Here’s Louise Taylor’s report from Elland Road.
The Leeds striker, Patrick Bamford, spoke to Sky Sports
Circumstances made it a bit more difficult. The boys on the pitch the whole game were outstanding and we deserved a point. Villa had a game plan and part of that was slowing down our momentum.
That worked to a point and then the tables turned in the second half and we had to do a bit of that ourselves. It was nice to be back on the pitch. You just want to play football, so hopefully I can now put some momentum together and start scoring some goals.
Jesse Marsch speaks to Sky Sports.
I saw a team that was fighting like lions and doing everything could to get the result. Going down a man makes it hard for us. In the end, getting a point showed the character of the group. We needed to be braver, we played a little too conservative. We need to be better that way. Villa slows the game down, that’s two opponents who have done that. We need help to manage it. This is the best environment in football and our fans don’t come here to watch a game played at snail’s pace. Luis [Sinisterra], carrying a yellow shouldn’t do that, he puts himself in jeopardy. That was not intelligent play.
Full-time: Leeds 0-0 Aston Villa
It is finished, and ends as it was always likely to. Villa couldn’t find a way through after Luis Sinisterra’s sending-off in the early part of the half. They have a first away point of the season but that’s not nearly enough for Steven Gerrard. Boos aplenty at full-time, from the away fans and for the referee, who gave a red card that delivered the letter of the rules law. A fair result, a frankly horrible match.
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90+3 min: Leeds chance: Bamford sets up Klich, the goal is begging and McGinn runs back to clear the danger with a block. Great play from McGinn, that would have been a disaster.
90+2 min: Watkins tries to hook the ball in from a neat free-kick, but it’s too easily cleared. Then McGinn finds space, sees his chance. And misses.
90 min: Four minutes of footballing purgatory have been added on.
89 min: Late chance for Villa! Buendia’s ball is a beauty, and Watkins is through. Meslier narrows the angle, good save, and on the sidelines, Steven releases a primal scream into the nightsky. That furrowed brow of his is now deeper than the Ribble Valley.
88 min: Leeds are playing five at the back, though it’s more like seven. More big cheers as Meslier gets the ball, and falls on it. Their team has been resolute, at least. That’s good for Coach Marsch. Steven is the boss with the bigger questions to answer. His lads have been rotten.
86 min: Jeers and cheers as a decision goes Leeds’ way. The game has descended to that level of shithousery.
85 min: Pressure really on Villa here. Leeds are back in numbers, and get an Ashley Young cross cleared. Leeds bodies are getting in the way, and Summerville’s attempt to get the ball out on the counter comes to naught. Back go Villa for more.
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83 min: Villa sub. Steven going for broke. Off goes Jacob Ramsey, on comes Danny Ings. Robin Koch is booked meanwhile, and then Tyrone Mings gets jeered for smashing the free-kick beyond the assembled Villa strikers.
82 min: Sam Campbell again: “Re Richard Krivonozka’s message, I believe it is a yellow because he put his leg out. If he was just standing there or walking away from the ball it wouldn’t be a booking but he has made a conscious effort to block the ball so it’s a booking. I think that’s right anyway.”
I think so, too.
81 min: Bamford is pushed over by Tyrone Mings, and the home fans enjoyed that.
Justin Kavanagh again: “It’s been a poor match, with poor refereeing, and poor decision-making by both teams. Still, the post-match press conferences will feature two of the whiniest, most put-upon managers in the Premier League. So there’s that.”
79 min: Aaronson can now have a proper lie down. He and Jack Harrison are subbed off. On comes Klich and Crysencio Summerville.
78 min: Aaronson glides into space, and sets up a Leeds attack. He ends it, obviously, on the floor, claiming for a penalty as he chases down a loose ball after a shot from Bamford. Stuart Attwell waves away the claim, as does VAR, as Konsa cleared the ball.
76 min: Watkins shoots straight on Meslier, Villa’s first on target of the half. They have problems in front of goal.
