Leeds proving they are the great entertainers
... but seven goals conceded in two games is a worry
THE newly named Norman Hunter Stand stood testament to those who did not live to see this precious day and so, too, the banner remembering Trevor Cherry, laid out by Leeds United staff. But there were few more devastating reminders of what the football is currently missing than the ghostly silence of this grand old place.
Leeds fans would have delighted in this victory, accomplished with verve, against a Fulham side clearly imbued with greater spirit by Scott Parker than when they last played in the Premier League, but also appreciated where the room for improvement lies.
Marcelo Bielsa reiterated last night that the team’s attacking instincts will not change but he did not deny that conceding seven goals in two games was a concern.
Yet for all that, it was another breathless, performance which Hunter and Cherry would have considered fitting of Elland Road’s first Premier League match in 16 years — steadfast though those two legends were in defending.
The first 180 minutes of the club’s new top-flight chapter tells us that Mateusz Klich is going to be a very significant part of the narrative. The Polish player brings a feistiness and combative presence, breaking up play, as well as vision.
The game was 50 minutes old when a ball reached him in unpromising midfield turf. He had turned 360 degrees in search of a way to thread it forward when he saw Patrick Bamford up ahead. The pass he released bisected Kenny Tete and Michael Hector and found the forward, whose first touch brought control and second released the shot which put Leeds 3-1 ahead.
In 27 Premier League games for Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough, Bamford scored one goal. He has doubled that tally in two games at this level for Bielsa.
The self-belief was unmistakable as Bamford drove the ball past Denis Odoi, just after scoring and measured a ball into the path of Helder Costa, who crashed in the home side’s fourth.
Costa has also seized this new platform. The Portuguese had time at the back of the six–yard box to select his spot, when K alvin Phillips’ corner was bounced off Joe Bryan’s shoulder in the game’s early minutes. He slammed a half volley in off the underside of the bar to open the scoring.
By the hour mark, Fulham’s defensive failings left you fearing for them and Parker spoke of the need to remain in a state of constant alert at this level. ‘You are in a nice and relaxed mode and all of a sudden… it’s gone,’ he said.
They have avoided the big spending that promotion brought in 2018 and now look short on quality. But their recovery revealed some serious spirit. In Aleksandar Mitrovic, increasingly dangerous as the game wore on and Harrison Reed, their £ 5.5 million signing from Southampton, they also possess two leaders.
Collectively, Leeds were more organised than at Anfield but £11.7m Robin Koch is taking time to adjust. The German slid in rashly to dispossess Bryan in the area just beyond the half hour and tangled with the defender’s legs as he tried extricate himself.
Mitrovic despatched the penalty, the second Koch has conceded in as many weeks. Bielsa’s goalkeeper Illan Meisler might also have done better when the first of two second goals in five minutes just beyond the hour mark brought Fulham back into the game.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid sent a ball under the Frenchman’s body after Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa had spun away from Phillips and sent him through.
Mitrovic delivered the third, leaping above Liam Cooper to power a header from Tete’s pinpoi nt cross. When s ubsti t ut e Neeskens Kebano immediately hit the post, there was a game on.
Bielsa’s mind will perhaps drift to how to bring the best from his new £ 27m forward Rodrigo. He was forced to field the Spaniard from the start, after Pablo Hernandez sustained a groin strain the warmup, but withdrew him at half-time. A ‘tactical change’, Bielsa said.
He f ound others, l i ke Tyler Roberts and Jack Harrison, to drive Leeds forward again after the Fulham fightback. It was a day crying out for a crowd. LEEDS (4-1-4-1): Meslier 6; Ayling 6, Koch 5.5, Cooper 6.5, Dallas 6; Phillips 7; Costa 7.5, Rodrigo 5 (Roberts 46min, 6.5), Klich 8, Harrison 6; Bamford 7 (Alioski 70, 6). Booked: Klich. Subs (not used): Caprile, Poveda, Roberts, Struijk, Shackleton. FULHAM (4-1-4-1): Areola 6; Tete 6, Hector 5.5, Odoi 5, Bryan 5.5; Reed 7 (Lemina 70, 6); Kamara 5.5 (Kebano 58, 6), Onomah 6 (De Cordova-Reid 58, 6), Zambo-Anguissa 6, Cavaleiro 6; Mitrovic 7.5. Booked: Tete, Mitrovic. Subs (not used): Rodak, Cairney, Knockaert, Ream. Referee: K Friend (Leicestershire) 6.