And breathe
The eight minutes between Orel Mangala and Jack Harrison’s goals felt like an eternity. It was eight minutes which allowed the deepest, darkest thoughts to creep in on where Leeds United’s season was going if the likes of Nottingham Forest were beating them at Elland Road.
Steve Cooper’s side are wretched away from the City Ground with four goals from their 13 previous away league trips, so of course they had to open the scoring last night. It was a reality shock for Leeds which began to make the Southampton win look lucky and Molineux feel chaotic.
As the passes went more sideways and more backward, that eight minutes just teased the notion Elland Road could grow restless if this useless bunch of travellers weren’t put in their place. Jack Harrison’s goal delivered the relief everyone needed.
READ MORE: Javi Gracia's first words on Leeds United's priceless Forest win and his Elland Road impact
That eight minutes no longer feels like an eternity, more like an eternity ago, a small chapter in a colourful night of discipline, strong tactical decisions and some scintillating attacking play. This team is finding a way to dig out the results and keep the belief building when their backs are against the wall.
The upshot is the Whites have propelled themselves to 13th in the league table. The health warning to go with that, as it did when Wolverhampton Wanderers were despatched, is the gap to the drop zone remains just two points.
As they did last weekend, clubs can move several positions up and down the table very quickly. We are still several weeks away from Leeds feeling safe in the league, but eight of the bottom nine are at least now competing on a level playing field.
West Ham United have two games in hand, while Leeds and the other seven have all now played 29 matches. Fairer comparisons and predictions can be made, with the Whites in a very good place after last night’s results.
With Forest, Leicester City and Bournemouth all slipping up, Leeds have risen to second in that bottom-nine mini-table and Sunday brings an opportunity to continue rising. West Ham play Newcastle United tonight, which will shift things again, but Leeds will put Crystal Palace between themselves and the drop zone with a win.
The other major head-to-head involving two teams from the bottom nine is Bournemouth’s trip to Leicester City. The margins are tight, but the sheer quantity of clubs between Leeds and the drop is encouraging.
Winning last night takes the sting out of Sunday too. We all know, had the Whites dropped points on Tuesday, the pressure on the Palace match would have been insufferable for players and fans alike.
It remains an important match and the penultimate home game of the season against a relegation rival, but the confidence and reassurance taken from the Forest win will be priceless.
Roca and McKennie’s tour de force
Tyler Adams’s virtually season-ending hamstring surgery felt like a hammer blow to United’s survival chances. Marc Roca and Weston McKennie had had their moments as Adams’s partner in midfield, but he was the real difference-maker we all saw on a weekly basis.
Javi Gracia admitted there was nobody else in his squad who could do what Adams did. There was some concern on the terraces about Roca and McKennie’s skill sets, their compatibility in covering enough bases within a Premier League midfield.
We saw some hopeful signs at Molineux, but it was another afternoon of inconsistency from the two midfielders. Tuesday night could not have been more different.
These were breakthrough performances at Elland Road for both of the midfielders. Each of them committed to the cause with big tackles, physical battles and a fight to regain possession for the team, something Adams has excelled so much at.
Added to that came the passing ability, the first touches, the movement, the one-twos, the vision and the technique which got Leeds moving forward. At their best, Roca and McKennie were courting attention from Bayern Munich and Juventus respectively, two of Europe’s footballing superpowers.
Last night was a glimpse into those pasts. They had quality which dominated the middle of the park and ran the game in United’s favour. The next battle will be for consistency at this level of performance.
The midfielders sensed Elland Road’s tone, what was needed, and duly delivered the all-action drive supporters craved.
Ayling’s connect four
There is a temptation to simply cut and paste Luke Ayling’s passage from Sunday’s Arsenal talking points. The right-back had another tough evening, his fourth on the bounce, last night.
The gravest error was undoubtedly Ayling’s botched clearing header which cannoned off Emmanuel Dennis and into his possession for a Forest counter. Leeds were caught out of position and before Mangala would eventually apply the final dummy and finish, there was time still for Dennis to beat Ayling again before his low cross to the goalscorer.
The vice-captain was not cowed by his part in the goal. He continued to gallop forward at every opportunity throughout the game, though with mixed success it should be noted.
