Gelhardt’s start is coming
Joe Gelhardt has been stuck on two Leeds United starts for what feels like an eternity. No matter how much he has impressed from the bench, week after week, there always seems to be something getting between him and the starting line-up.
Marcelo Bielsa was never one for banging the Gelhardt drum too loudly. The Argentine was always happy to acknowledge the teenager’s quality, but stopped short of amplifying his role or importance with words, for fear of building that pressure on young shoulders.
If the starts under Bielsa were through necessity and injuries to others, Jesse Marsch, for all of his effusive praise for how important Gelhardt is to this team, is yet to give him any starts and the bafflement continued at 2pm on Saturday. After the late winner against Norwich City, Gelhardt was in line to start the Wolverhampton Wanderers match, but a back spasm spoiled his week of training ahead of that game.
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Then in this week’s press conference, Marsch again talked up the youngster’s important and growing role within the side, especially with Patrick Bamford on the sidelines once more. And yet there we were, seeing him absent when the team dropped at 2pm.
Once more, the teenager came on and immediately changed the dynamic of the attack. It’s becoming tedious how obvious Gelhardt should start to only be confined to the bench each game, but Marsch offered an explanation post-match.
The tone in the American’s voice made it clear just how frustrating the latest turn of events had been. Marsch was almost laughing with exasperation at the latest problem to come between Gelhardt and a solid week's training he so badly needs. This time it was a false positive Covid test.
That knocked a day-and-a-half out of the youth’s preparations, which proved reason enough to keep him out of the starting XI on Saturday. You would hope, with a full week of training ahead he has a real chance of starting at Watford. The under-23s await on Monday night, Marsch said.
Long-awaited returns
Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper returned to action in Leeds white for the first time in 119 days. While the latter started and the former came on from the bench, the lift they each gave the entire club was tangible inside Elland Road.
Cooper was solid without being spectacular upon his return. There can be little surprise the captain was feeling a little heavy-legged as he edged towards the end of his first 90-minute outing in nearly four months.
While Diego Llorente looked a little unconventional and troublesome in the backline, Cooper was assertive, physical and composed as he brought a towering aerial presence into a game which saw Southampton knock high balls into their frontline all afternoon. You would imagine now, as captain, Cooper settles into the team for the final seven games of the campaign and looks to build some consistency into his game while ensuring the side edge towards safety.
For Phillips, while there may have been disappointment on all sides to see him missing from the starting XI, it was still a special moment as the stadium stood to welcome him back to the fore. With the best part of half an hour in his legs from Saturday, another week of training will give him a mighty chance of returning to the line-up at Vicarage Road next weekend.
The big question for Marsch is who makes way out of Adam Forshaw and Mateusz Klich.
A bland game saved by those late winners
If Leeds had taken anything less than the six points they delivered from their previous two matches, Saturday at Elland Road would have been a wholly more uncomfortable affair. This was a match that was there for the taking and they did not keep the three points in West Yorkshire.
Southampton were not an irresistible force which dominated proceedings and yet they were more than good value for the draw they got. It was those two previous wins which gave Leeds the breathing space, and credit in the bank, they needed for fans to head home at 5pm without any fear of what they had let slip through their fingers.
If Leeds had been three or four points closer to the bottom three and delivered an overall afternoon like Saturday’s, there would have been serious questions about survival come full-time. Leeds had their chances and did not put them away.
They had Saints where they needed them, but let them back into the game in the latter stages of the first half before handing over the keys to the stadium in the opening 15 minutes of the second half. It was a decent United display and nothing like the nadir of Aston Villa last month, but this game lacked the edge and the nerves of the previous two.
It felt like it could have so easily been an extra two points closer to safety, but instead, it holds the door ajar for Watford next weekend.
Watford and bringing a third season into view
If Saturday was meek it at least brought up a seventh point on the board available from the previous nine. That’s no mean feat for a side languishing in the division’s bottom five.
It’s a three-match unbeaten streak for just the third time this season and the previous two streaks involved one win and two draws apiece. So this is the best run of results all season.
That is the kind of psychology momentum is built upon and in heading now to the home of one of the division’s worst sides there is a big opportunity to break away once and for all from that trapdoor. A third consecutive campaign of top-flight football is within touching distance.
Dropping two points to the Saints will embolden Roy Hodgson’s side, who know a win can still hook Leeds in for a few more weeks as Marsch’s team face the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea. If this weekend’s game lacked bite and jeopardy, next weekend is going to be a cauldron in Hertfordshire where only a win will do for the hosts. That could mean more space for Leeds.
