Match reports

I’ve only ever been half joking whenever I’ve suggested over the years that Leeds should buy Mathieu Smith back, and this Carabao Cup match at Salford City demonstrated the serious half: Smith scores goals.

It’s almost too much to ask for – a roving striker who gets back to help and gets forward to finish half chances. We’ve been without that for so long I might actually cry.

People have asked what it will take for Leeds fans to get over Marcelo Bielsa, and I’ve often told them, ‘winning’. There’d have been no problems with Jesse Marsch if he’d won fifteen games last season. But there might be another way: losing.

This match hardly made a ripple to last beyond the weekend, another game reduced to nothing more than a ninety minute inconvenience to be gone through before Daniel Farke held another press conference.

What does this game mean for the rest of the season? Dunno? Do I look like Mother Shipton? Is she with us in the cave right now?

Andrea Radrizzani was hoping owning Leeds United would net him around £400m profit. But football is structured to make fans think the players are the greedy ones, ‘stealing a living’. Which is a long way of saying I still like you, Luke Ayling.

Leeds have ninety minutes of trying left but few of their games lately have gone that far. We’ve had six weeks of waiting for second halves to be over, wishing for less time even when time felt like the only hope.

Pat Bamford is far from being the only malfunctioning part of Leeds United Football Club, and in many ways good players losing the ability to do good things is the story of this season’s failure.

If there was a win for Leeds in Manchester it was the swift application of new, ugly ideas and, more importantly, ninety-five minutes of head-retention.

When Leeds lose a vital match this way there’s nothing new to say that hasn’t already been said. That, pals, is purgatory. At least, by definition, it’s temporary.