Nottingham Forest 3-1 Leeds United: Noise and hunches
The next month at Leeds pits the strength of strategy against the might of the fixture list. When the aim is 16th and the team is 16th, does a club back itself, or not?
The next month at Leeds pits the strength of strategy against the might of the fixture list. When the aim is 16th and the team is 16th, does a club back itself, or not?
Farke said, "We don’t have to over-analyse the game," and I hope he was lying ahead of a week spent over-analysing, over-thinking and overall tearing up plans, finding a solution for a better Leeds team.
As Red Bull's energy football goes out of style, it's leaving frantic, effervescent players like Brenden Aaronson marooned on uncertain, shifting terrain, trying to learn what RB never taught them.
This game almost produced one of the goals of the decade. It's just over twelve years since the last one, and just about the only chance I'll get to compare Brenden Aaronson, favourably, to Rudy Austin.
Not taking three points from this relegation rival means those three points will have to be taken from better teams later. So Leeds need to become an even better team, soon, if they can.
Illan Meslier's 9,600 minutes in the Premier League alone are 600 more minutes than Perri has played in his entire career. The simple truism comes to goalkeepers before others, about doing much too much, much too young, and Meslier has grown up in much too bright a spotlight.
The Premier League fad might be the ideal tactic for a sweaty, exhausting, stop-start tournament of drinks breaks, storm delays and keeping the ball out of play so everyone can rest.
It's important that Leeds United outplayed Spurs in every department of this match and marched off the pitch, chests out and heads high, flicking Vs at the referee and feeling hard done by.
Football finally has long throws to offer its modern, phone-watching fans, but only Leeds United are brave enough for bringing flick-ons back.
United have quickly become competitive among the Premier League's middle tier and that is making the games more interesting because they could go either way. Normally you'd offer that to the neutrals, but the novelty of arriviste status is making this fun for Leeds fans, too.