Crysencio Summerville had his right to reply - The Square Ball 8/2/22

AND ANOTHER THING

Written by: Rob Conlon

Crysencio Summerville will have been rubbing sleep from his eyes when his week was given an awkward start by Marcelo Bielsa. In his press conference on Monday morning Bielsa confirmed Summerville asked to leave Leeds on loan during the transfer window. He had the same answer for Summerville as he did for Cody Drameh: “No problem.” Bielsa is always eager to stress he is not criticising a player for wanting to decide the direction of his own career, although he might like to ask Summerville who he’s listening to for navigation. “With all of this being made public, it’s no good for anybody, not for me, not for Summerville, not for Leeds,” Bielsa said. “But you have to see and understand the footballing world to know who made it public and what are they looking for when they make it public.”

At least Bielsa sanctioned a swift right to reply. Recovered from injury, the winger appeared in his first game for Leeds Under-23s since scoring a hat-trick against Sunderland at the start of January, playing against Liverpool on Monday night in front of nearly 9,000 fans at Elland Road. Mark Jackson’s team had only won once in the league since their last meeting with Liverpool in September, when a 4-0 win officially launched Joffymania. These days Joe Gelhardt is too important to play for the U23s, who were also without Pascal Struijk, Cody Drameh, Lewis Bate and Leo Hjelde from that win, allowing Summerville a rare opportunity to charm a crowd all on his own by inspiring a 3-0 victory.

If pride precedes a fall, Summerville was given a dose of the humility Bielsa prizes by twice sprinting through on goal only to slip and slide flat on his face. If you want to play for the first team, Cry, please make sure you’re wearing the right studs. For the rest of the game Liverpool’s defenders could only hope for Summerville tripping up again, because that was the only way he was going to be stopped. Their problem was that whenever they got close, Summerville’s feet were far too quick to let them take the ball from him, but then when given space to run into he burned right past them. For someone so small, Summerville looks physically superior to many of his U23 peers; when his tricks fail, he has a knack of ricocheting through defences anyway, like Max Gradel, surprisingly strong.

He was involved in every goal of this win, moving the U23s two points above the relegation zone in the Premier League 2 Division One. Cutting in off the right wing after being picked out by a superb pass from Jeremiah Mullen — who, like a Paul Heckingbottom wet dream, was excellent at centre-back wi’ t’ball and wi’out — Summerville’s shot was parried by the goalkeeper to Jack Jenkins, who scored the opening goal in the first half. In the second half the slightest of nudges from Liverpool captain Owen Beck allowed Summerville to earn a penalty, and a second yellow for Beck, before he sent the goalkeeper diving the wrong way from the spot. He won a second spot kick after tempting another defender to tread on his toes. Max Dean wasted no time rushing to ask Summerville if he could have his turn at taking a pen. Summerville was on the floor, holding a potentially injured leg, but Dean wasn’t there to check his teammate was okay. As soon as Crysencio nodded, still looking bewildered by pain, Max was grabbing the ball and scoring with a replica shot.

Charlie Cresswell was also back in the team after his shoulder injury, and is likely to be among the ten U23s wanting more opportunities in the first team, as mentioned by Bielsa. As the senior squad’s fourth choice player in his position, Cresswell is on the same pathway Summerville is becoming frustrated with. Cresswell has a tendency to take unnecessary risks for the U23s, like giving the ball away while attempting a Maradona turn on the edge of his penalty box against Liverpool. There has been no sign of those risks when he has played for the first team, which makes me think U23s football is getting a bit too easy for him, so he might as well practise some mad shit where the stakes are much lower. Even though he is stuck between being good enough for the first team but not good enough for the starting eleven, Leeds reportedly rejected loan offers for Cresswell in the summer. When Luke Ayling got injured at Newcastle, Bielsa reshuffled his team rather than turn to the inexperienced centre-back off the bench. Then when Cresswell was given a chance to start against Fulham in the League Cup, he impressed to such an extent Bielsa said he would now trust him if a similar scenario with Ayling ever transpired again. Cresswell made his full Premier League debut four days later. Despite some nice touches for the seniors, Summerville is yet to make that definitive impression. There’s no shame in that, but it’s one reason why Bielsa is urging his young players to be patient. Summerville has already seen off Helder Costa and Ian Poveda from the pecking order, so he’s clearly doing something right in Bielsa’s eyes. Why waste all that hard work now?

Attending this game was a disconcerting experience. The rituals and routines of going to Elland Road all felt slightly off. Parking closer to the ground, sitting in what would usually be more expensive seats, getting served easily at the bar, hearing songs starting in the West Stand. Above all, not really caring about the result was unsettling, like I was watching VR football. There was a group of students in front of us sheepishly trying to create a pocket of singing every now and again, but they collectively put their hoods up in embarrassment when one of their party shouted ‘I love you Kaide’ at Liverpool’s winger Kaide Gordon, who has been on the telly and everything. Another group of lads misread the vibe by trying to start a song about Mason Greenwood in the concourse at half-time, no doubt leading to some uncomfortable conversations when curious kids asked parents what was being rhymed with ‘Leeds United are on a bender’. U23s football isn’t really meant for grown ups, and one young boy had his year made by getting Sean McGurk’s boots, a more lasting impression of the night than some grumpy fans trying to get their money’s worth out of overpriced membership (by which I mean me).

Who knows what happens now with Summerville, who is unlikely to be involved in the first team’s Premier League fixture with Aston Villa on Wednesday, according to Phil Hay. It’s unclear whether that’s due to recently recovering from injury or breaking Bielsa’s heart by asking to leave. It’s hard to envisage Drameh having much of a future at Leeds after he deleted all evidence of his past association with the club, but Summerville was reportedly hoping to come back to Leeds in the summer better placed to contribute to the senior squad. When Poveda joined Blackburn on loan in the summer Victor Orta kept the door open for his return. “We feel Ian can make an impact here in the future,” Orta said. Perhaps Summerville can get back into Bielsa’s good books in the second half of this season. Bielsa has always insisted he has a place in his squad for players willing to fight for the club, and Summerville has a history of being up for a scrap.