Skubala caught in the crossfire
Sympathy was hard to resist as Michael Skubala came in to face the firing squad at yesterday’s post-match press conference. After all, the under-21 head coach is effectively caught in the crossfire at Leeds United right now.
Very little blame can be placed at the caretaker boss’s feet. Skubala signed up to be the under-21 coach tasked with developing the club's next generation of talent and yet he’s been asked to shoulder this responsibility.
Yes, the former futsal supremo agreed to step up to the plate when asked by his paymasters, and yes, his job through all of last week was to put together a cogent match plan for Saturday’s game, but you can’t help but feel he’s picking up the pieces of someone else’s mess.
READ MORE: Leeds United top brass targeted by angry support, Skubala blocks Gnonto fracas in moments missed
The Everton defeat was the latest in a long series of poor results this season. While there was anger and frustration with what played out yesterday specifically, the general mood is governed by what has gone on since the start of last season.
None of the big picture is anything to do with Skubala. We know the club made the decision to give him more time at the helm last week, but yesterday could not have been further from the Manchester United double-header.
The loss at Goodison Park was everything the fans did not want to see. It was meek, slow, disjointed, ineffective and generally lacking in any creative guile on the field.
There was none of the inspiration or reasons for optimism we saw in last week’s matches. Nobody stood tall to take the game by the scruff of the neck, nobody even forced a save from Jordan Pickford.
However leftfield the extension of Skubala’s temporary appointment felt last week, his first two games at least gave you some substance to hang onto. There were reasons to see how it could work out under the caretaker who, by all accounts, has impressed behind the scenes.
Yesterday only set alarm bells ringing. It would be wrong to dismiss Skubala’s capabilities on the basis of one performance, but it only heightens that edgy feeling down your spine about the size of this risk.
Skubala’s coaching experience is not in doubt, nor are his credentials to do the under-21 job he was hired to do, but he has zero experience of Premier League management, let alone a proven track record in relegation dogfights.
Assuming Skubala is going to get this right, at the first time of asking, at the top of the domestic game, with no margin for error, is a massive leap of faith. Yesterday, and the connotations of what it means for next weekend, seemed to be the short, sharp, shock of reality biting while there are still 15 matches to get this right.
Top brass under the spotlight
Not for the first time this season, United’s fans were calling for the club’s six-man board to be sacked on Saturday afternoon. The last time was, ironically, in hindsight, the day Jesse Marsch should have probably been sacked after the home Fulham defeat.
Victor Orta memorably fired the chant back at some fans in front of him on the day Leeds fought back to beat Bournemouth 4-3 two weeks later. The director of football would later apologise, but United haven’t won a league game since that unfortunate moment.
With Marsch now out of the way and Skubala entirely blameless for the current situation, frustrated supporters need somewhere to vent their anger. Inevitably, the heat rises to where decisions are made and strategies are formulated.
The plans put in place by those at the top of the club since the start of last season have not generated the lasting results anyone wants. And now the away-day die-hards, the hard core and lifeblood of the United faithful want those in power to be held to account.
The penny dropped yesterday, just as it did at Goodison Park 12 months and six days earlier: Leeds are bang in trouble. Wins for Southampton and Bournemouth, already considered dead and buried by some, only compounded what was unfolding on Merseyside.
The Whites were plunged into the drop zone for the first time this season and not just 18th, but 19th with the prospect of being dead last at 5pm next Saturday if the worst were to happen when managerless Southampton visit. Since the high water mark of May 2021, Leeds have looked like a restless team struggling to work out how to kick on and consolidate.
Since the start of last season, the longest unbeaten run the club has been on is five matches, the longest winning run is two matches and the longest winless run is 10 games. The 10th of which was yesterday.
Leeds fans have not had to wait this long for a league victory in 75 years. The ill-fated 1946/47 campaign, the first after World War II, saw a run of 17 league matches without a win before relegation at the foot of the top flight.
United have won two of their last 20 matches, which is an average of less than four victories across an entire 38-game season. These are the reasons why the supporters turned on the club’s top brass yesterday.
Add Wober to the list
Max Wober was added to the club’s growing injury list yesterday. Skubala confirmed the defender had popped his shoulder when he landed awkwardly early in the first half.
While it’s a good sign the Austrian was able to play on until half-time, there is no guarantee he will recover in time for Saturday’s Southampton match. For example, when Rodrigo dislocated his shoulder in the home Everton game, he avoided surgery, but still needed three to four weeks on the sidelines.
On that occasion, Rodrigo was unable to play on at all, however. So, perhaps Wober’s dislocation is not as severe as the Spaniard’s was.
Either way, this is an absence the club could do without. Wober has proved to be one of the better performers in recent weeks at the heart of the Whites defence.
Liam Cooper was fit enough to return to the bench, but Skubala said the captain was not ready for long minutes at Everton, so question marks persist around him. Meanwhile, Pascal Struijk is now back in the concussion protocol after suffering from some fogginess in training on Friday.
Adam Forshaw, Marc Roca, Stuart Dallas, Rodrigo, Struijk and Luis Sinisterra were all unavailable to Skubala yesterday. They need as many of their senior faces available as quickly as possible.
How to make use of a record-fee signing?
Georginio Rutter is averaging around 25 minutes per outing across his four Premier League appearances so far. In none of those matches has the forward looked a consistent or game-changing threat in the way, for example, Wilfried Gnonto did when he burst onto the scene.
Leeds have 15 matches to salvage their season and you have to think the forward sat on their bench, who they will ultimately pay more than £30m for, has to play a part in this escape act. There has been patience in allowing Rutter time to bed in and work on his match sharpness, but he’s been at Thorp Arch for more than a month now.
Immense potential was clearly seen in Rutter based on the scouting reports Orta’s team collected. What was the long-term plan for the Frenchman? Which position was he expected to fill?
As it stands, United are careering towards relegation and unless Rutter can play a big role in the next 15 matches, there is every chance he’s reviewing his summer options. It would be fair to imagine the Championship was not what Rutter had in mind when he signed from Hoffenheim last month.
As was the case with Rodrigo when he arrived for a club-record fee, this Rutter deal really does have to work for Leeds. If he’s not here to pull the club out of the bottom three with his attacking exploits, when is this move expected to pay off?
The calm before the storm?
Some would say the storm began clouding over months ago, but yesterday’s loss has framed next weekend at Elland Road in almost biblical terms. Managerless, bottom-of-the-table Southampton, with just three wins from their last 18 league outings, are in town.
There would have probably been too much narrative for our brains to contain had it been Marsch in the away dugout too, but it’s a belter of an occasion even without the American involved. In short, if Leeds are not ending their wait for a league win at home to the Saints, when are they?
A loss would send the Whites to the foot of the table with 14 games left to play and Chelsea, Brighton & Hove Albion and Arsenal on the horizon. It’s an afternoon which has the ingredients to make Elland Road a very volatile place.
Just as it did in the Fulham home game a few days after the Leicester City away loss, the home crowd tends to follow the away-dayers’ lead. Unless there is a material improvement, and three points, the supporters are sure to make their voices heard on home turf with more than 30,000 in their number.
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