Sunderland 1-1 Leeds United: Going in the books

There were two stories in Sunderland on Sunday about two goals, of varying complexity. One goal, for Leeds United, was a Bielsistic fantasy of completing football, something that felt impossible a) since They Sacked Bielsa and b) since Daniel Farke recently 1980s-upped the action of Beeston Big Lads AFC. The players are learning a lesson from the great Leeds teams of old, about taking on other teams however they want to be taken: play, fight, go short, go long, hoof or pass. Bring what you want against the Peacocks, and they'll just give it to the Peacockingest striker of them all, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and he'll score.

Before all that, though, was a goal for Sunderland, and another story glancing back to the Don Revie era. Last week Joe Rodon was talking to The Athletic about playing 103 consecutive games for Leeds United and getting near to Norman Hunter's record 113 between 1962 and 1965. Sunderland's Brian Brobbey took that as an invitation to try making sure Rodon didn't outdo Big Norm, with a tackle on the touchline that won the ball but injured Joe's ankle in the follow-through.

This form of fair-but-foul tackling must be trained on Wearside. Twenty minutes later Simon Adingra did the same, and this is the story of Sunderland's goal. It takes in their 3rd place Championship finish, their last-minute, last-minute and last-minute eruption through the play-offs, their summer of flexing PSR and their season so far, bothering the topper reaches of the Premier League table.

In Leeds, waiting for the Black Cats to Icarus themselves back to their proper place, we've focused on the African Cup of Nations taking half their clutch of clever signings to Morocco for the month and reverting the remainder to the version that finished far behind Leeds last season. And we've not paid attention to the one player not going because he's not been good enough, the £21m flop striker whose one off-target volley in ten goalless appearances marked him as the anti-Granit Xhaka, proving that not all their transfers have been magical. With a lousyish history at Union SG and Brighton behind him Adingra is a rare dud in Tony Bloom's infamous algorithm, too, with the clever money not spent on Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha keeping £21m in 49ers Enterprises' pockets and putting twelve goals in the net for free.

The problem with the story Leeds fans were telling ourselves about Sunderland and Afcon was that Simon Adingra really wanted to go to the Afcon. He was player of the match in the last final, when Ivory Coast beat Nigeria 2-1 and Max Gradel lifted the trophy. "It was a disappointing period for me not to be with my national team," Adingra said this weekend. "But at the same time, I have my opportunity now here and it's up to me to step up and show the coach."

Pity poor Joe Rodon, unwittingly caught up in Adingra's drama. It started with another slide tackle on the touchline, not even given as a foul despite Adingra's follow-through bending Rodon's ankle. Rodon, a big brave daftie whose face shows every emotion from joy to despair but not pain, limped on, and a minute later Sunderland had a chance to throw long. United's usual Operation Big Lads was affected by the lame dragon in their midst, while Ethan Ampadu was signalling to the bench that Big Joe couldn't carry on, and Big Dom had a chat with him, agreeing to take over the job of attacking the first ball that Rodon wouldn't be able to jump for.

Calvert-Lewin did that successfully, getting the ball to the edge of the area, but Ampadu's touch was too heavy for his own control and didn't weigh enough for Brenden Aaronson's scurry upfield. The ball was cooly collected by Xhaka, and perhaps it's overrating his experience to suggest he knew Rodon would not be moving quick enough in the Leeds offside line: in any case, he reversed a pass in behind Jayden Bogle and Rodon was keeping Adingra on. Turning and rushing but limping still, Rodon had no chance of blocking Adingra's shot, but even a fit Joe and an extended Lucas Perri would have struggled with the accuracy of his finish, the ball bending like Rodon's ankle into the far corner.

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When you're relying on Afcon to weaken a team and their best player turns out to be the one expensive signing who hasn't been playing well enough to go to Afcon, and he scores his first goal for Sunderland by putting your ever-present defender out of the game and seizing on the general distraction it caused, that's — well, it's not amore. But it was a chance for Daniel Farke to demonstrate, once more, that he doesn't need games to be given him.

He did need to wake his players up with some half-time yelling, according to Aaronson, but they'd been improving after the goal already. Calvert-Lewin set up Aaronson up for a scuttle and a shot that was well stopped at close range, and with Ao Tanaka depressing Sebastiaan Bornauw's hopes of replacing Rodon in the reshuffle, Leeds took another new form and found another new gear. Going forwards, anyway. On Sunderland breaks, Perri clattered Brobbey but wasn't penalised, then Adingra crossed over Perri and a thumping Brobbey header bounced off the top of the bar (it would have been a lovely goal, if you love Sunderland goals).

