Leeds United v Barnsley: Spirit earned us win – Warnock - YEP 8/10/12
hil Hay
Phil Hay
As Neil Warnock exited his post-match press conference, a Barnsley supporter in the corridor outside told the Leeds United manager to consider himself lucky.
Warnock gave the comment some thought. “The harder you work the luckier you get,” he said. “In that case,” the supporter replied, “you must work harder than anyone.”
They both had a point. Barnsley left Elland Road on Saturday aggrieved at the scoreline, the referee and the rub of the green but Warnock saw United’s win in a different context. “That’s our seventh game in about three weeks,” he said. “What we’ve done in that time is quite phenomenal.”
If that overstated United’s form then the Championship table did not. Through a tangle of fixtures and multiple injuries, Leeds reached the season’s second international break in seventh position, with as many points as Huddersfield Town in sixth and four fewer than Cardiff City in first. The debate over Barnsley’s misfortune promptly sucked Warnock in.
“I don’t think there was any luck involved in our win at all,” he said. “You get out of this game what you put into it.
“The number of times people put in tackles or blocks to keep our goal intact isn’t an accident. It’s team spirit, or so I think. And the way things have gone for Leeds against Barnsley in the last few years, you’d take a scrappy 1-0 win all day long. It’s better than getting battered by five and four.”
There was no argument with that. Leeds’ appalling record against Barnsley – consisting of 4-1 and 5-2 defeats in the past two seasons and no wins from six previous meetings – augured ill but with the assistance of the match officials, Barnsley’s finishing and the quick reflexes of their goalkeeper, United redressed the balance of this particular derby and registered their first clean sheet in a league game for almost two months.
There were signs of tiredness in the legs of Warnock’s players and suggestions of mental fatigue too, and the arrival of the international break is not at all inconvenient. A yard slower than Barnsley and less sharp with the ball, Saturday’s result was an strange reflection of the game.
Barnsley dictated much of the first half but were hopelessly wasteful when it mattered most. Jacob Mellis missed from an unforgivable range in the fifth minute, side-footing a cross from Tomasz Cywka beyond the far post, and caressed a volley into the hands of Paddy Kenny when David Perkins’ through-ball required a cleaner strike 12 minutes later.
Warnock watched his team “chase shadows” and promptly switched to a system built around three centre-backs. Kenny still stood anxiously as Marlon Harewood outran Jason Pearce and pulled a shot wide seven minutes before half-time. Nothing in that extended period suggested that the opening goal would come at the other end of the field.
It was gifted to United via a penalty awarded on 41 minutes by Darren Deadman, a referee who steadily raised Elland Road’s collective blood pressure. Deadman punished Stephen Foster for a body-check that halted Lee Peltier’s 40-yard run but was clearly committed outside the box. Keith Hill, the Barnsley manager, felt understandably incensed.
“He’s got a major decision seriously wrong,” Hill said. “Not marginally wrong, seriously wrong.
“Whose job will that affect? Whose opinion will it affect when people look at the league table and don’t consider our performance?
“This is a results business and we haven’t got a result. When we reconvene after the international break, the performance will be forgotten and the pressure will build.” Warnock confessed to “doing a Wenger” afterwards, claiming he had not seen the foul on Peltier clearly or watched a replay of the incident but he sympathised with Hill, saying: “It’s fair to say the referee didn’t have one of his better days. Both managers agree on that.
“But I’m not saying anything else because last time I had him and said what I thought, I got fined three grand.”
In the time that Barnsley’s players spent arguing with Deadman, Luciano Becchio and Ben Alnwick – the Barnsley keeper who was once a team-mate of Becchio’s for a matter of weeks at Leeds – engaged in playful conversation.
When Alnwick finally retreated to his line, the Argentinian embarrassed him with a chipped penalty reminiscent of the technical brilliance shown by Andrea Pirlo against England during Euro 2012.
“I didn’t watch it,” Warnock admitted. “I don’t like watching penalties.
“After he scored, Luciano ran over to Jeppo (United first-team coach Ronnie Jepson) and said ‘it’s a good job that went in or the gaffer would have killed me.’ He’s dead right – I would have done.”
With nine goals from 12 games, Becchio is once again the influential figure who went absent without leave at Elland Road last season. His prolific form has carried Leeds along but Warnock withdrew him after little more than 70 minutes of Saturday’s derby, annoyed by the failure of Becchio and El-Hadji Diouf to hold up possession and lessen the pressure on the defence behind them.
Twice Barnsley should have equalised, initially in the 63rd minute when a corner from Mellis rebounded to Marlon Harewood who saw Kenny react quickly to claw away his stabbed finish from two yards out.
It was no better a chance than that which fell to substitute Bobby Hassell in the third minute of injury time, again from a Mellis delivery. Hassell met the dropping ball with a weak header which Kenny held on the line after refusing to commit himself early.
“It’s great to know that when your outfield players make a mistake you’ve got a goalie as good as him,” Warnock said.
“He’s as good as anything in the Premier League, never mind the Championship.
“Teams have spent a lot of money trying to get good keepers but I think I’ve got the best.”
As for his squad in general, Warnock was more coy, despite United’s healthy position in the league. He lost Michael Tonge to a shoulder injury in the second half but said “two weeks off and plenty of ice” should bring the midfielder round.
“I’ll start looking at the table around the first week in May,” Warnock joked. “But last season I didn’t think we had any chance whatsoever of going up or getting in the play-offs. Not a prayer.
