Yorkshire Evening Post 5/3/12
Leeds United v Southampton: Kelvin repels the white tide
By Phil Hay
So exactly how far short of the Championship’s
leaders are this Leeds United squad? In a table which apparently never lies, not so far as the division suggests.
A goal from Rickie Lambert carried Southampton four points clear at the top of the league on Saturday night, but if Neil Warnock saw this game as a comparison between his team and the best the Championship can offer, the contrast was not what he expected or feared.
United’s manager took the view that Leeds, at first glance, were “quite a bit short” of a side like Southampton, and the table says he is right. But on Saturday, their ability to dominate a club so prominent was indisputable, least of all by Southampton’s harried players. Be it the Warnock factor or an off-day on the part of United’s guests, something clicked at long, long last.
Defeat was unavoidable in spite of their rampant football but Leeds have pilfered enough points in unconvincing fashion this season to be philosophical about the occasional injustice against them.
Their campaign is slipping towards an unspectacular end and the play-offs are ever more remote, but this period of Warnock’s reign was not solely about chasing down promotion. It is a window in which careers at Elland Road will be bought and sold, and the bullying of Southampton did not suggest that many players are ready to go. The club, from top to bottom, will quickly warm to such a brutal level of intensity.
This was as well as Leeds have played during three matches in Warnock’s care, and as well as they have played for months; perhaps all season. Lambert scoring after 16 minutes – the only occasion before half-time when a Saints player came within shooting distance of Andy Lonergan – was a setback which Warnock could easily forgive on an evening of so few failings.
It is to his credit that a squad he has coached for less than a fortnight made better work of Southampton than they did under Simon Grayson at St Mary’s on the first day of the season. The result aside, it was a role reversal of sorts as Leeds set the rhythm and their opponents clung to the inevitable goal scored by Lambert.
Ultimately, Southampton manager Nigel Adkins owed everything to the immense resistance put up by his goalkeeper, Kelvin Davis.
Reports of a groin injury affecting Adkins’ stellar winger, Adam Lallana, were not exaggerated and the absence of his name from a strong visiting team was no disappointment for Leeds. It bothered Southampton, who missed him badly.
Lallana is one of two Saints players nominated for the Championship’s Player of the Year award, on a short-list of three. The other, Lambert, started as planned at Elland Road after nursing a twisted ankle through the week.
It was a player of Lambert’s ilk who Warnock wanted to compare his own against but containing Southampton was not enough of a plan after results earlier in the day cut United six points adrift of the play-offs. Leeds have long since run out of matches to waste.
Warnock’s earliest view from the touchline pleased him and the first 15 minutes played out around Southampton’s box. A shot from Robert Snodgrass which clearly struck the arm of Jose Fonte and a volley from Adam Clayton that Davis grasped on his goalline gave Adkins’ players something to ponder, and they stumbled nervously through a wave of purposeful attacks. The boot of Jos Hooiveld pinched the ball from Luciano Becchio as the Argentinian moved to strike a dropping ball at the far post, another incident which left the visiting defence exchanging uncertain glances, and it was cruel on Leeds, yet typical of their visitors, that Lambert scored with his first chance.
Quick movement of the ball passed Jack Cork into space on the right wing and Tadanari Lee met his cross with a cushioned header towards Lambert. The unmarked forward sized up the ball and lashed it past Lonergan with a vicious volley from eight yards.
The scoreline was predictable but it was a skewed interpretation of the balance of play. Within minutes, Aidan White presented Snodgrass with a more difficult version of Lambert’s opportunity and United’s captain hammered it wide of Davis’ right-hand post. Ross McCormack’s finish at the end of White’s knockdown was inches from creeping into the net.
At the same moment, Leeds lost right-back Leigh Bromby to the same sort of muscle strain which forced Alex Bruce out of Saturday’s line-up, and it seemed Warnock’s luck was failing him. Davis added to the sense of frustration by dropping down to make a point-blank save from Becchio after McCormack’s cross whipped in front of Fonte.
