Leeds United chaos theory underpinned by 'immovable object' — Graham Smyth's Crystal Palace Verdict — YEP 21/12/25

By Graham Smyth

The Verdict on Leeds United’s 4-1 victory against Crystal Palace at Elland Road is in.

Leeds United keep creating chaos at Elland Road but it's the foundations that underpin a recent transformation.

Elland Road has a way of infecting minds with its madness. It can do strange things to football players, who find themselves doing exactly what they want to do or the complete opposite. The stadium's history is littered with individuals inspired to feats of footballing greatness and those who crumbled under the intensity.

There is confidence at Leeds United that the final days of Elland Road in its current guise are just around the corner and that soon enough it will be transformed to meet the demands of ticketing and modernisation.

But right now, at this precise point in the stadium's history, supporters are experiencing something that no one would dare tinker with. A football team is playing, fighting and performing in such a way that it feeds the chaos in the stands. The fans are responding in such a way that the team can feed off their energy. The result is goals and points.

‘Forget mad Friday, this was insane Saturday’

Crystal Palace found themselves the battered, bruised victim of Leeds United chaos theory on the last Saturday before Christmas. Forget mad Friday, this was insane Saturday.

One of the Premier League's best travelling teams, torn asunder by a newly-promoted side capitalising on all and any weakness they could find.

There are no gifts in the Premier League, so forget the idea that Leeds benefitted from some festive generosity on the part of the Eagles. This was simply Leeds earning everything they got, through a combination of hard work, brute strength and the perfect gameplan.

It took the game nearly 20 minutes to spark to life. Neither side were made to look unduly uncomfortable in the opening stages, though Leeds arguably got into the better positions albeit without creating much beyond Noah Okafor's whipped cross. Yet you could still find something to like in the way Daniel Farke had set them up.

There was Joe Rodon turning into a right-back by placing himself high and wide on the right to make surging runs and passes inside, whenever Leeds had the ball. That pushed Jayden Bogle right up into the front line, threatening to make runs in behind and keeping the visiting left flank honest.

Off the ball the hosts pressed Palace with purpose and precision. Off the ball Palace were passive.

When the action started to heat up it was mostly in and around the Palace area that it took place. Calvert-Lewin got a toe on Ethan Ampadu's long throw to force it to Rodon and his shot was deflected wide. That was to prove a portent of what was to come, but Palace did have a moment too - Eddie Nketiah bringing a fine stop from Lucas Perri after a sweeping counter attack. That was it for them for the longest time.

The longer the half went the more comfortable and dominant Leeds became. The won corners and first contact from those corners, initially without troubling Dean Henderson. If not a corner, then would a penalty do the trick?

Brenden Aaronson should have had one, twisting in the area and going down under contact from Tyrick Mitchell. Somehow VAR decided against the home side and play went on. So if not a corner, nor a penalty and if nothing is gifted to Leeds, then how about those Ampadu long throws?

Seven minutes before the break, the Leeds captain launched another into the penalty area, it made it all the way through to Calvert-Lewin and he tucked the ball past Henderson at the second attempt to claim his fifth goal in five games. Elland Road roared its approval and bayed for more. The team acquiesced. On and on went the bombardment.

Throw after throw. Farke signalled his seal of approval for yet another deep in stoppage time, Jaka Bijol got up to flick the ball over the back line and Calvert-Lewin popped up again to nod in a second.

The 2-0 lead was not simply a triumph of physical dominance or height because Leeds were comfortable in possession throughout the first half. They played some nice stuff. Palace were miles off it and paid for it. And the second half started in a manner that suggested nothing was about to change.

It was Leeds on the front foot, Ampadu hurling throws into the box, Anton Stach sending corners in, Rodon pressing high and sliding a lovely ball into Calvert-Lewin. The striker must have thought his hat-trick moment was arriving moments later when Leeds' nicest move of the match unlocked Palace's right flank and Gabriel Gudmundsson whipped in a lovely cross, only for a defender to stick out a boot.

Other than one lonely Palace foray upfield, it was one way traffic so a third goal was no surprise. The identity of the goalscorer was however. Aaronson headed a half-cleared corner back in, Bijol flicked it on with his foot instead of his head this time and Ampadu was first to react, nipping in ahead of Henderson to find the back of the net.

It was the skipper's first ever Premier League goal and only his third as a Leeds player. It was officially Christmas beating. It did not stop. Rodon's shot was deflected wide, Struijk's header was beaten out by Henderson and Willy Gnonto twice tried to feed Calvert-Lewin for a hat-trick goal that just wouldn't come.

Leeds fans were oléing passes as early as the 73rd minute. But there is a reason why Farke was still going berserk on the touchline any time his players got carried away. A reason why he was telling his centre-backs to keep calm and control things better.

He is a foundations-first manager, after all. And he was proved correct in his concern when the basics were not quite done right because it was exactly then that Palace attacked down the middle and Bijol failed to anticipate the ball dropping for Christantus Uche, Perri was forced to body the attacker and hand Palace a penalty. Justin Devenny buried it and had his header dropped the other side of the post seconds later, it would have been 3-2 and the chaos would have felt and sounded so different to Leeds.

But they returned to what it was that built their lead. The foundational principles of aggression, hard work and desire. Ilia Gruev sensed his moment to burst forward and put Palace under pressure and initially earned a penalty before VAR corrected referee Thomas Bramall's mistake. Perhaps the chaos was all a bit much for him, too.

In any case Stach decided they did not need a penalty because from the moment he lined up the free-kick on the left hand side it was a goal all the way. His shot whipped up over the wall and dipped down into the net. Leeds United were 4-1 up and the Christmas party was back in full swing.

Whatever it is you think about Farke or however many times your position on his job status has swung back and forth, one of his strengths is undoubtedly remaining on an even keel.

Elland Road can lose its collective mind, players can bend to the will of the crowd but Farke is the immovable object. Evidently not in the way he was still quite recently accused of being, because he continues to show tactical flexibility, but in the way he keeps everything grounded. Everything has to make sense.

The chaos caused by long throws is not random - Leeds recruited a specific physical profile this summer to be better at set-pieces - and the natural pause they bring grants a breath to a team who need to run around a lot.

When the big men go forward, there is always cover. Leeds will always set up in any situation to try and control potential counter attacks. Madness, yes, but underpinned by method.

Make no mistake, this Leeds team can play football and scored goals against Liverpool and Brentford by doing just that.

But they have a wild, physical side too that is proving difficult for opposition sides. Farke finding the right combination of these things at just the right time has transformed the narrative and their form. Eight points from the last four games could well come to be seen as the foundations of survival.