Leeds United 0 Huddersfield Town 1: Garry Monk will work on taking the fear out of United's players

Various head coaches over the past few years have wrestled with the issue of the Whites’ fitful home form, with Garry Monk being the latest to lament the sight of a confidence-sapped group of individuals, as opposed to a team, struggling to piece together a performance of concerted coherence at Elland Road.

The stadium has witnessed just four home wins so far in 2016, with Leeds’s season, not for the first time, in danger of lurching into an early crisis heading into tomorrow’s crunch home game with rock-bottom Blackburn Rovers.

Reflecting on his side’s tame derby defeat to Huddersfield Town, and on players struggling to deal with the pressure to perform on home soil, Monk said: “It is a factor in recent years here. I have heard a lot of people talk about it – it can be a difficult place to play.

“It is really about working with them and trying to take fear out of them, using the crowd to their advantage.

“Confidence comes from results, so we need one on Tuesday for sure. This group does not go out with the intention not to do it.

“It is going against us, but we stick together and I am sure it will turn for us.

“We work in a way which is good enough and we all believe that, 100 per cent. Of course we care.

“We just need to get this Elland Road monkey off our back. That is what we will be gunning for.”

While Monk refused to gloss over Leeds’s failings, he was adamant that Huddersfield should have been reduced to 10 men after match-winner Aaron Mooy’s challenge just before the interval on new United captain Liam Bridcutt.

Monk, who felt that the game was too early to pitch in new signing Eunan O’Kane, whose name surprisingly did not feature in United’s match-day squad, added: “The irony of that goal is that the player who scored it should not have been on the pitch.

“It was a horrendous tackle; two-footed, off the ground and totally out of control.

“By my recollection, the rules are that you should be sent off.

“If you tell me that is not a sending-off, then I do not know what is.

“It is not an excuse, but it is a factor in the game.”

Meanwhile, Monk’s counterpart David Wagner was left to hail another sweet derby victory for table-topping Town, with the fact that they restricted Leeds to next to nothing in terms of chances representing the major plus point for him.

As for the league table, the German is not particularly interested, although he most definitely is taking note of Town’s points tally.

The haul of 16 points is certainly an outstanding one for Town, with it taking until December 5 for the club to reach that figure last season.

Wagner, who celebrated a second successive Elland Road triumph with supporters and his family following the final whistle, said: “The table is irrelevant. What is relevant is that we have 16 points in six games.

“We spent last week getting an idea of how we would play against them (Leeds) and spoke about them not being able to create chances or bring their audience behind them.

“And we spoke about being able to silence their audience and maybe getting them to start to whistle.

“This was our idea for more or less all of the week.

“We controlled the game and it is a big step to say you can do that when you go to Leeds.

“But the most important thing was our defence.

“We learned from last season that it is important to be solid and we have to make sure that we are uncomfortable to play against.

“Defensively, we were very strong and it was one of our best performances over the whole 90 minutes.

“The togetherness, fighting spirit and attitude of the lads was unbelievable and it was a great strike from Aaron to win the game.

“Winning at Leeds is another special moment for us, especially after the international break when we wanted to get back our identity quickly.”