We're about to have the best time with Harry Wilson
Harry Wilson's skills should have put him in someone's pantheon by now. Someone more interesting than Fulham. There's nothing else for him to do, at Leeds, but to make it here.
Tag
Essays
A collection of 190 posts
Shoulder to shoulder: World Cup week (think of a number)
From Ao Tanaka labouring morning to night to Gabriel Gudmundsson shouting out the wife: it's not a normal World Cup, so it's made for Erling Haaland.
"Bearing that burden is worth far more than you can imagine" — down and out in Uruguay, Marcelo Bielsa still has his purpose
Football has no solution. It's an imperfect game about failure, and about emotions that can be bad as well as good and validate the fans either way. That's why I don't think Bielsa wants to be done with it just yet.
You have to work hard to be unhappy about Pascal Struijk
Too often in football nobody is happy, or only the worst people are happy, so if Pascal Struijk is happy and Leeds and Brighton and Georginio Rutter, let's just be happy too.
No Hecky, no party
Three former Leeds managers went to the World Cup, one remains. And obviously that's the irritating one. But at least Thomas Christiansen has plenty to feel proud of.
Hushing, talking and proposing
Watching Antoine Semenyo, and thinking, maybe we should have given Dave Hockaday another chance. Are these the fantasies a World Cup is supposed to give us? Maybe Leeds fans have no other kind.
"Not doing it is worse than doing it. So we do it." — Marcelo Bielsa talking football and craft
At a Uruguayan FA summit, with five of his coaching staff on chairs and sofas alongside him, Marcelo Bielsa gave a presentation about what, he said, "we do in our free time".
Whatever happened to celebrating moments?
Gabriel Gudmundsson was asked what exactly had been wrong with him, and replied, "I don’t want to go into it. It’s better to keep it secret." Which came to my mind when Marcelo Bielsa told the press: "I believe there's a limit in terms of what we need to explain."
"I dream, so I’d better not answer that" — Marcelo Bielsa prepares for the World Cup with Uruguay
"Look, there’s no secret to the way we play," Bielsa said. "But, well, those are intentions, and then we have to make them a reality."
The sound of Goal!, the World Cup and the people and their feet
Players aren't on the list, let alone given a close-up in sight or sound: it's everything but the game. Zoom in and overdub them if you have to, but I'm yearning for this World Cup to give me lingering long takes over the knees of Ao Tanaka.