What's Up: Arsenal vs Leeds, 21st August 2001
The fixture was a powder keg filled with fireworks wired up to a detonator in the hands of a toddler. Or Danny Mills, who pushed Ashley Cole over for no reason as he took a throw-in in the fifth minute.
The fixture was a powder keg filled with fireworks wired up to a detonator in the hands of a toddler. Or Danny Mills, who pushed Ashley Cole over for no reason as he took a throw-in in the fifth minute.
One of Fotherby's dreams was secure. Now for the next one. Because if Tony Yeboah could do that with Carlton Palmer whacking the ball at him, imagine what he'd be like with Gazza in midfield?
We didn't get a flood of second half goals, but we did get the Strid at full power, Raphinha scoring with the roar of a river through a gorge. His footwork opened West Brom's defence like a vista over moors; the noise of the ball in the net was as pure and monstrous as a kestrel snatching a rat.
'Bowyer for England!' the Leeds fans chanted. Then, to the same tune, 'Sign your contract!' Finally, even louder, 'Sign your contract for the lads!'
This weekend Leeds United did not beat Chelsea, or play very beautifully, but Leeds fans are happy anyway. Why? The answer could be complex but simply it's Bielsa. And to Bielsa, always resisting the cult of his personality, that was never the point.
The half-time stats showed three yellow cards for Chelsea, two red cards and three other players booked for Leeds. There had been one shot at goal. Norman Hunter was spotted in his role commentating for Radio Leeds, 'Grinning all over his face. How he must have loved it.'
It was one of those Elland Road afternoons when the intensity of the crowd is matched by the intent of the players. Leeds were showing they wouldn't sit back against the team coming for their title.
Tomas Brolin's third game for Palace, when George Graham's Leeds came to Selhurst Park, was a chance to overturn opinions and prove some points. Instead the Match of the Day cameras caught the end again, first Brolin slumped in the grass again, then a bloody bandage.
As Bielsa crouched in the rain beneath the annihilating silence and the contrasting floods of light and dark, cut off from the spontaneous response of supporters who always supply immediate answers to doubts, was he wondering, who made this game?
It's hard to see what Casilla contributed as captain. He did the coinflips for the kick-off and to choose the ends for penalties, I suppose. Apart from that, all his ascent to the captaincy did was attract the negative energy of articles like this one.