Why murderball is a problem, but not for Leeds United - Graham Smyth's Verdict on win at West Ham - YEP 17/1/22
By Graham Smyth
At the end of a week that brought questions over the
suitability of his training methods during an injury crisis, Marcelo Bielsa
sent his men out to grace the Olympic Park's London Stadium with a muscular,
athletic, lung-bursting performance that fully deserved the 3-2 win at the end
of it.
Patrick Bamford was among a host of unavailable players,
Rodrigo was a man among boys on the substitutes bench and both Adam Forshaw and
Junior Firpo limped off in the first half, yet Leeds somehow still had enough.
Had they crumbled in the face of a level of adversity that
would have sent others scurrying to the Premier League with a filled-in
postponement request form, Bielsa would have been metaphorically but soundly
beaten with the hamstrings of Forshaw and Firpo. Suspicions, noted in the
national press this week, about the relationship between murderball and its
impact on players' bodies would have grown into a full blown forensic
ex
amination.
But they didn't crumble. In fact, even with a 3-2 lead to
protect, even with sufficient cause to stay compact and defensively disciplined
in their own half, they ran after more with reckless abandon. Only another
cruel VAR intervention and the woodwork robbed them of a fourth goal as they
pressed on and on. It was murder on West Ham, who had to play in midweek and
struggled to match the visitors' intensity.
It wasn't a perfect performance from Leeds, there were
wobbles and mistakes, but there was an abundance of fight that, married to the
clinical manner in which they capitalised on space West Ham gifted them, made
them worthy winners.
A side often accused of naivety were ruthless and Jack
Harrison, often unable to produce end product this season, scored all three
goals.
The return of Pascal Struijk allowed Marcelo Bielsa to fight
fire with fire, pitting his imposing centre-half against the indomitable
Michail Antonio. He put Robin Koch in a defensive midfield role which freed
Forshaw up to join Mateusz Klich further forward.
Between the three of them, their energy and intelligence
gave the Whites a suffocating presence in the middle of the pitch, like a white
blanket covering the Hammers.
It was obvious, from the off, that Leeds were in the mood. A
move that swept from right to left earned an early corner. Daniel James nipped
in to rob Issa Diop high up the pitch and create havoc.
The opener, on 10 minutes, was deserved. Luke Ayling sprayed
a long ball down the right for Raphinha to run onto, his cut-back was struck
goalward by Klich and Lukasz Fabianski could only palm the rebound to Forshaw
who kept his cool and teed up Harrison.
West Ham were able to start creating, Declan Rice's
trademark forward runs proving problematic before a pair of dangerous balls
whizzed through the Leeds area, the second of which needed Firpo's intervention
to stop Jarrod Bowen from scoring.
Then the injuries came and for a little while it was chaos.
Forshaw and Firpo hurt themselves almost simultaneously, necessitating the 22nd
and 23rd minute introductions of Lewis Bate and Leo Hjelde.
West Ham smelled blood and it took a huge block from Stuart
Dallas to deny Antonio.
Struijk was unable to stay with Craig Dawson as a corner
came in from the left, a train of bodies constructed by the hosts blocking the
Leeds defender as his man met the delivery only to head wide with the goal
gaping.
It was a warning Leeds did not heed. The next corner was an
equally wicked delivery and Bowen simply spun to leave Dallas in his wake and
power in a free header.
This was the first of two periods that looked almost
insurmountable for Leeds, and yet they recovered to go ahead once more.
Retaking the lead from their own corner was so unexpected
that when Ayling nodded Raphinha's cross to the back post and Harrison bundled
it in, even the winger looked stunned. The celebrations took a second or two to
kick in but there was no need for VAR, Harrison was well onside and the away
end was bouncing.
The basketball game people associate with Leeds broke out,
the teams taking turns to attack. Rice ran into the area and hit the
sidenetting with only Meslier to beat, before good work from Bate fed Raphinha
who put James in on goal, his shot too tame to trouble Fabianski.
Harrison then curled a ball down the left for the makeshift
striker who cut inside and curled the ball a whisker to the wrong side of the
far post as Leeds ended the half hoping they would not rue their missed
chances.
That looked to be the case seven minutes after the break.
Having failed to play out once and got away with it, Rice firing over after
picking off Ayling's pass for Bate, they paid the price the second time. Ayling
tried to feed Bate on halfway, the midfielder couldn't control under pressure
and Rice found Antonio, he touched it on for Fornals and he slid the ball into
the net.
The goal lifted the home support and for a few minutes it
looked as if a wobbling Leeds were on the cusp of collapse. But a bit of hard
work and an even bigger bit of magic put them back in front. Dallas stormed
forward to intercept a pass, Raphinha split the Hammers with a through ball and
Harrison dinked Fabianski for his hat-trick.
Suddenly it was Moyes' men looking fragile and only the post
kept them from a two-goal deficit, Raphinha's beautiful free-kick bouncing off
the woodwork.
Bielsa went for it then, laying his cards on the table with
an attacking substitution, Rodrigo replacing Bate, and the Spaniard was
straight into the action, unwittingly depriving his team of a fourth goal.
Ayling won it deep in his own half, fed Raphinha and he blew
past Diop before cutting the ball back to Klich. The Pole finished with aplomb
and Leeds looked home and hosed, until VAR struck again, deciding the glancing
touch off Rodrigo that Klich's goalbound shot took on its way in was enough to
rule it out.
It wasn't all rank bad luck though, West Ham had the ball in
the net again themselves only for an offside flag to go up. Bowen, this week at
least, was interfering with play.
Worse was to come for the ex Hull man, letting slip a huge
chance to level by chesting the ball over Meslier's bar from a couple of yards
out.
The final whistle was both a relief and a reward for the
exhausted legs and gasping lungs of Bielsa's men.
What they do next will be key, with a fortnight left in the
transfer window and an undeniable need for reinforcements, not to mention a
game against Newcastle United. The intensity cannot drop in the recruitment
department or on the training ground. It's all hands to the pumps and there's
no rest for the wicked but two wins from two have Leeds up and running in the
Premier League this year. They can't stop now.