Match reports

Leeds gave as much to the idea of a second half fightback as they did to the idea of turning up in the first half. Go guys, give us nothing.

Graft has its value, but like an old map, it shouldn’t be followed without thinking twice. Graft gave us Kevin Blackwell with Danny Pugh on the wing. It took us to Neil Warnock with Danny Pugh in midfield.

Does a 0-0 draw in Hull have to mean we’re going up and Leeds is good, or we’re not and Leeds is bad?

There’s a risk, and I’ll just whisper it, that Farke’s Leeds might be shaping up to be, at times, in a tiny voice, a bit boring. But that’s okay. Because now we go back to the opening goal, because I want to explain it as the goal that made everything else in the game worthwhile.

If good coaching is education we must hope that Farke is a good coach, because the players he has here have a lot to learn.

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?