“There’s a long way to go this season but I look at what I’ve got and I see a hard, genuine team out there.
“My experience of the Championship says hard, genuine teams tend to do okay in it.”
Warnock gave the comment some thought. “The harder you work the luckier you get,” he said. “In that case,” the supporter replied, “you must work harder than anyone.”
They both had a point. Barnsley left Elland Road on Saturday aggrieved at the scoreline, the referee and the rub of the green but Warnock saw United’s win in a different context. “That’s our seventh game in about three weeks,” he said. “What we’ve done in that time is quite phenomenal.”
If that overstated United’s form then the Championship table did not. Through a tangle of fixtures and multiple injuries, Leeds reached the season’s second international break in seventh position, with as many points as Huddersfield Town in sixth and four fewer than Cardiff City in first. The debate over Barnsley’s misfortune promptly sucked Warnock in.
“I don’t think there was any luck involved in our win at all,” he said. “You get out of this game what you put into it.
“The number of times people put in tackles or blocks to keep our goal intact isn’t an accident. It’s team spirit, or so I think. And the way things have gone for Leeds against Barnsley in the last few years, you’d take a scrappy 1-0 win all day long. It’s better than getting battered by five and four.”
There was no argument with that. Leeds’ appalling record against Barnsley – consisting of 4-1 and 5-2 defeats in the past two seasons and no wins from six previous meetings – augured ill but with the assistance of the match officials, Barnsley’s finishing and the quick reflexes of their goalkeeper, United redressed the balance of this particular derby and registered their first clean sheet in a league game for almost two months.
There were signs of tiredness in the legs of Warnock’s players and suggestions of mental fatigue too, and the arrival of the international break is not at all inconvenient. A yard slower than Barnsley and less sharp with the ball, Saturday’s result was an strange reflection of the game.
Barnsley dictated much of the first half but were hopelessly wasteful when it mattered most. Jacob Mellis missed from an unforgivable range in the fifth minute, side-footing a cross from Tomasz Cywka beyond the far post, and caressed a volley into the hands of Paddy Kenny when David Perkins’ through-ball required a cleaner strike 12 minutes later.
Warnock watched his team “chase shadows” and promptly switched to a system built around three centre-backs. Kenny still stood anxiously as Marlon Harewood outran Jason Pearce and pulled a shot wide seven minutes before half-time. Nothing in that extended period suggested that the opening goal would come at the other end of the field.
It was gifted to United via a penalty awarded on 41 minutes by Darren Deadman, a referee who steadily raised Elland Road’s collective blood pressure. Deadman punished Stephen Foster for a body-check that halted Lee Peltier’s 40-yard run but was clearly committed outside the box. Keith Hill, the Barnsley manager, felt understandably incensed.
“He’s got a major decision seriously wrong,” Hill said. “Not marginally wrong, seriously wrong.
“Whose job will that affect? Whose opinion will it affect when people look at the league table and don’t consider our performance?
“This is a results business and we haven’t got a result. When we reconvene after the international break, the performance will be forgotten and the pressure will build.” Warnock confessed to “doing a Wenger” afterwards, claiming he had not seen the foul on Peltier clearly or watched a replay of the incident but he sympathised with Hill, saying: “It’s fair to say the referee didn’t have one of his better days. Both managers agree on that.
“But I’m not saying anything else because last time I had him and said what I thought, I got fined three grand.”
In the time that Barnsley’s players spent arguing with Deadman, Luciano Becchio and Ben Alnwick – the Barnsley keeper who was once a team-mate of Becchio’s for a matter of weeks at Leeds – engaged in playful conversation.
When Alnwick finally retreated to his line, the Argentinian embarrassed him with a chipped penalty reminiscent of the technical brilliance shown by Andrea Pirlo against England during Euro 2012.
“I didn’t watch it,” Warnock admitted. “I don’t like watching penalties.
“After he scored, Luciano ran over to Jeppo (United first-team coach Ronnie Jepson) and said ‘it’s a good job that went in or the gaffer would have killed me.’ He’s dead right – I would have done.”
With nine goals from 12 games, Becchio is once again the influential figure who went absent without leave at Elland Road last season. His prolific form has carried Leeds along but Warnock withdrew him after little more than 70 minutes of Saturday’s derby, annoyed by the failure of Becchio and El-Hadji Diouf to hold up possession and lessen the pressure on the defence behind them.
Twice Barnsley should have equalised, initially in the 63rd minute when a corner from Mellis rebounded to Marlon Harewood who saw Kenny react quickly to claw away his stabbed finish from two yards out.
It was no better a chance than that which fell to substitute Bobby Hassell in the third minute of injury time, again from a Mellis delivery. Hassell met the dropping ball with a weak header which Kenny held on the line after refusing to commit himself early.
“It’s great to know that when your outfield players make a mistake you’ve got a goalie as good as him,” Warnock said.
“He’s as good as anything in the Premier League, never mind the Championship.
“Teams have spent a lot of money trying to get good keepers but I think I’ve got the best.”
As for his squad in general, Warnock was more coy, despite United’s healthy position in the league. He lost Michael Tonge to a shoulder injury in the second half but said “two weeks off and plenty of ice” should bring the midfielder round.
“I’ll start looking at the table around the first week in May,” Warnock joked. “But last season I didn’t think we had any chance whatsoever of going up or getting in the play-offs. Not a prayer.
“There’s a long way to go this season but I look at what I’ve got and I see a hard, genuine team out there.
“My experience of the Championship says hard, genuine teams tend to do okay in it.”
