Hornets stung as Harrison takes Leeds near safety
RARELY has the anthem ‘Leeds are falling apart again’ been delivered with greater fervour.
It was first used by rivals as a form of derision during the club’s long struggle to return to the Premier League. But it was reclaimed here by a raucous away end after Leeds kept it together and took a huge step to Premier League safety.
It was neither a game nor a winning performance to live long in the memory, yet a reminder that Leeds have bought some exceptional players for remarkable prices these past few years, and that they may well prove the difference in this brutally difficult season. Raphinha, a steal at £17million, began things with a wonderful strike. Jack Harrison, extraordinary value for £11million, wrapped it all up with something similar. By the end it was his name that was ringing around the away end.
The Watford fans, meanwhile, know that the quality is simply not there in
their own ranks and that time is up on another fleeting venture into the Premier League.
Their manager, Roy Hodgson, hasn’t given up but he did not seemed filled with belief that Watford, six points from safety, can actually escape the drop. ‘I never use the word confident,’ said Hodgson, whose side have lost four in five. ‘Confidence comes with winning matches but we don’t win matches so how can we get that? No word can change that.’
The broader significance for Leeds resided in the evidence this game provided of Jesse Marsch’s capacity to influence matches tactically and introduce more ambition to Leeds, while displaying the kind of pragmatism that was needed during Marcelo Bielsa’s difficult last months in charge.
The bold introduction of Sam Greenwood for Daniel James just beyond the hour was crucial, adding a greater attacking impetus which culminated in the 20-year-old laying on both second-half goals.
The first 20 minutes did not bear out the manager’s decision to keep back Kalvin Phillips, who he said last night is ‘close’ to starting fitness. Leeds’s general carelessness and untidiness in front of their own goal in Phillips’s absence saw Hodgson’s side make all the running.
Robin Koch does not look comfortable in place of Phillips and Juraj Kucka exploited that. Two freekicks, by Imran Louza and Moussa Sissoko, were arced wide.
As Liam Cooper, the supreme presence at the back of the team, urged goalkeeper Illan Meslier to be more vocal, this felt like Watford’s moment: a period of superiority which needed to be seized.
But Raphinha chose this moment to display his class. When Watford’s Samir had failed to clear a speculative James overhead kick, 20 minutes in, the Wales international was able to win a 50-50 ball and send it in for the Brazilian, who whipped a shot past Ben Foster. The goalkeeper was fractionally at fault, taking a step to his right as the forward prepared to shoot left. But it was the finest of strikes.
Watford lacked players of vision and brilliance. Sissoko was workmanlike and Joao Pedro occasionally menaced, but when he provided Ismaila Sarr with time and space to shoot, he blasted high and wide.
Leeds promptly broke away and scored. Hassane Kamara and Samir collectively seemed in control of Rodrigo as Sam Greenwood played him through on the counter-attack on 75 minutes, but they managed to let the forward in.
Greenwood also played a forward pass to Harrison, who struck a superb angled goal from the edge of the area — his third in as many games. After Phillips had led celebrations in the sunshine at the end, Marsch — whose team must now wait 15 days to play again — cautioned against complacency. ‘Yes,’ he said to the question of whether the team could still be relegated. ‘Everyone is getting results around us. By the time we play again, against Crystal Palace, things will be tight.’