Whites hopes lit up by Seasiders triumph
YEP 21/2/13
By Phil Hay
There is life in the old warhorse yet, or so it seems. Three days on from what almost passed as a resignation speech, Leeds United gave Neil Warnock cause to think that all at Elland Road is not quite lost.
His squad entered the last-chance saloon yesterday evening and saw out 90 minutes against Blackpool without spilling their drinks. A comprehensive win on a night when Leeds deserved nothing less was enough to make their manager reconsider the state of an apparently hopeless cause. With the play-off places six points above them, it might make the Championship reconsider too.
Promotion is no more probable now than it was a week ago, not in the eyes of those who know how the Championship works, but Leeds are part of the shake-up still and a team whose attitude against Blackpool was that of a side with little to lose. If Warnock’s decision to ruffle the white flag on Sunday was a case of reverse psychology, it had the desired effect.
His comments after United’s FA Cup defeat to Manchester City were an open invitation for United’s owners to terminate a contract which expires in June but the decision which GFH Capital was free to make on Monday morning is unlikely to interest them today. One of the company’s executives, Salem Patel, was in the crowd at Elland Road last night and well aware that the enthusiasm for a public hanging had dissipated drastically.
Warnock was castigated by the club’s supporters at Middlesbrough and Eastlands but found himself listening to chants of ‘give us a wave’ after Steve Morison left Blackpool trailing 2-0 with 64 minutes gone, following up David Norris’ strike seven minutes earlier. It is the second time since the turn of the year that the 64-year-old has ridden out a heavy storm and he will not dismiss the threat of dark clouds gathering again. But nor will he suffer the humiliation of a season caving in before February is out.
This has been a torrid month for Leeds, a month of galling failures prior to last night’s win. Alongside valid criticism of United’s results under Warnock, there was room for sympathy too. Robbed by Cardiff City and Wolverhampton Wanderers and on the wrong end of a tight contest at Middlesbrough, Leeds have been the Championship’s self-harmers for three long weeks. With Blackpool at their mercy from the earliest stages, they found their taste for the kill again.
Warnock’s promise to go for broke in the final 15 games of the season and chase the dangling threads of the play-offs was backed up by the recall of Morison and the inclusion of two ball-playing midfielders – Michael Tonge and David Norris – in the centre of the pitch. It was not quite the arrival of the cavalry, but it refreshed an area of the team which Manchester City overran on Sunday.
Blackpool did likewise at Bloomfield Road in August but the past six months have not been kind to them. Relieved of two managers by other clubs this season, Paul Ince took up residence in the dug-out last night with relegation worrying him more than promotion. He reversed the bizarre decision made by caretaker Steve Thompson at Ipswich Town on Saturday and elevated his son, Tom Ince, from the bench. Blackpool’s disjointed manner was unchanged.
They were confronted by an abnormally large crowd at Elland Road – abnormal for this season at any rate – as the promotion of cheap tickets run by United’s owner, GFH Capital, pulled 25,532 through the turnstiles, and Leeds did not allow Ince to see much of his team in the first half. Mid-table fever was more apparent in the visitors than it was in Leeds.
The encouragement from Warnock’s players was the sight of Blackpool’s defence shaking on the earliest occasions when United pressed. Luke Varney dragged a shot wide when Morison broke down the right wing and crossed into a crowded box, and Craig Cathcart was fortunate to see the ball land at his feet a yard in front of his own goal as a mistake from Kirk Broadfoot set Morison free on the other side of the field.
Under constant pressure from the outset, it seemed unlikely that Blackpool would stem the tide for long.
Matt Gilks parried a goalbound header from Varney which would have buried itself in the net had it not flown straight at the goalkeeper and a desperate tackle from Stephen Crainey prevented David Norris from steering a loose ball into the far corner of Gilks’ goal.
Manager Ince quickly grasped why Blackpool, for all their flair, are nowhere near the running for the top six.
That flair showed itself on occasions, with Matt Phillips running onto a delicious pass from Tom Ince and attacking Paddy Kenny’s near post without success.
But Tonge and Norris controlled a midfield in which Barry Ferguson and Isaiah Osbourne were lost completely.
There were further chances before half-time – McCormack volleying two yards wide from the edge of the box and then driving a glaring opportunity against Gilks’ legs after tense and reckless defending invited another Leeds attack on the half hour – and the occasional opening for Blackpool too.
Kenny’s athleticism as strikes from Ludovic Sylvestre and Phillips flew towards the top corner of his net resisted Blackpool’s search for a barely-deserved sucker punch in the closing stages of the first half and on the balance of play, the visitors’ retention of parity at the interval was a travesty.
United continued to chip away at the start of the second half and McCormack caused trouble again when he anticipated Norris’ lobbed pass and scraped Gilks’ side-netting from a tight angle, but Blackpool’s football showed a touch more poise.
It took a desperate recovery from Stephen Warnock – caught ball-watching beneath Broadfoot’s long clearance – to stop Phillips beating Kenny from close range in the 54th minute.
Nevertheless, the defensive frailty within Paul Ince’s side was a permanent ailment and the key to the opening goal three minutes later.
Norris pounced on the rebound from a lofted McCormack corner, catching the ball sweetly and rifling it beyond Gilks from 14 yards out. It was a long time coming, but thoroughly deserved.
One goal became two in the 64th minute when Blackpool’s backline caved in again, failed to cut out Sam Byram’s cross and left Morison unmarked inside the box.
The striker’s powerful finish – his first since joining Leeds from Norwich City on the final day of January – was sharp and unerring, too fierce for Gilks to stop and destined for the top corner of his net.
It begged the question of where United’s season is headed as optimism showed itself for the first time in weeks.
