One game one point no problem
The sense of Leeds United is that the club does know what it's doing, and it has been winning this game with itself from the start. Winning is easier when you're winning, and when draws are helping you win and defeats aren't hurting you, you're winning all the time.
Leedsista is entirely written by me, a human person, and entirely funded by people like you, Leeds fans, who think decent non-AI, non-clickbait writing about their football team is worth £3 a month to read or £5 a month to listen to the podcast version.
If you enjoy reading what I write, I hope you'll consider becoming a paying member to help keep it getting written.
Find out what you can get with a 30 day free trial:
No, actually, so before you start, there is nothing wrong with me writing confidently about how aiming for one point per game has been a successful strategy for Leeds this season, this season that hasn't finished yet. And — shush, will you! — there are no drawbacks to saying this the day before a daiquiri-drunk Manchester City come chasing the Premier League title through Elland Road. It's all fine! It's only football, we can say anything whenever we want!
The daiquiri business is Pep Guardiola's transparent way of getting in the head of his volatile former sidekick Mikel Arteta. Guardiola knows that the pressure is all on Arteta because all anyone wants to know is how and when his Arsenal team won't win all four competitions they're in. He also probably knows that when it comes to nights out Arteta can High Performance every vestige of joy out of them with his 'Great Night' whiteboard. He will know that the idea of giving his players three days off on the piss will fry the circuits in Arteta's brain, that Phil Foden drunk-texting Declan Rice all week will have the Gunners' players fuming while they're locked into training with their nervous maniac in charge.
"Enjoy life," Guardiola told his players, "And after that, make a proper three training sessions, and go to Leeds." He wasn't going to watch Arsenal's game at Spurs because, "I am on holiday". His next assignment, after his players beat Newcastle, was simple. "Just go to Leeds."
Well, let's hope it's not that easy. Getting steamrollered by the other of the impending top two ought not to break Leeds United's season, but I'd rather we didn't risk it. If playing Manchester City really was a 'free hit', then our second half revival at Eastlands at the end of November would not still feel so significant. These games can and do shape a season.
Farke, so far, is responding to Guardiola's pre-match chat by confessing that they've been best buddies for yonks and he just doesn't like to talk about it, and saying his players don't drink cocktails: "here we drink proper pints". I mean, several Leeds players don't drink alcohol at all and the booze of choice on the title parade was Malibu (possibly proper pints of it), but I suppose this is all part of the big strong lads metaphor that's been guiding the team since summer. Proper pints! Big strong men!
In any case, the Guardiola - Arteta mindgames don't really concern Farke or Leeds. That's one of the unpleasant aspects of games like these, audible in national or international coverage: Super Leeds United are just the other team on the pitch in a battle Manchester City will really be having with Arsenal. It's in that respect that, going back to where I started, Farke's one point per game target has taken on, I think, a sheen of quiet brilliance as the season has gone on.
At times, intending to average one point per game across the season has been derided. There were the two weeks when the Peacocks slipped below that average, to 0.92 then 0.85, and reports said some in the 49ers Enterprises' hierarchy were giving Farke the Chelsea and Liverpool games to save his job. There's a snide side to criticism of it now, as 38 points might not be enough to keep a team in the Premier League this season. And wouldn't it be just like Farke to set a target that wasn't high enough, hit it, and send Leeds down anyway?
To keep reading, please become a More to Read or More Listening member
Leedsista is supported by Leeds fans who think decent writing about their football team is worth £3 a month to read, or £5 a month for a podcast version.
Try free for 30 days.