And so it went. Referee Nigel Miller – no great friend of Leeds United’s – turned a blind eye when McCormack and Morgan Schneiderlin collided inside the Saints box, ruling that the coming together on 26 minutes was accidental, and Fonte got his body in front of Michael Brown’s shot after the midfielder seized on a loose pass. Southampton can rarely have struggled to merit a goal as badly as they did Lambert’s.
Miller’s part in the drama became more overbearing and contentious as the first half wore on, picking and choosing fouls without consistency, and Warnock’s temper simmered. Snodgrass should have lifted his mood seven minutes before the interval but curled a shot narrowly beyond Davis’ far post. All the while, Southampton’s stray passing invited more of the same.
Adkins did not even attempt to hide his concern at half-time, replacing Jason Puncheon – an ineffective stand-in for Lallana – with Dean Hammond at half-time and asking Guly Do Prado to be less anonymous than Lee.
As an attempt to tighten Southampton’s shape, it failed miserably. Becchio almost scored three minutes into the second half when he prodded a Snodgrass delivery onto the roof of the net, and Warnock tried to force the issue by handing Danny Webber his debut four days after signing the winger on a free transfer. A limping White made way for him.
It took two sensational saves from Davis to thwart the onslaught in the 61st minute when Becchio nodded Clayton’s cross over the Southampton keeper and tried to force the ball into an apparently empty net. Twice Davis recovered to push the ball off his line, and his fingertip save from Webber seconds later was as difficult to believe.
In between those moments, Lonergan played his part by blocking a Lambert effort after the striker made a rare appearance behind United’s defence, but the exhibition of phenomenal goalkeeping came from Davis.
When the ball reached Webber in another dangerous position, Davis reacted in a flash to block the ball with one arm.
By the 80th minute, Southampton’s survival had become almost comical and Webber contrived to bundle the ball wide after Frazer Richardson, Leeds’ former captain, unintentionally deflected it to him four yards from goal.
Warnock wasn’t laughing and it beggared belief when Snodgrass and Darren O’Dea hit the crossbar from the same McCormack corner with chaos ensuing and four minutes to play Southampton’s players mobbed Davis at full-time but the ovation for Leeds was standing and resounding. Warnock must know how rare that is.
Leeds United v Southampton: Kelvin repels the white tide
By Phil Hay
So exactly how far short of the Championship’s
leaders are this Leeds United squad? In a table which apparently never lies, not so far as the division suggests.A goal from Rickie Lambert carried Southampton four points clear at the top of the league on Saturday night, but if Neil Warnock saw this game as a comparison between his team and the best the Championship can offer, the contrast was not what he expected or feared.
United’s manager took the view that Leeds, at first glance, were “quite a bit short” of a side like Southampton, and the table says he is right. But on Saturday, their ability to dominate a club so prominent was indisputable, least of all by Southampton’s harried players. Be it the Warnock factor or an off-day on the part of United’s guests, something clicked at long, long last.
Defeat was unavoidable in spite of their rampant football but Leeds have pilfered enough points in unconvincing fashion this season to be philosophical about the occasional injustice against them.
Their campaign is slipping towards an unspectacular end and the play-offs are ever more remote, but this period of Warnock’s reign was not solely about chasing down promotion. It is a window in which careers at Elland Road will be bought and sold, and the bullying of Southampton did not suggest that many players are ready to go. The club, from top to bottom, will quickly warm to such a brutal level of intensity.
This was as well as Leeds have played during three matches in Warnock’s care, and as well as they have played for months; perhaps all season. Lambert scoring after 16 minutes – the only occasion before half-time when a Saints player came within shooting distance of Andy Lonergan – was a setback which Warnock could easily forgive on an evening of so few failings.
It is to his credit that a squad he has coached for less than a fortnight made better work of Southampton than they did under Simon Grayson at St Mary’s on the first day of the season. The result aside, it was a role reversal of sorts as Leeds set the rhythm and their opponents clung to the inevitable goal scored by Lambert.
Ultimately, Southampton manager Nigel Adkins owed everything to the immense resistance put up by his goalkeeper, Kelvin Davis.
Reports of a groin injury affecting Adkins’ stellar winger, Adam Lallana, were not exaggerated and the absence of his name from a strong visiting team was no disappointment for Leeds. It bothered Southampton, who missed him badly.
