How on earth did Leeds United win that match?
Anyone who tells you they saw that result coming during Molineux’s half-time DJ slot would have been lying through their teeth. Wolverhampton Wanderers were in control, dominating every facet of the game and Leeds United were enquiring about hospital wings in the surrounding area.
The mood was so low at the break it was as if the fleeting joy of Norwich City had never happened. Relegation felt like a certainty in the irrational haze of a knee-jerking mind during a Premier League football match.
Wolves were cutting Leeds to ribbons. The press was failing. Joao Moutinho, Ruben Neves and Daniel Podence had the freedom of Molineux as they floated around the acreage vacated by Adam Forshaw and Mateusz Klich.
READ MORE: Cooper and Phillips's classy Bamford touch, Marsch storms off and Leeds United moments missed
Patrick Bamford’s tears had told the story of a season as he limped off with yet another injury flare-up in a campaign littered with them. Only Leeds fans would have been left unsurprised to then see Spain international Diego Llorente, and Poland international Klich, go off in the same half with injuries too.
It’s just the way this season has been. A late second goal felt like the killer blow. Jesse Marsch was away and down the tunnel before the half-time whistle was even blown. Leeds limped off with three substitutions used, two goals down and a gaping international break of fear and loathing on the horizon.
Illan Meslier, the one man unaffected by injury this season, could not even avoid the onslaught. If supporters were not checking out of the match at the break they were virtually conceding defeat as they saw their number one limping away to be replaced by a 21-year-old debutant, who had failed to convince in Premier League 2, never mind the real thing.
And yet, with Meslier’s exit came Raul Jimenez’s. Two perfectly punishable yellows rightly seeing a dangerous player removed from the field of play before he dared to lunge in on someone else. The hosts imploded.
Leeds had to ask questions and at least put Wolves in a position to flap and fail, but they were far from their vintage best. They won the match with sheer force. They willed the ball into the box and took the breaks when they came their way.
Bruno Lage’s side have never conceded more than two goals in a match under him. The last time they did was Burnley’s visit in April last year when Sean Dyche’s side registered a freak 4-0 win at Molineux during the latter days of Nuno Espirito Santo’s reign.
They simply did not know how to cope with a comfortable lead like they had, with 10 men and an imploding set of errors all around them. And as one highly respected voice in the press box pointed out, at 2-2 there was only outcome by full-time.
Leeds may not be playing at their highest or most consistent level, but winning points when you are playing badly is the name of the game.
A horrible 24 hours for Watford and Burnley
Everton’s late, unexpected win over Newcastle United on Thursday night sent shockwaves through the bottom five. Nobody foresaw the Toffees winning that from the moment they went down to 10 men.
It was a blow, but Leeds at least got their response in quickly and emphatically, reopening a four-point gap to Frank Lampard’s side, who do have three games in hand on the Whites now. However, it is Burnley and Watford who must be licking their wounds across the next three weeks.
They have a long wait to even try and stick some points on the board. The Hornets, with one game in hand on Leeds, now sit seven points back, while the Clarets, with three in hand, are eight points back.
When you are surrounded by poor teams it is amazing how much a couple of wins can do for your prospects. Marsch’s side are now closer to Southampton in 10th than Watford in 18th. The last 10 years of the top flight would suggest two wins will guarantee United’s safety for one more season.
The Saints, who have lost three on the bounce, next head to Elland Road in a fortnight for what could quite conceivably be the first of those maximums, while Watford await one week later in a game which could virtually relegate them if they lose. There is no hiding from the freak nature of Friday night. Leeds were dire in the first half and heading for the second tier with performances like that, but the momentum, however it’s come, is undoubtedly with them now.
Injuries at the right time?
While the points were salvaged from a car crash of an opening 45 minutes, there was no getting away from the physical damage inflicted by the trip to the West Midlands. Meslier, Llorente, Klich and Bamford were all causes for concern at full-time, not to mention the reluctance to play any of Joe Gelhardt, Kalvin Phillips or Liam Cooper when Marsch had clear opportunities to do so.
Marsch, as proactive as he was on Thursday, delivered an immediate injury update at the head of his press conference. "Patrick Bamford, we believe is not too bad,” he said.
“With his plantar fasciitis, it's just been sensitive over the last couple of weeks as he's trying to get himself back, obviously was very disappointed and then the reaction can look like it's a bad injury but I don't think it is, he was just really disappointed to have to come off the pitch.
"Diego Llorente had a little bit of a back spasm, which has been bothering him a little bit here and there so probably means he'll stay here for the national team break and we'll treat him and get him back to full health. Mateusz Klich had a concussion, but he seems to be okay.
“And then the last one was Illan, he picked up a little bit of like a hip contusion and we'll see what that looks like in the next coming days, but I don't think it's too bad." Phillips was never going to be used, Cooper was good for no more than 10 minutes and Gelhardt was not ready to play when Bamford had to come off.
Crucially, while that was all promising news, there is now a fortnight for them to reset and replenish. Llorente and Raphinha seem unlikely to go away with their national teams now too, so Marsch gets a vital period with his team at close quarters.
Phillips’s dugout role clear
Marsch was almost smiling as he knowingly told the media Phillips was never going to play on Friday night. Well, why tell everyone 36 hours earlier he was in contention?
It perhaps dangled a carrot, unfairly, for supporters to see their homegrown star back in action after more than three months on the sidelines. You could see why Marsch wanted him in the dugout and on the squad list, though.
The head coach has spoken about giving Phillips a more prominent role as a leader in the squad, within the famed leadership council too. He was at the heart of everything happening off the field on Friday night.
Whether it was shielding a tearful Bamford from the television cameras, coming to the touchline during a stoppage to advise Luke Ayling on problems he was spotting or remonstrating with fourth official Michael Salisbury after Jimenez’s collision with Meslier, Phillips headed and kicked every ball.
It was no surprise his evening ended with a yellow card for running the width of the pitch to celebrate the winning goal with his teammates and the supporters. With two weeks now at the training ground to apply the finishing touches to his recovery, he will be hopeful of minutes from the bench against Southampton, if not from the start.
Klaesson stands up to be counted
It’s hard to even call them whispers or murmurs because the under-23 side is so widely exposed across LUTV and live blogs, it’s very easy for anyone to assess the next generation with their own eyes. Kristoffer Klaesson has not been consistently good between the sticks, it is fair to say.
Confidence in the 21-year-old was fragile enough to at least reportedly contemplate acquiring an experienced goalkeeper in the January transfer window. The prospect of losing Meslier for any period of time in this campaign was a big worry.
It summed up the general flow of Friday’s match that Meslier too would finally be struck by the injury curse of 2021/22. Stuart Dallas could not hide his dissatisfaction when Meslier intimated he would be coming off.
Klaesson did far better than expected. Wolves, it’s true, did not create the same level of danger they found with 11 men, but as the half wore on they did begin to make chances and the Norwegian stood tall on a night they badly needed him to.
There was a cross which required the youngster to be strong, confident and assertive as he led with his fist and got there before any of the aerial threats in old gold, flattening Willy Boly in the process.
Late on, the clinching save secured three points as the hosts fired for the roof of the net and a strong palm was needed to see the ball safely over the bar at the death. Thankfully, Meslier should now have two weeks to recuperate and retain his starting berth, but this was an encouraging first step for a goalkeeper Victor Orta has long admired.