75 min: Adam Timmins, Herr Splitter, gets in touch: “Very quick point: there are no rules in football; there are laws of the game though…”
74 min: Coutinho stabs wide as Young speeds past an ailing Ayling. Villa knocking on the door.
72 min: Buendia has space, and Liam Cooper’s desperate dive can’t stop him shooting, though perhaps stops the shot going on target. Then Firpo has to nod behind under pressure. Villa ratcheting this up. Luiz’s corner is good, and Meslier misses the ball. Konsa can’t get to it. Then Villa fans point out that Meslier is taking his time over the goal-kick. Not much love out there. This is a grim old affair.
70 min: Aaronson down again, fouled by Ashley Young. Jack Harrison takes the free-kick and it drifts beyond the recently arrived Patrick Bamford.
69 min: Richard Krivonozka gets in touch: “I’m watching the match as a neutral and I can’t agree that Stuart Attwell had no choice. I believe he just dangled his leg to slow the taking of the free kick as a million players have before. What happened next was the the Villa player deliberately kicked the ball at his leg to get him a second booking. That for me we was the real unsporting conduct, but expecting officious automatrons like Attwell to work that out and give the card to the real offender was never likely to happen. Esp with Riley being at the very top of the pile.”
See why VAR was never going to work? Everybody sees things differently.
68 min: On comes Luke Ayling for Leeds, Kristensen goes off, and on comes Patrick Bamford, on for Rodrigo.
66 min: Nasty clash of heads as Ashley Young go for the ball and then Emi Martinez comes out to crash into Koch, who stays down. Concussion protocols are required and the defender goes off. Leeds down to nine men.
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64 min: Big cheers and jeers as Leon Bailey is booked for losing the ball and then kicking out. And that’s his last action of the half: off he goes from Emi Buendia. Shock horror, he and Coutinho will play together. But only against ten men.
62 min: Mary Francis, a Leeds fan perhaps: “Barracking of referee NOT unfair. Disgracefully biased decisions. Far worse tackles by some Villa players who do not get yellows - never mind the time wasting earlier.”
Even if you believe the Villa players should be booked, that doesn’t mean Sinisterra didn’t deserve to be sent off. Blocking the ball like that was very stupid indeed.
60 min: Ramsey digs out a shot, seeing glory, and misses to loud jeers. On the sidelines, Steven is chewing his fingernails.
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59 min: Marc Roca – on a booking? – comes off, and on comes Junior Firpo. In a show of petulance he rips off his black armband, which is poor form considering what it represents. Coach Marsch has rejigged his defence, the hope being Firpo can use his pace on the counter?
58 min: A couple of Villa corners. Rodrigo clears the first, Meslier claims the second at the second time of asking.
55 min: Another Leeds yellow. Koch is going to be booked for kicking Watkins’ legs away. The complaint is that Tyrone Mings got away with one just before. In actual fact, he made a good tackle. Koch is not booked. Attwell the referee seems to be losing the thread a bit here.
54 min: The Leeds fans are barracking Stuart Atwell, and a little unfairly. That sending-off was no Ray Tinkler 1971 decision. Liam Cooper is perhaps the beneficiary of that as he escapes what looked a knocking yellow.
52 min: Villa really need to win this one, the onus is on them. Failure to do so will only add to the questions against Steven.
50 min: And Villa almost score. Leon Bailey’s cross, and Coutinho, falling, volleys against the post. Watkins, hurling himself at the rebound, misses.
Red card for Leeds' Luis Sinisterra!
He takes a while to leave the field, red-carded for a second bookable, this being his failure to retreat after the foul on Ramsey. He wafted his leg in front of the resultant free-kick. Petulant, daft, no need, and Coach Marsch has his head in his hands. Stuart Attwell had no choice. Those are the rules. Silly boy.
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47 min: Leeds begin calmly, choosing to keep possession. Then Ramsey is upended in the first of many fouls of this 45 minutes.
46 min: We are back underway at Elland Road. What effect can Jesse Marsch’s copious notes have made on this game? For Villa Konsa is playing right-back in place of the unfortunate Augustinsson.
