Leeds United 1-1 Brighton: One left
If Leeds have an inspiration at the moment it's Raphinha, leading by glowering, frustrated example, yelling at the crowd to give the ball back, yelling at the bench about the game, yelling at his teammates to get in the box for one of his not so long-throws.
Somewhere under, beneath the burden of the sweat drenched polyester straitjacket also known as Leeds United's 21/22 home shirt, there is still something resembling what we remember of our football team that we love. It's hard to argue that the players, who all collapsed to the ground at the final whistle, did not give everything they could to getting a vital point against Brighton. It's tough to tell them, as they struggle to their feet, that it still isn't enough. Even if they'd won, we would still be needing more from them next Sunday. And people thought murderball was hard.
One strategy now might be making appeals to the Premier League to only play stoppage time at Brentford. Pick a random number between one and ten to decide the number of minutes. Draw the starting scoreline out of a hat. And when the clocks in Burnley's game against Newcastle and Everton's at Arsenal hit ninety minutes, Leeds can kick-off in London, ready to do what they need to do, or not. I doubt the league will go for that, but I suspect we'll end up with something very much like it anyway. Happiness will be Leeds going 2-0 up in the first fifteen minutes next Sunday, while Burnley and Everton both go 2-0 down. Truth is a shot, like Joe Gelhardt's in the second minute against Brighton, being blocked on the line by Liam Cooper's face. Imagine that happening for two hours and look forward to Sunday.
That was far from United's only chance against Brighton, as after three matches camped in their own half Leeds made a long awaited return to the attacking end of the pitch. Most of that exploration still had to wait until the second half. Leeds did start brightly but panic was setting in as Brighton discovered a system failure between Junior Firpo and Liam Cooper at left-back, both passing players on for marking by invisible third and fourth team-mates. In the 20th minute, Leeds should have gone ahead: Rodrigo burst through the middle, and a pass left to Jackie Harrison was a golden chance. Of all the mysteries surrounding Rodrigo, here is the biggest: how does a player with 27 caps for Spain, who got to two Europa League finals with Benfica, and played five seasons for Valencia in La Liga and the Champions League, not have the composure or the instinct to play such a simple pass? Mistakes are one thing, they happen, not everything will always work right. But one thing Rodrigo should know is what to do, and instead here he was again, dawdling, indecisive, losing possession while he lost himself in thought. Brighton had no qualms about stealing the ball from him, running up the other end and getting Danny Welbeck a goal, and now everything that had been promising better was undone by becoming exactly the same. It took a little longer than the last two games, but Leeds were a goal down. At least they kept eleven players on the pitch.
Jesse Marsch said that, "I could still see the looks on some of their faces at half-time that we weren't 100 per cent believing that we could do it," and given that much of what he claims to have been talking to the players about in the last two months is belief, supported by those infamous Gandhi quotes, it's hard to conclude that any of that rhetoric is paying off in the dressing room. If Leeds have an inspiration at the moment it's Raphinha, leading by glowering, frustrated example, yelling at the crowd to give the ball back, yelling at the bench about the game, yelling at his teammates to get in the box for one of his not so long-throws. Those throw-ins are Raphinha's whole mood. Like playing right wing-back or inside-forward, they're an insulting waste of his talents and he struggles to hide his disdain for what's being asked of him. But he is grimly determined and loud and adamant that if that's what he has to do, he's fucking well doing it then. Sometimes, looking at Raphinha, I think he's packed it in, his mind is on Barcelona. Other times I'm looking at someone who, if he has his own ladder to climb, doesn't want to condemn the club that handed it to him to snakes. Against Brighton his confidence and independence were vital to keeping Leeds going.
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