around.On the opening weekend, at the City Ground, they were set for a good 0-0 draw before Anton Stach stole the points with a show-stopping free-kick winner. Then, on Saturday in Brighton, they took the lead and should have extended that advantage before the hosts pegged them back for a 1-1 draw.These are two games they would have lost this time last year. Now, as in so many games since that switch to three centre-backs, it feels different. This felt like another ghost being laid to rest, though it could have been buried far deeper with the opportunities they failed to convert.Even in the immediate efforts prior to Jayden Bogle’s tap-in on 15 minutes, Leeds should have scored through Dominic Calvert-Lewin and then Ao Tanaka. Their No 9 had other openings he should have done better with in the first half, and Tanaka hit the crossbar.