Realism should come with a health warning, too
This gets to the heart of why some Leeds fans don't get along with Daniel Farke's management: he is pathologically incapable of telling fans what we want to hear.
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:
It was heartening to see Aston Villa being put in their place by FC Raphinha at the Camp Nou this week, but hard not to envy them still. 26 years ago, in the first autumn of the new millennium, that was us getting a humbling in Barcelona. And it was 4-0, rather than 3-0, because we always do everything better.
In Europe it's them and not us right now, though, and it's also Bournemouth, less explicably (at least Villa have won the European Cup once, same as us). The Cherries took our Milan at Elland Road moment, our 1-0 win a week after losing to Barca, and tried to improve on the unimprovable. 3-0 is a bigger margin, but Lee Bowyer's last minute shot in the rain was a much better moment than their pair of penalties or whatever against ten men. And ours was the Champions League, not the poxy Europa League, and against better players than Ruben Loftus-Cheek (although maybe not so handsome). So why are Bournemouth even bothering?
Intrigued about Super Leeds in the Champions League? Read the whole story in this paperback book
And why are they in Europe, and we're not? And Sunderland! Don't get me started on Sunderland. The last and only time they played in Europe was as a Second Division club, qualifying for the Cup Winners' Cup by beating Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup final. They're in the Europa League now too, with a trip to the San Siro coming up in December. Would you bet against a Trai Hume near post header? Anyway. I said not to get me started.
Since we're on the subject, though, you also wouldn't bet against Sunderland going down. Drawing in Poznan the other week is all well and good, but it is hampering their ability to, uh, beat Leeds United. Our draw with them was a pain for us, but kept them 20th, last and bottom of the Premier League, praying even harder than we are for Old Trafford to keep on falling. The Europa League format means a minimum of eight midweek fixtures, four of them away, and the pressure and the fatigue and the being on an aeroplane with Luke O'Nien is taking all last season's post-promotion momentum out of their barely Premier League squad.
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.