Justin Kavanagh zings in: “Mention of the great Joe Jordan has made me realize what’s missing in the Leeds team today. They’re simply toothless up front.”
Bill Ireland, too: “I don’t know the reasoning behind a 1630 start but it’s more likely aimed at the North American TV market than Asia.
”It’s an 11:30 start in New York and 8:30 in Seattle, which is better than a 1400 start for viewers. For Asia, its 23:30 in Manila, versus a 21:30, so an earlier start would seem better to me(although I do not know Asian sports TV viewing habits). Australia is Sydney at 4:30am Monday, so it looks like it’s accommodating North America. I do not know if that relates to large scale American ownership in the EPL or if it’s more valuable eyeballs or whatever. I do know that it sure must be annoying to local away fans who want to see a late Sunday game and get home for work Monday. “
Half-time: Leeds 0-0 Aston Villa
It’s been bruising, it’s been brisk but it’s not been from the top drawer. Both teams look a tad hesitant in the final third and also more preoccupied with leaving one in on their opponents. A single goal could steal it, and probably trigger a brawl, too. And nobody wants to see that.
45+4 min: Ashley Young in the wars now, as Kristensen leaves one on him. Unlike Aaronson, Younger is better at riding a tackle.
45+3 min: On comes Jan Bednarek, on loan from Southampton, as Ashley Young fills in at full-back. That Augustinsson injury could rule him out until after the World Cup – Sweden didn’t qualify, of course.
45+1 min: Jack Harrison attempts to play in Rodrigo, who smashes into Konza, and a foul is given. And now the new man, Augustinsson, looks to have twanged his hammy. Yeah, he’s feeling his left thigh. Game over. The game’s been helterskelter for someone making his first bow in English football. The tempo higher than a night down The Orbit in nearby Morley.
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45 min: Sam Campbell gets in touch: “I don’t support either of these sides but it’s not hard to see why people get annoyed with the inconsistency of referees, when Rodrigo gets booked for asking for someone to be booked but the ref allows Martinez to run about 40 yards out of his goal to get him to go and look at the VAR monitor. Either both are bookings or neither are. Referees make it harder for themselves sometimes.”
Three minutes added on to this first-half skirmish in the South Leeds area.
43 min: Jesse Marsch would have done his nut if he had been down on the sideline. As it is, he’s calmly making notes up behind the plexiglass. His teams like a physical battle, and a bit of afters. Nowt wrong with that, especially considering it’s Leeds, always a tough school.
41 min: More aggro, as Ashley Young, the old campaigner, clatters into Aaronson, who has spent much of the afternoon on the canvas.
40 min: Meslier shows why is he is a good goalie. Lovely pass from Young and then Watkins is through, and yet he can’t find the net.
38 min: This time, Cooper clears the danger for Leeds. Villa coming into this one a bit more? Then a couple of fouls go in. Rodrigo is booked for dissent after Ramsey smashes into Aaaronson, and that’s a third yellow for Leeds.
37 min: Meslier looking a bit flappy…
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35 min: McGinn fires wide, and off for a corner. Leon Bailey takes. There’s a melee in the area. These two teams don’t like each other much, do they? It’s cleared at the near post but then Meslier comes out to the second ball and is none too convincing. Another corner results.
32 min: It’s getting testy out there. Stuart Attwell is being kept busy. Marc Roca is booked for smashing into Ollie Watkins. Villa players, Ashley Young leading the delegation, wanted a red. VAR has ruled out that outcome.
28 min: Jeremy Boyce gets in touch once more: “It’s very sad that all those people died at a footie match yesterday, no question. But hang on, how many people died in Ukraine, Yemen, Myanmar, Burkino Fassa, Haiti etc. etc. yesterday just trying to go about their normal lives and survive ? Someone did a goal, the ref blew his whistle, some people were on the pitch, they thought it was all over, it is now. The real sadness is, footie is just a game, but some people can’t see it like that.”