The concerning side of Farke's recent flexibility was on show here. It's nice, but it's a worry, how often it's the second thing that works. Perhaps we need Chelsea back so Leeds can just beat a team from the start. Five at the back went to four, here, but the three up front weren't evenly spaced because Aaronson was everywhere. And while the tilt was still direct — gerrit up to Big Dom — the equaliser was everything else. It started with a long Sunderland clearance and didn't end until every Leeds player, in their nice all blue kit, had touched the ball.

Not all touches are the same, though. My top prizes go to Pascal Struijk, who had to work under pressure with what Perri probably rates as a smooth calm pass. Big Pascal stayed out of hospital and stayed in control with a sharp one-two with Gabriel Gudmundsson. Gold star, have a bit of an assist. Next, we could all enjoy Noah Okafor's backheel lay-off, but it needed Anton Stach to make it into something more. He stepped over the ball in the middle of his own half, warned Tanaka away, and swept it first time with power to the far wing, with draw to meet Aaronson's run into space. Gold star for you too, Anton.

Brenden, that's a great assist. God knows, if you over-analyse the replay there's a moment when he has to speed up to catch his own touch, but let's just add that to the stepover he used to outwit Xhaka before surprising him with an early low cross. Calvert-Lewin, reading Aaronson better than he can read himself, timed and pathed his movement towards the ball so the finish, rolling the ball beyond a really good goalkeeper, looked effortless: it wasn't.

It was Calvert-Lewin's seventh in six, and he has a goal in each of his last six games, and his place in the record books is like Joe Rodon's, a throwback. The last player to do that was John McCole, in 1959/60 (Leeds were relegated, but let that pass). Ahead of him on seven are Tom Jennings and Charlie Keetley, from 1926 and 1930. Dom and Joe are going in the books and staying in the books.

More immediately, Leeds were trying to beat Sunderland. The half-hour or so after their equaliser, which happened just after half-time, replaced that elegance with a bludgeon that was not, in the end, as effective, but was just as exhilarating. For that time Granit Xhaka, the great lost summer freebie — who also happened to be a pal of a pal of Sunderland's billionaire child-owner — looked like the Bornauw of Wearside, when he was visible at all. Ampadu and Stach, aided by Tanaka and Aaronson, were relentlessly bossing this bit of the north-east by keeping the ball alive, in Sunderland's last third and in Leeds United's possession again and again and again and again. If the goal had been Bielsist so was the moment when, as the red-and-white shirts were strewn across the grass like deckchairs in a gale, a thousand Leeds fans all thought together: The Opponent is Unbalanced.

The opponent could not be beaten, and after Régis Le Bris made some changes he stopped the tide without conceding. In the last stages Xhaka returned to the fore, dictating assaults on the goal where Leeds were now tightly packed, and winning a clever free-kick when Stach got near him in stoppage time, to make sure Leeds weren't having the ball. As at Brentford, this became a match where a happy point beforehand became a necessary point after going behind, then changed again into a frustrating point because Leeds could have won. Only Manchester City have won at Brentford's home, though, and only Sunderland at Sunderland's, so both points are well taken.

And they help put Leeds on the right side of a third story. Even before it started this season was about expectations and reality, and the fact that the last six promoted teams were all relegated, and about how the last three promoted Leeds teams have finished 2nd, 4th and 9th. Could Leeds fans be kept happy throughout a season that, even if it goes well, could involve losing twenty matches? For a while in autumn, when four of those defeats came like Calvert-Lewin goals in a row, the answer was teetering towards no.

There hasn't been a defeat in five since, though, and Monday morning's headlines in The Athletic are illuminating reading. 'The image that summed up all that is wrong at West Ham.' 'Crystal Palace are running out of answers in attack'. 'Everton's threadbare squad is now painfully short of quality'. 'Did (Brighton's) Hurzeler pick the wrong team? Why the slow starts?'

Such grim tidings aren't confined to the bottom quarters. 'Good teams win when they play badly. Chelsea don't when they play well.' 'Why are Liverpool so bad at defending set-pieces?' 'David Raya's match-winning save (for Arsenal) was incredible, but why was it necessary?'

Aston Villa are a rare good time this Christmas. And, somehow, Leeds United. Sunderland too, allowing for grievances about adequate coverage in the press: life must feel great in 7th place, and I imagine they enjoyed their part of this game. There's a historic detail in how, for three of United's last four top-flight promotions, Sunderland have come along too. They were 2nd in 1963/64, and next season in the First Division Leeds drew 3-3 with them at Roker Park and won 2-1 at Elland Road. The chain is tangled, around Raich Carter and Don Revie, a record cup crowd in 1967, Bob Stokoe and the 1973 FA Cup final; tangled, and often bitter. But also quite fun. I'd be happy enough to draw with and beat Sunderland every year in the Premier League. Both clubs look up for another go at it next season, at least. ⭑彡

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