Unfortunately, it’s not happening for Ayling in defence. When he’s dealing with attackers at close quarters you might as well flip a coin on his chances of coming away with possession or directly gifting the opposition an opening.
This is the same full-back who, less than two months ago, was guiding Leeds through a Manchester United double-header with supreme ability and leadership. He is not necessarily finished for good, but, as was the question on Saturday, is it not time for Rasmus Kristensen to get a go?
Harrison and Sinisterra weaponise
If Gracia is to kick on and seal this survival deal for Leeds he needs goals among his forwards. Rodrigo has proven himself this season, but form and fitness have too frequently got in the way for his attacking counterparts.
This was a thrilling night for Jack Harrison and Luis Sinisterra. If they play like this more often than not through the final nine matches they are going to cause full-backs nightmares.
The numbers have already been there for Harrison. Since Gracia took over, the former Manchester City man has contributed three goals and two assists in six league games.
A third goal in four matches felt quite customary last night, but the major difference was his all-round display. Harrison’s top-line numbers for goals and assists have always quietly impressed, but he can drive spectators mad too.
The technical ability is there, but too often he has picked the wrong option in the final third, dithered with the ball, lost possession or shown a dire final execution. Harrison’s typically superb first touch and dribbling ability seemed to be hurting Forest at every turn.
Harrison had an extra yard on everyone all over the pitch. He seemed to beat all of his markers to loose balls or ghost past them like they weren’t there. He even started the move which led to his pounce on the rebound for the equalising goal.
It was the kind of performance which summed up why he has been mentioned as a target for Premier League rivals in recent transfer windows, this is the potential he is waiting to unlock. It’s different for Sinisterra.
The 23-year-old’s season has been savaged by injury. Sinisterra is yet to complete 90 minutes for the Whites, while he has started just 10 league games since his summer arrival.
The most painful thread to Sinisterra’s story is the undoubted ability he has. Six goals in six appearances for club and country from late August to late September had everyone dreaming Leeds may have found their next Raphinha at the first time of asking.
The surgical, placed finishes, from distance, against Barnsley, Everton and Brentford had everyone sitting up to take notice. The Aston Villa dismissal knocked a little stuffing out of him, but injury would eventually claim him.
Sinisterra was missing for three months between mid-October and mid-January. He would be missing again from February 8 after limping off at Old Trafford. Understandably, the stop-start nature of his campaign has made him look rusty and sluggish, but there was a reawakening against Forest.
The jinking and jiving inside from that left flank, along with the sublime finishing, was back at Elland Road last night. All the talk has been about Rodrigo and Wilfried Gnonto, but if the Colombian can keep fit from here on out he’s going to have a massive say on United’s fate.
What if Gracia had had longer in the hotseat?
Without wanting to turn this into an inquest on Jesse Marsch’s tenure, it’s fair to wonder how different this season might have been had Gracia gotten his claws in far earlier in 2022/23. After six league games against opposition with a middling average league position of 11.5, the Spaniard has overseen 10 points.
Only five clubs in the entire division have picked up more points than Leeds since Gracia arrived (Arsenal, Man City, Villa, Brighton & Hove Albion and Tottenham Hotspur). That means, of that godforsaken bottom nine, the Whites are giving themselves the best chance of getting clear from danger.
West Ham have had a decent stab at it in the same time frame with eight points from their last 18 available, but the other seven relegation dogfighters make up the form table’s bottom seven. Leeds are prospering and, what’s more, the points are being generated by a methodical tactical plan, catered to an opponent.
Memories of beating Norwich City, Wolves and Brentford under Marsch last season tally with chaos, emotion and a few slices of luck. It’s fair to say Wolves was chaotic again this season, but Gracia’s defensive plan, under siege as it was, did hold up.
There was the balance of waiting for the moment to strike against Southampton, the long-range bangers Fulham needed in the cup, the set-piece header Chelsea needed, the patient, disciplined pressing traps against Brighton before the structure at Arsenal which held out for more than half an hour.
It would be foolish to predict how the final nine matches will pan out or what they will do for Gracia’s stock, but his current strike rate delivers another 15 points from the remaining 27. Forty-four points would make it a pretty straightforward summer decision for the board.
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