The problem with this argument is what took place in Indonesia was football-related. It’s the idea, like the myriad football tragedies in this country, that people went to a game and didn’t come home. I remember feeling similar in 1992 at the Stade Armand-Cesari disaster, when 18 people died as a stand collapsed in a French stadium. Found it very hard to get the images from my mind, same with tragedies in Egypt in Port Said or at the African Cup of Nations this year in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
26 min: Luis Sinisterra lives almost up to his name with a nasty foul on John McGinn, and is booked. More worries for Villa as Jacob Ramsey has a knock. He’s a rare bright Villa spark, and his brother is actually called Aaron Ramsey.
25 min: Villa look ragged. Mind, Villa look ragged every time I have seen them this season.
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23 min: More Leeds attacking. Rodrigo is allowed by Konza to smash in on goal, and just wide. There’s arguing among the Villa defenders. Too much space being found by the Leeds attackers.
22 min: Leeds get up a head of steam, though Aaronson holds on to the ball rather too long in the area. He is then robbed by John McGinn.
20 min: Jeremy Boyce, en France, gets in touch: “Speaking as a Sassenach lifelong NotSoNastyAsTheyUsedToBeLeeds fan currently living abroad but living it like i was in Chapeltown, who would you put your money on for an Andy Gray - Joe Jordan head-to-head ? 1 - 0 Leeds.”
I assume the Andy Gray on Qatar fame, rather than the youngster who played in the 1996 League Cup final, against Villa, when Brian Little’s lads utterly smoshed Sgt Wilko’s team. Whatever, Joe Jordan wins any fight, even that one with Gennaro Gattuso when Joe was in his 60s.
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18 min: Coutinho goes alone, shoots, but wide. That seems to be his job under Steven: pick up the ball, and try and so something. There’s the odd defensive detail, bit that’s it. It seems a waste of a talented player who would surely do better within a proper support system.
16 min: By the way, both teams have been on the attack, and goalkeepers called into action but nothing too threatening. Watkins ran on, and perhaps Coutinho, goalless this season, really might have done better. He had been upended, in mitigation, though not deliberately.
14 min: Colin Young gets in touch: “Don’t know.. maybe ‘taking the knee’ had its moment, maybe rainbow armbands aren’t always the right call, maybe even cancelling football fixtures for HRM’s demise can be justified..
“But on the day after the sport’s biggest tragedy and in the run up to a world cup that so far cost over a thousand lives, not a peep from anyone. Doesn’t anyone care anymore? Football is supposed to be for all. I’m not so sure anymore.”
They *are* wearing black armbands, and I am prepared to be wrong on any commemorations carried out but yes, not nearly enough said in the UK or the Premier League, for which Indonesia is a key market.
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13 min: Douglas Luiz hoiks the ball into the air, and without much care as to where it might land. Yeah, it’s one of those games.
11 min: Meslier, in the Leeds goal, flaps at a corner, but the second one comes in and Liam Cooper does his keeper’s sweeping up for him. There’s not much quality on show here.
10 min: Communication breakdown between Watkins and McGinn. The striker takes the ball down but the Scotsman fails to read the pass through. It rolls off for a throw. That’s a precious moment squandered.
8 min: A first proper Leeds attack, Harrison speeds on, and Kristensen comes in off the flank, plays in a pass and Rodrigo gets his shot blocked.
6 min: Villa are not playing with much verve now and forever. There’s a first yellow card, and it comes for Ludwig Augustinsson, the Swedish international making his debut after his loan for Sevilla. He’s on sudden death now, the full-back.
4 min: It’s been a slow start though Leon Bailey is perhaps lucky to escape a booking for a foul and then kicking the ball away. The referee, Stuart Attwell, was rather lenient there.
2 min: The players are wearing black armbands for the tragedy that happened last night in Indonesia.
1 min: Ok, here we go in West Yorkshire, where some form of memorial seemed to be set to happen, only for it not to happen. Jesse Marsch has a headset on, and is sat behind a screen in the fashion of an international rugby union manager. It’s a loud crowd we have here.
