Norwich City 0-3 Leeds United: Definitive Gaze
Kalvin Phillips threw himself at the ball to stop Norwich taking a shot at Peacock-Farrell, and it was a moment when Bielsa's principles of complete commitment from first to last combined beautifully with Leeds United's principles of side before self and effort for the cause.
It's a joy to watch a footballer take control of a game and produce something beautiful, almost architectural, that they designed and planned.
When Leeds United won the ball from Norwich City's goal kick in the twentieth minute — Leeds always win the ball from your goal kicks, now — Pablo Hernandez and Ezgjan Alioski were roughly side by side, on opposite edges of the centre circle. Something silent, a mental blueprint, passed from Hernandez to Alioski, and from that moment it was just a matter of time, execution and desire. Hernandez took the ball and the game over to his right, creating a space ahead of him to the left. He didn't have to look up to know that Alioski would be entering that space, and the ball was already on its way before any of Norwich's players realised the space was there; a pass like a flying buttress, inviting Alioski to become airborne.
Alioski bloody loves these headers, and one day he'll score one that's perfect. Last season at Derby County, when he fluffed a one on one chance, Scott Carson's save gave him another go, and he dived headlong over the goalkeeper to head the ball into the empty net. This time he had a running start and got even more air, zooming like an atomic superhero's kid sidekick, the aerodynamics of his sculpted hairdo firing him towards the ball. But Tim Krul saved his header, damn him; Mateusz Klich, a studious looking soul, brought the game down to earth and considered carefully how to defeat the defenders. His safe shot into the back of the net gave Leeds the lead.
It hadn't looked likely ten minutes earlier, but that was before Hernandez had become so decisive. In the early stages Alioski and Barry Douglas struggled with Norwich's right-side of pink twin pigs, Pukki and Pinto, and needed two strong interventions from Pontus Jansson to keep Norwich away from Bailey Peacock-Farrell. Jansson was making a seamless return, but the game couldn't go on like this, so Hernandez made regular moves from the right wing, lending his mates a hand. It meant Samu Saiz had to drift out to the right, working hard on the peripheries instead of dictating from the centre, but Pablo's was a friendly and necessary coup. He'd got this. Within ten minutes, he'd made the first goal.