Lallana is one of two Saints players nominated for the Championship’s Player of the Year award, on a short-list of three. The other, Lambert, started as planned at Elland Road after nursing a twisted ankle through the week.
It was a player of Lambert’s ilk who Warnock wanted to compare his own against but containing Southampton was not enough of a plan after results earlier in the day cut United six points adrift of the play-offs. Leeds have long since run out of matches to waste.
Warnock’s earliest view from the touchline pleased him and the first 15 minutes played out around Southampton’s box. A shot from Robert Snodgrass which clearly struck the arm of Jose Fonte and a volley from Adam Clayton that Davis grasped on his goalline gave Adkins’ players something to ponder, and they stumbled nervously through a wave of purposeful attacks. The boot of Jos Hooiveld pinched the ball from Luciano Becchio as the Argentinian moved to strike a dropping ball at the far post, another incident which left the visiting defence exchanging uncertain glances, and it was cruel on Leeds, yet typical of their visitors, that Lambert scored with his first chance.
Quick movement of the ball passed Jack Cork into space on the right wing and Tadanari Lee met his cross with a cushioned header towards Lambert. The unmarked forward sized up the ball and lashed it past Lonergan with a vicious volley from eight yards.
The scoreline was predictable but it was a skewed interpretation of the balance of play. Within minutes, Aidan White presented Snodgrass with a more difficult version of Lambert’s opportunity and United’s captain hammered it wide of Davis’ right-hand post. Ross McCormack’s finish at the end of White’s knockdown was inches from creeping into the net.
At the same moment, Leeds lost right-back Leigh Bromby to the same sort of muscle strain which forced Alex Bruce out of Saturday’s line-up, and it seemed Warnock’s luck was failing him. Davis added to the sense of frustration by dropping down to make a point-blank save from Becchio after McCormack’s cross whipped in front of Fonte.
And so it went. Referee Nigel Miller – no great friend of Leeds United’s – turned a blind eye when McCormack and Morgan Schneiderlin collided inside the Saints box, ruling that the coming together on 26 minutes was accidental, and Fonte got his body in front of Michael Brown’s shot after the midfielder seized on a loose pass. Southampton can rarely have struggled to merit a goal as badly as they did Lambert’s.
Miller’s part in the drama became more overbearing and contentious as the first half wore on, picking and choosing fouls without consistency, and Warnock’s temper simmered. Snodgrass should have lifted his mood seven minutes before the interval but curled a shot narrowly beyond Davis’ far post. All the while, Southampton’s stray passing invited more of the same.
Adkins did not even attempt to hide his concern at half-time, replacing Jason Puncheon – an ineffective stand-in for Lallana – with Dean Hammond at half-time and asking Guly Do Prado to be less anonymous than Lee.
As an attempt to tighten Southampton’s shape, it failed miserably. Becchio almost scored three minutes into the second half when he prodded a Snodgrass delivery onto the roof of the net, and Warnock tried to force the issue by handing Danny Webber his debut four days after signing the winger on a free transfer. A limping White made way for him.
It took two sensational saves from Davis to thwart the onslaught in the 61st minute when Becchio nodded Clayton’s cross over the Southampton keeper and tried to force the ball into an apparently empty net. Twice Davis recovered to push the ball off his line, and his fingertip save from Webber seconds later was as difficult to believe.
In between those moments, Lonergan played his part by blocking a Lambert effort after the striker made a rare appearance behind United’s defence, but the exhibition of phenomenal goalkeeping came from Davis.
When the ball reached Webber in another dangerous position, Davis reacted in a flash to block the ball with one arm.
By the 80th minute, Southampton’s survival had become almost comical and Webber contrived to bundle the ball wide after Frazer Richardson, Leeds’ former captain, unintentionally deflected it to him four yards from goal.
Warnock wasn’t laughing and it beggared belief when Snodgrass and Darren O’Dea hit the crossbar from the same McCormack corner with chaos ensuing and four minutes to play Southampton’s players mobbed Davis at full-time but the ovation for Leeds was standing and resounding. Warnock must know how rare that is.