A reminder: Jesse Marsch will not be on the bench today due to losing his temper with refs on previous occasions. Let’s hope for some bluetooth headset chicanery or some NFL-style tic tac from the main stand.
Louise Taylor looked ahead to this game in our weekly 10 things piece.
Fireworks due at Elland Road as Villa come to town
Stuart Attwell will presumably be hoping history does not repeat itself when Leeds host Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon. Attwell has never forgotten the last time he refereed this fixture at Elland Road in April 2019 when Dean Smith’s then Villa side faced Marcelo Bielsa’s then Leeds team on the penultimate day of the Championship season. Both were assured play off places but the match contained a real edge which boiled over in the 72nd minute. When Villa’s Jonathan Kodjia went down injured Smith’s players came to a halt, expecting their opponents to put the ball out of play. Instead Mateusz Klich collected Tyler Roberts’s ball and curled a shot beyond Jed Steer’s reach. With Klich confronted by furious Villa players a melee ensured and Attwell red carded Villa’s Anwar El Ghazi only for that decision to be retrospectively overturned. Albert Adomah was duly allowed to score a virtually unopposed 77th equaliser but since then both teams have played four Premier League games, collecting a total of 23 yellow and one red card, while John McGinn’s reckless challenge on Archie Gray saw the Leeds teenager stretchered off during a pre-season game in Australia. Maybe Attwell should don a tin helmet?
Joe Pearson gets in touch: “No pressure, but you’ve got a 9 goal extravaganza to follow up. Good luck!”
Thanks, Joe.
For Leeds, three changes from Coach Marsch. Liam Cooper, Rasmus Kristensen and Rodrigo come in. Out go Diego Llorente, who drops to the bench. Cody Drameh and Joe Gelhardt are both out injured. Patrick Bamford is on the bench.
For Villa, without a point on the road all season, Lucas Digne has a heel problem so Ludwig Augustinsson comes in at full-back for his debut. Boubacar Kamara has a long-term knee injury and will miss the World Cup, too. Douglas Luiz comes in. As ever, Steven Gerrard will not be selecting Philippe Coutinho and Emiliano Buendia together.
The teams
Leeds: Meslier; Kristensen, Koch, Cooper, Struijk; Adams, Roca; Sinisterra, Aaronson, Harrison; Rodrigo. Subs: Klaesson, Ayling, Firpo, Bamford, Summerville, Llorente, Gnonto, Greenwood, Klich.
Aston Villa: Martinez; Augustinsson, Konsa, Mings, Young; Luiz, McGinn, Ramsey; Bailey, Watkins, Coutinho. Subs: Olsen, Sanson, INgs, Buendia, Nakamba, Bednarek, Dendoncker, Archer, Bogarde
Preamble
Why is this game kicking off at 4.30pm rather than 2pm? One for the Premier League to answer, though Asian worldwide audiences may be the answer. Anyway, on with the show, where 13th takes on 14th. Leeds, a point above Villa, have enjoyed their season a little more than today’s opponents, and have proved that a lack of Marcelo Bielsa need not mean a loss of their unpredictability, or even entertainment value. For Bielsa’s bucket read Jesse Marsch, a manager whose rages at officialdom and all-American charm remind of a minor WASP character in The Sopranos. He’s proven a few people wrong and has been a welcome addition, not least because he’s quite amusing when he gets heated. Steven Gerrard meanwhile, continues to embrace life in Sisyphean fashion, carrying the weight of the Premier League on his shoulders despite being one of its all-time greats. Villa have improved a little over the last month, an impressive draw with Manchester City being followed by a win over Southampton. After losing to West Ham over the August bank holiday weekend, Steven looked in some trouble. Win here, and Villa fans can begin to look upwards again. Leeds will feel similar, but let’s hope they can embrace the chaos and make this a fun one. Feels like that’s their role today.
Kick-off at 4.30pm. Join me.
