Nobody saw this coming
Nothing in the previous eight matches, apart from the Arsenal loss, had suggested Leeds United would beat Liverpool at Anfield. A Liverpool side which had not lost in front of a home crowd in the Premier League for 2,016 days.
This is not the same Jurgen Klopp outfit which fought on four fronts for honours last season, but this isn’t the Marcelo Bielsa outfit which romped to ninth in the top flight 18 months ago either. Each club has had its troubles this season and the teamsheet made it clear who was the overwhelming favourite on paper.
Jesse Marsch and Klopp can talk all they want about the unfair returns Leeds have seen in recent weeks, but nobody walked away from last weekend’s Fulham loss with optimism about the coming trip to Anfield. At last, a shred of luck for the Whites and the fourth-minute foothold which set the tone for the night.
READ MORE: Jesse Marsch's first words on Leeds United's priceless Liverpool win and silencing the haters
Once the Crystal Palace, Leicester City and Fulham matches had passed, it was hard to see how Leeds were going to end this eight-match winless run on Merseyside. If a loss to Liverpool wasn’t going to change a huge amount, it was understandable to cast an eye ahead to Bournemouth as the last chance for a win before the World Cup.
And yet here we are, with what feels like a bonus win nobody could have anticipated and a vital moment of relief from the interminable pressure on Elland Road shoulders. It’s another chapter in this strange book Marsch is writing.
By far the three best performances of his tenure have come against so-called big-six outfits. Chelsea were destroyed on a day Marsch was seen to step out of Bielsa’s shadow, Arsenal were entirely outplayed in a baffling loss and then last night, the red giants were held at bay and punished late on.
It’s hard to ignore the trend of Leeds impressing when their opponents do come out with an ambition to open up and attack. While it feels just as ominous as the Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool games did, perhaps the trip to Tottenham Hotspur will prove to be the ideal farewell gift from the top flight before the World Cup pause.
Marsch can take a breath
The only man in the world possibly happier than Marsch in the moments after Crysencio Summerville’s winner, was the winger himself. The head coach has been at the eye of this Leeds storm for the past few months and the pressure on his shoulders has never waned.
This is nothing new for a manager, but Marsch has had to face up to the media before and after every one of these failed attempts to win a match. The American has to explain why it hasn’t been working and, effectively, whether he thinks he’s actually up to the job.
The Leicester and Fulham losses have asked more of him from the terraces than before and Anfield had the ability to turn ugly, and quickly, for Marsch. Regardless of what the rest of the world thinks, the head coach has repeatedly made the case for how unfortunate his side have been not to convert pressure into cold, hard goals.
At last, they delivered the result Marsch has long felt the team deserved and this batch of three points will do wonders for everyone in the club, not just him. It’s breathing space and an opportunity for the club to take its backs just a few inches away from the wall they were up against.
It takes the strain off a boardroom which had been called upon to sack a head coach it still rated, the strain off a head coach desperate for some proof his ideas could work and the strain off a group of players evidently fighting for their boss. It buys them all time, which is hard to find in football, but we all know which way the narrative goes if this is a one-off flash in the pan.
Summerville arrives
At his best, Summerville has been just as awe-inspiring as the likes of Joe Gelhardt and Sam Greenwood with the under-21s. All three of them, on their day, have won Premier League 2 matches on their own with individual quality.
And yet the diminutive Dutch winger was seemingly finding it harder to have the same impact as his peers in the first team. Gelhardt’s ascendancy has been impossible to ignore, while Greenwood is yet to score, but found praise in his creativity and bite from midfield.
While Gelhardt racked up 746 top-flight minutes last season, Greenwood saw 237 and Summerville was restricted to 130, mainly by injury after Marsch’s arrival. The winger was given Raphinha’s number 10 shirt in the summer and Daniel James was allowed to leave on loan: clear shows of faith from Marsch in the Dutchman.
The American, and Bielsa for that matter, has not been shy in admitting Summerville’s biggest problems come off the field in his lifestyle, professionalism and discipline. At last, all of that fog seemed to burn away as the birthday boy (21-years-old today) finally had his moment in the sunshine.
There was the full debut, with two good chances spurned, at Leicester, then the irrelevant consolation goal last weekend before a winner which will stand the test of time as one of the most important in his career. Summerville improved as the match wore on, even before the goal.
The confidence grew and so too did his effectiveness, to the point he’s putting Jack Harrison’s starting berth under threat if Luis Sinisterra is fit to return next weekend.
Individual performances come to the fore
No goalkeeper has made more saves in a Premier League match this season than Illan Meslier’s nine at Liverpool. Furthermore, that’s the most saves Meslier’s ever made in a game for Leeds.
It was a performance which summed up the manner of the evening for United. It was their night. Joe Gomez’s error for Rodrigo’s opener had set the tone and this was just meant to be for the Whites.
Meslier has come in for criticism at points, but everyone can see the general curve his career is following and how that’s going to benefit Leeds. This was one of those evenings you marvelled at the level he’ll reach at his peak in 10 years’ time.
He was not the only player to stand out for all of the right reasons. Tyler Adams immediately reminded everyone why he was badly missed last weekend.
The USA international goes from strength to strength for Leeds and remains the top candidate for the Player of the Year gong. Adams’s work rate, positioning, anticipation, tackling and determination were phenomenal.
He is a natural-born disruptor and wrecker of opposition plans. He is the fly in the ointment for any opposition manager. His beeline for Marsch at the final whistle spoke volumes for how far back they go and what the head coach means to him.
The pleasant surprise on the night came from Wilfried Gnonto. The clamour for the Italy international to make his debut long before last night has grown exponentially. The longer this winless run continued the more baffled fans were this 18-year-old prodigy was not getting a go.
Marsch has seen more than anyone in training of this teenager and what he’s capable of. They had to pick the right moment to unleash the stocky forward and based on last night's evidence, it was worth the wait.
Gnonto showed none of the nerves, errors or misjudgement you might expect from an 18-year-old debutant. He was calm in possession, made sound passing choices and executed them.
The pièce de résistance was, of course, the removal of three Liverpool defenders from the game with his low cross into the penalty box for Bamford to then set Summerville for the winner. Do not expect the clamour for Gnonto to go anywhere now.
Carrying the momentum into Bournemouth
Just like the Chelsea win and the encouraging loss to Arsenal, the trend of this season would now suggest Leeds regress from this marvellous win and make hard work of newly-promoted Bournemouth at Elland Road. Marsch would make a point to remain balanced during last night’s press conference because he knows this win means little without another maximum from the Cherries.
The aforementioned pressure lift will carry into Elland Road. Optimism will be in the air and it’s on the players to deliver the same level of performance against what is clearly one of the club’s main rivals this season.
You worry a loss or draw simply takes everyone back to the dark and depressed state of post-Fulham, with calls for the head coach and board to go. Marsch and the team have to show Anfield was no freak occurrence.
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