And Breathe....
AND BREATHE
Having previously written about last-minute equalisers, it gives me great pleasure to write about a last-minute winner. However, my reaction to Raphinha’s 93rd minute penalty against Crystal Palace did not conform to the usual expectations that a last-minute winner brings. There was no grabbing, pushing, pulling and squeezing of the strangers around me, there was no shrieking and screaming in disbelieving delight. Instead, I was awash with emotion. I stopped short of blubbing, but bursting into tears would have felt more natural than partaking in the ‘limbs’, for a number of reasons, mainly my love for Marcelo Bielsa.
You can’t spend as many hours thinking about Leeds United as I do, without thinking something other than, ‘In Bielsa We Trust’, and in the aftermath of the Brighton game my mind took me places I’d never wish to go. I was worried, not so much about relegation, but about Bielsa’s future. If we lost to Palace and Brentford, then got four spankings against the elite, would he start questioning his own position? What would it take for Radrizzani to crucify The Messiah? No man is bigger than the club, but no manager is greater than Bielsa, and I just want to watch Bielsaball. I want to hear his pearls of wisdom each week, and see photos of him in Costa and Morisons, and have the option of driving through Wetherby just because there’s a slim chance of glimpsing The Great Man. Leeds have to stay up to prolong the Bielsa era, and Raphinha’s ice-cool penalty moved Leeds away from the relegation zone and ensured the beginning of the end wasn’t nigh. ‘We can breathe again’ said Bielsa afterwards, a comment that justified my instinctive lack of reaction. The moment felt too important for the frivolity of limbs.
“ It was Stuart Dallas’s face that best summed up the team’s performance, when he used it to make a vital tackle on Zaha after stumbling to the ground”
I felt emotional for the players too. The Dogs of War. They have already earnt a lifetime of respect from me, but against Crystal Palace this was re-affirmed in the face of adversity. It was Stuart Dallas’s face that best summed up the team’s performance, when he used it to make a vital tackle on Zaha after stumbling to the ground. What a warrior. Dallas was terrific all night and back to his best, while Cooper was Cooperish, which in my eyes means heading, tackling, and blocking anything that comes in his vicinity, and leading like the inspirational captain he is. Dan James came to life in the second half, his best game for Leeds, something I’ve said before and hope I keep saying. Special mentions are deserved for Roberts and Firpo too, performing while knowing so many doubt you must require extreme levels of courage, as does sticking away a 93rd minute penalty. Raphinha was never going to miss, but it didn’t feel like that at the time, especially when his run up was interrupted by the dreaded stutter. All the players deserve a mention, and Forshaw deserves his own paragraph, but instead I’ll end the individual eulogies by declaring Adam Forshaw’s comeback as the yardstick that all future comebacks will be measured against. Two years out and returning to a higher league, the best and fastest league in the world, and looking the best and fittest player on the pitch in every match. It has been truly remarkable. Take a bow la!
The extreme scrutiny that Leeds United are under must have also contributed to my emotional state. Leeds are struggling, and the pressure of trying to avoid the Championship almost feels greater than the pressure of trying to escape it. The increased exposure that the Premier League brings only amplifies the feeling. Leeds and Bielsa are never far from the agenda for respected and gutter pundits alike, who talk drivel in order to create news that doesn’t exist. And it’s impossible not to get sucked in, even if it’s just to shoot-down the bullshit these so-called experts talk, like I’m doing right now. It was so much easier when we only had Colin Murray and Dean Ashton critiquing us, on a channel ‘EPL fans’ have probably never heard of.
“if Leeds lose to Brentford it will be back to the drawing board. If we win, we will be dancing in the tranquil waters of midtable,”
‘Always a victory brings happiness’ said Bielsa, ‘and in a human group, happiness is indispensable.’ The Leeds United fanbase is a human group, and life is so much easier when the Leeds fans are happy. On the morning after the night before a weight had been lifted from our shoulders, but around the corner is another massive game, even bigger than the last. My dad compared these two home games to a two-legged play-off semi-final, and if Leeds lose to Brentford it will be back to the drawing board. If we win, we will be dancing in the tranquil waters of midtable, but even then, there are four sharks circling and waiting to attack, one by one. We can breathe again, Marcelo, but not for long.
Rocco Dean - Author of Marcelo Bielsa vs The Damned United (order on Amazon)