LEEDS BRAIN FREEZE LEAVES BIELSA BOILING OVER IN ANGER
CARDIFF 2 Hoilett 35, Glatzel 71 LEEDS 0
ONE day, sports scientists will study with fascination the impact — both mentally and physically — of this unexpected three-month mid-season pause on footballers and their teams.
One case study could be to explain the brain freezes suffered by Kalvin Phillips and Liam Cooper in making the wrong choice of pass to gift Cardiff City their two goals here.
A symptom of lost match sharpness, perhaps, the brain not back up to full speed.
What is certain is that Leeds United had the momentum of a runaway express train before the season came to a standstill. But now it has vanished. Those five consecutive wins back in February and March that pointed towards a promotion procession seem a long time ago now.
Marcelo Bielsa’s team should be fine — their gap to third-placed Fulham remains seven points. But Leeds’ form this season has been capricious and, if Fulham win at Elland Road on Saturday, things could get interesting.
Cardiff barely saw any possession and created just a handful of chances but, unlike Leeds, they seized them and are now just one goal behind Preston for the final play-off spot before the sides meet at Deepdale on Saturday.
‘We could have won, we should have won,’ lamented Bielsa. ‘We created enough chances to score the necessary goals. They needed our mistakes to score.
‘The mistakes are part of the game. We cannot imagine one player who can’t make a mistake. In this match, the opponent shot twice and scored twice, it’s not normal.’
Not normal, indeed. As Bielsa alluded to, a Leeds goal looked inevitable when they gifted Cardiff their opener late in the first half.
Phillips may be known as the ‘Yorkshire Pirlo’ and be on the radar of England boss Gareth Southgate, but his blind pass inside his own half straight to
Junior Hoilett was daft. Hoilett had an awful lot of work still to do but advanced to the edge of the Leeds box, ignoring options on both sides. His shot was perfect, always rising and beating Illan Meslier at his near post.
Meslier, 20, is Leeds’ man between the sticks in lieu of Kiko Casilla, who is serving an eightmatch ban for racially abusing Charlton’s Jonathan Leko in September.
Jogging over to the home dugout after the goal, Hoilett was handed a Peter Whittingham No7 shirt and lifted it skywards in memory of the Cardiff legend who died aged 35 in March.
Cooper’s error was not as bad but received the same punishment. Leeds were trying to play out of defence as they searched for a second-half leveller and his pass went directly to Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.
He picked out Robert Glatzel with a square pass and the German, on as a substitute, took a controlling touch before hammering a volley in off a post. Cardiff were home and dry, Leeds culpable for what had happened and out of ideas. ‘Of course everything is in our hands and we can’t imagine the opposite,’ said Bielsa of the promotion race. ‘It’s the same situation as what we saw before today. Now we have eight matches and we cannot think everything is set.’ Had Leeds taken some of their many chances, there wouldn’t even be a conversation. Ben White cleared the crossbar with a firsthalf header before Luke Ayling glanced a Phillips corner goalwards, only for Will Vaulks to clear off the line acrobatically. Just before half-time,
Jack Harrison looked certain to score from 10 yards but his colleague Patrick Bamford inadvertently blocked right in front of goal.
Leeds toiled in vain after the break, with Ian Poveda’s cross causing Cardiff keeper Alex Smithies problems before Sean Morrison hacked the ball away.
‘We asked a lot of the players during lockdown and we got our reward today,’ said Cardiff boss Neil Harris.
‘To score the goals and play in the manner in which we did was really pleasing. We can compete with the best teams in the division and Leeds are the best team,’ he added.
‘If you’d have said we’d be one goal outside the play-offs with eight games left, I’d have been delighted.
‘I am delighted we have scored two quality goals to pay tribute to Peter Whittingham.
‘It was a privilege to be part of it today and I am so pleased we played to the best of our ability,’ he said.