A defender Leeds United can turn to for big moments as relegation battle nears its bitter end - YEP 5/5/22

Leeds United's Luke Ayling didn’t claw his way back up from League One over a decade just to live his Premier League dream for 60-odd games and return to the EFL from whence he came.

By Graham Smyth

Looking at the ranks of the fit and available as Leeds walked off the Elland Road pitch on Saturday night, Ayling stood out as one of the last leaders standing. Jesse Marsch, already without Patrick Bamford and Adam Forshaw due to a foot problem and fractured kneecap respectively, lost Liam Cooper in the warm-up and Stuart Dallas in the first half against Manchester City.

There’s hope for Cooper for the final four games - Marsch said as much at full-time - but, before Dallas can even consider playing again, Leeds will either have a decent chunk of the 2022/23 Premier League season under their belts or readjusted to life in the Championship.

At full-time on Saturday evening, Marsch was facing the prospect of facing the season’s death throes without four of his seven-man leadership council.

Of the three remaining - Kalvin Phillips, Rodrigo and Ayling - the last is the most vocal leader. He’s the one most routinely seen in the ear of officials, the scourge of slow-to-flag assistant referees and a man quite at home rollicking team-mates. We have seen a little of that from Rodrigo since Marsch recognised his leadership and included him in the ‘council’ but neither he, nor Phillips, are among the biggest voices on the pitch when the Whites play.

If Cooper is unavailable for Arsenal on Sunday then it’s almost inevitable that Marsch hands the captain’s armband to Ayling - he has worn it 27 times in the Premier League after all. Even if Cooper does play, Ayling will assume a huge amount of responsibility. And, at a time when only the highest standards will do, Leeds will need every ounce of the defender’s leadership.

With their fate no longer solely in their own hands, Leeds could do with the kind of luck that has deserted them all season long - even a tiny fraction of the good fortune that has befallen ex-White and freshly minted multi-millionaire Steve Hodge would do - yet the Premier League table already shows the folly of relying on anyone or anything other than your own ability to carve out results. Make no mistake, Leeds are in a desperate fight for their top-flight status and, all of a sudden, look a little out-gunned and out-manoeuvred and, when you’re in the trenches, you want men like Ayling next to you.

It’s not just his ascent to England’s elite level of the game, defying a false start, stacked odds and plenty of adversity that makes him an ideal team-mate in a tough spot, it’s the moments in which he has proved himself a leader. Moments like that madcap game at Birmingham City when he quite visibly took umbrage at the thought of leaving St Andrew’s with anything less than three points, or when he stormed the length of the pitch to make the Pablo Hernandez goal that all-but sealed promotion, or when he pretty much played as a winger against the 10 men of Wolves and had a hand in the build-up for two goals, scoring the third himself.

When Ayling gets the bit between his teeth, good things tend to happen in the final third. Leeds have missed that for too much of this season, for a variety of reasons. He, like all of his team-mates, has not been at his best and, like most of his team-mates, has had injury problems to contend with.

Playing in a struggling team is so much less conducive to the solid form he displayed upon arrival in the Premier League. Then there’s the managerial change, tactical upheaval and less-than-convincing performances playing a new style, albeit picking up results.

That’s all that matters now, really, the scorelines as full-time whistles go because it’s all about point-scoring.

If Leeds are to add to their tally, they need goals and big moments and few in the squad can boast a record of delivering in crucial periods quite like Ayling. Although at centre-half last season he retained his knack of carrying the ball upfield to good effect, putting Leeds on the front foot, it’s at right-back where his biggest attacking output comes.

That’s where Leeds surely want him, finding space, linking up with Raphinha, running beyond defences and forcing the issue.

Against Manchester City, it was almost comforting to see the Whites stretching the pitch, getting bodies close to the touchline - where Raphinha also does his best work but, if Marsch reverts to the four-at-the-back system that we saw before Saturday, it will be down to Ayling to provide the width once again.

It’s not just down to him to provide the inspiration and endeavour required to dig Leeds out of the hole they’ve created for themselves, there are other players, some with big reputations and price tags, who need to come to the fore in a way they haven’t on a regular enough basis this season. There are players with more flair, more pace and better technical ability, wingers and forwards who should be stepping up.

But, if Leeds need someone to turn to at a pivotal moment in the four huge games to come, someone on whom they can hang their hat, don’t bet against Ayling to bail them out again. He won’t want his fairytale to end in anything other than heroics.