By Phil Hay
There is life in the old warhorse yet, or so it seems. Three days on from what almost passed as a resignation speech, Leeds United gave Neil Warnock cause to think that all at Elland Road is not quite lost.
His squad entered the last-chance saloon yesterday evening and saw out 90 minutes against Blackpool without spilling their drinks. A comprehensive win on a night when Leeds deserved nothing less was enough to make their manager reconsider the state of an apparently hopeless cause. With the play-off places six points above them, it might make the Championship reconsider too.
Promotion is no more probable now than it was a week ago, not in the eyes of those who know how the Championship works, but Leeds are part of the shake-up still and a team whose attitude against Blackpool was that of a side with little to lose. If Warnock’s decision to ruffle the white flag on Sunday was a case of reverse psychology, it had the desired effect.
His comments after United’s FA Cup defeat to Manchester City were an open invitation for United’s owners to terminate a contract which expires in June but the decision which GFH Capital was free to make on Monday morning is unlikely to interest them today. One of the company’s executives, Salem Patel, was in the crowd at Elland Road last night and well aware that the enthusiasm for a public hanging had dissipated drastically.
Warnock was castigated by the club’s supporters at Middlesbrough and Eastlands but found himself listening to chants of ‘give us a wave’ after Steve Morison left Blackpool trailing 2-0 with 64 minutes gone, following up David Norris’ strike seven minutes earlier. It is the second time since the turn of the year that the 64-year-old has ridden out a heavy storm and he will not dismiss the threat of dark clouds gathering again. But nor will he suffer the humiliation of a season caving in before February is out.
This has been a torrid month for Leeds, a month of galling failures prior to last night’s win. Alongside valid criticism of United’s results under Warnock, there was room for sympathy too. Robbed by Cardiff City and Wolverhampton Wanderers and on the wrong end of a tight contest at Middlesbrough, Leeds have been the Championship’s self-harmers for three long weeks. With Blackpool at their mercy from the earliest stages, they found their taste for the kill again.
Warnock’s promise to go for broke in the final 15 games of the season and chase the dangling threads of the play-offs was backed up by the recall of Morison and the inclusion of two ball-playing midfielders – Michael Tonge and David Norris – in the centre of the pitch. It was not quite the arrival of the cavalry, but it refreshed an area of the team which Manchester City overran on Sunday.
Blackpool did likewise at Bloomfield Road in August but the past six months have not been kind to them. Relieved of two managers by other clubs this season, Paul Ince took up residence in the dug-out last night with relegation worrying him more than promotion. He reversed the bizarre decision made by caretaker Steve Thompson at Ipswich Town on Saturday and elevated his son, Tom Ince, from the bench. Blackpool’s disjointed manner was unchanged.
They were confronted by an abnormally large crowd at Elland Road – abnormal for this season at any rate – as the promotion of cheap tickets run by United’s owner, GFH Capital, pulled 25,532 through the turnstiles, and Leeds did not allow Ince to see much of his team in the first half. Mid-table fever was more apparent in the visitors than it was in Leeds.
The encouragement from Warnock’s players was the sight of Blackpool’s defence shaking on the earliest occasions when United pressed. Luke Varney dragged a shot wide when Morison broke down the right wing and crossed into a crowded box, and Craig Cathcart was fortunate to see the ball land at his feet a yard in front of his own goal as a mistake from Kirk Broadfoot set Morison free on the other side of the field.
Under constant pressure from the outset, it seemed unlikely that Blackpool would stem the tide for long.
Matt Gilks parried a goalbound header from Varney which would have buried itself in the net had it not flown straight at the goalkeeper and a desperate tackle from Stephen Crainey prevented David Norris from steering a loose ball into the far corner of Gilks’ goal.
Manager Ince quickly grasped why Blackpool, for all their flair, are nowhere near the running for the top six.
That flair showed itself on occasions, with Matt Phillips running onto a delicious pass from Tom Ince and attacking Paddy Kenny’s near post without success.
But Tonge and Norris controlled a midfield in which Barry Ferguson and Isaiah Osbourne were lost completely.
There were further chances before half-time – McCormack volleying two yards wide from the edge of the box and then driving a glaring opportunity against Gilks’ legs after tense and reckless defending invited another Leeds attack on the half hour – and the occasional opening for Blackpool too.
Kenny’s athleticism as strikes from Ludovic Sylvestre and Phillips flew towards the top corner of his net resisted Blackpool’s search for a barely-deserved sucker punch in the closing stages of the first half and on the balance of play, the visitors’ retention of parity at the interval was a travesty.
United continued to chip away at the start of the second half and McCormack caused trouble again when he anticipated Norris’ lobbed pass and scraped Gilks’ side-netting from a tight angle, but Blackpool’s football showed a touch more poise.
It took a desperate recovery from Stephen Warnock – caught ball-watching beneath Broadfoot’s long clearance – to stop Phillips beating Kenny from close range in the 54th minute.
Nevertheless, the defensive frailty within Paul Ince’s side was a permanent ailment and the key to the opening goal three minutes later.
Norris pounced on the rebound from a lofted McCormack corner, catching the ball sweetly and rifling it beyond Gilks from 14 yards out. It was a long time coming, but thoroughly deserved.
One goal became two in the 64th minute when Blackpool’s backline caved in again, failed to cut out Sam Byram’s cross and left Morison unmarked inside the box.
The striker’s powerful finish – his first since joining Leeds from Norwich City on the final day of January – was sharp and unerring, too fierce for Gilks to stop and destined for the top corner of his net.
It begged the question of where United’s season is headed as optimism showed itself for the first time in weeks.
