Bizarre approach punished as Leeds United inspire playground copycats - Graham Smyth's Verdict - YEP 24/9/23

A 3pm kick-off at Elland Road is the centerpiece of the weekend for many Loiners so a Leeds United performance like the one against Watford holds huge influence in the city.

By Graham Smyth

Anyone lucky enough to be there in person to see Georginio Rutter rouletting and pirouetting his way around defenders all afternoon in a 3-0 win left the stadium with a buzz to last for days. Clips of the goals on repeat, Rutter's highlights everywhere, social media awash with feel-good chatter.

Kids who might otherwise have no real burning desire to go to school on Monday will be desperate to chat about it, draw it and maybe even write about it but above all recreate it with their mates with a ball at lunchtime. By happy coincidence the Watford game fell on the anniversary of a goal Tony Yeboah scored at Wimbledon that inspired copycat attempts in playgrounds in Leeds and beyond for years. This week ‘doing a Rutter’ will be the modern day equivalent.

Even Daniel Farke, normally so sober in his analysis, planned to get on the coffee and cake in celebration.

It was a win to put a spring in the step of a city and this is the power of football, when it's good. When Leeds interviewed Farke he felt no compulsion to sell his brand of football to the decision makers because everyone knows the way he plays, but that style and a desire to possess the ball greedily was important to Paraag Marathe, Angus Kinnear et al.

Yes, Farke's proven track record of promotion from the Championship was key and he represented the kind of sensible, yet ambitious appointment against which there was no real argument, but style matters in the city where Marcelo Bielsa now adorns so many walls.

Once the people of Leeds got used to cake it was always going to be folly to try and feed them some of the gruel that followed the Argentine's tenure. Call it intense or dynamic until you're blue in the face, but it wasn't cake. What the taste buds of Leeds have become addicted to is football that is dominant and free flowing. Opponents smothered and then left eating dust.

This is what Leeds United served up to their people on Saturday afternoon and it was delicious.

Their rip roaring start deserved so much more reward than it got. Ethan Ampadu's curling effort was palmed out brilliantly by Daniel Bachmann and then Daniel James found Rutter all alone in front of the keeper but couldn't beat him.

The way Leeds were playing made life almost impossible for Watford, who couldn't get out of their own half. Ampadu and Glen Kamara bit at heels high up the pitch, Liam Cooper and Pascal Struijk kept things under control at the back and full-backs Jamie Shackleton and Sam Byram went foraging upfield. The front four buzzed around, rotating, linking and creating against a side who have been difficult to create against for others this season.

But this Leeds attack is simply better than other front lines in the Championship. It has quality and talent that, on its absolutely worst day, is pitched somewhere in between the second tier and top flight. Crysencio Summerville, James, Rutter and Joel Piroe are a problem for anyone. Rutter in particular came to play and was having fun, twirling away from a challenge that had yellow card written all over it to get Elland Road on its feet. It was playground stuff, to be seen again in yards all over Leeds next week.

So Watford's approach of not really attacking and not really defending in a deep, compact or particularly concerted way, was risky, to put it mildly. Leeds were superior by every measure other than the scoreline in the first half and were met only with some physicality and a few late tackles in response.

The Hornet's honking first half prompted Valerien Ismael to make a triple swap at the break and to their credit they pressed with a little more vigour and saw a slight increase in possession. It was enough, by the hour mark, to let the odd grumble creep in around Elland Road.

But then Leeds really began to click through the gears and when they hit top speed Watford could not live with them.

On 67 minutes Rutter produced more of his dribbling brilliance and sent James away down the right. The winger looked up and spotted Piroe at the back post and put the ball exactly where it needed to be for the striker to volley in, first time. Three minutes later it was game over, James' corner thumped into the back of the net by Sam Byram.

What pleased Farke most from there on in was that they reached the full-time whistle without conceding. What delighted Elland Road was the complete and utter absence of mercy. There was no let up.

Rutter continually skinned markers and Summerville's darts into space were impossible to prevent. When the latter had done enough, Farke put on Jaidon Anthony and he was in no mood to settle for a 2-0 win.

He had already beaten two men and brought a save from Bachmann before Rutter coasted beyond a despairing challenge in his own half and slotted the ball through for the substitute to run in and score the third.

Stoppage time brought more joy in the form of a first-time backheel pass on the volley from Rutter and a stone-dead killing of a high ball by Farke in his dress shoes. "Sign him up, sign him up," sang the home fans.

Illan Meslier, a spectator for 95 minutes, pulled off a wonderful stop to preserve the clean sheet in the final seconds. No mercy. No let up.

The full-time ovation for Rutter and co was every bit as loud as it was deserved. When the fans and their players are this aligned and the football is this good then there are few better places to be than Elland Road. Amid the celebrations though, Farke was in Rutter's ear, reminding him that pragmatism can sometimes trump displays of skill and cautioning against disrespect of opponents.

"I'm not prepared to sing or dance on the table after a few weeks," he said.

"When we are there after 46 games - we keep going in terms of end product, goals, performances - then we can speak about quality. We want to keep going."

No let up. But try stopping the singing and dancing in Leeds after a win like this.