Pay the debt!
Last week Marcelo Bielsa spoke of the moment in a team’s development when recognition for the past is replaced by thirst for what is to come next. This week he spoke of paying the debt for the pain his team had caused the Leeds fans.
In the aftermath of the scum game I was furious that Leeds had allowed themselves to be humiliated against the arch-enemy again, and my gut reaction was that the players owed us big time. But actually, who really owes the debt here? There is only one answer. We owe the debt. We owe an enormous debt. To Bielsa, for putting Leeds United back on the map. For the joy he has brought and the team he has produced; a team that not only embodies everything the Leeds fans want to see, but takes it to new levels we could never have demanded. We owe the players too, who have sacrificed so much – poor Kalvin hasn’t had a piece of cake in over three years! We owe them patience and forgiveness, and acceptance that the electrifying football we adore cannot work every week; if it did we would be the greatest team in the history of football.
“We owe an enormous debt. To Bielsa, for putting Leeds United back on the map.”
Perhaps this is a ‘happy-clappy’ attitude, and clearly there are things Bielsa could have done differently last week. He spent 40 minutes answering two questions after the 6-2 defeat last season, and this time he spent 17 minutes answering one question. The most interesting aspect for me was the pivotal moment he described at 1-1, when Leeds had five players free across the box against only one defender, but lost possession and ten seconds later were behind. It sounds an exaggeration, but all five men had indeed ran beyond their markers, and only Lindelof was in position to defend. Raphinha duly put the ball directly on the defender’s head and the rest is history. The overcommitment to attacking cost us the game, but this attitude is the secret of our success. Nobody was complaining that Stuart Dallas bombed forward in injury time against Man City. That could have gone wrong, but it didn’t. Therefore, I am happy to take the rough with the smooth, and happy to clap the endeavour.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom last Saturday. We got to celebrate what was, in the moment, one of the best Leeds goals of all time. It’s now been completely tainted, but I still cherish the memory which was elevated by hugging complete strangers in jubilation for the first time in a very long time. Hearing the Leeds fans in full voice was another great joy, and the hatred they brought on our club felt strangely comforting. If the chants about Rashford and Sancho missing a penalty were deemed racist, I dread to think what the reaction will be to, ‘You’re just a fat Spanish waiter’ when Rafa Benitez rolls into town. Although Leeds will probably end up swapping ‘waiter’ for ‘wanker’ – one stereotype removed, so just the body-shaming and racism for MP’s and the gutter-pundits to scorn us for.
Against Everton, Marcelo Bielsa’s team will go all guns blazing whether they owe us a debt or not. After the 6-2 calamity, Leeds repaid their ‘generous and present’ fans with six goals and six points in the next two games, and two clean sheets to boot. After the first humbling under Bielsa, 4-1 at West Brom, Leeds responded with seven successive wins; the debt was paid with interest. Tomorrow the Elland Road faithful will pay their debt to the team with a response that is just as emphatic. After such a long absence it will be a spine-tingling event, and we will be incessantly generous with our support, and totally present, not sat on our gadgets like the fans of other Premier League clubs that are different to us, as Bielsa touched upon this week.
It shows the magnitude of the Old Trafford defeat that tomorrow feels more about putting that right than all being back together, but once we step foot inside Elland Road the negativity of this week will be completely eradicated. And once the players step foot onto the Elland Road pitch, there will be a noise that will stir emotions like none of us have ever experienced. We have been robbed of a full season of Bielsaball, and missing out on celebrating promotion is the ultimate ‘Leeds, that’ moment. For this we are owed a great debt, and tomorrow payback begins.
Rocco Dean - Author of Marcelo Bielsa vs The Damned United (porder on Amazon)