Leeds United 3-1 Barnsley: Right Klich - The Square Ball 25/8/92

ALL WRONG, ALRIGHT

Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman

The Carabao Cup always feels wonky and broken. A cup final in February, for crying out loud. Winter is not the time for cup finals, and the feeling that everything is in the wrong place in this competition lasts from the early rounds to the end, not that Leeds United ever get to the end. Bowing out at the start saves Leeds’ exposure to this misshapen tournament, but makes it even more jarring when somebody turns out to be playing somebody at Wembley at the end. In February. The things in the wrong place at Elland Road for this second round tie begin with the absence of former Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey, once the under-slitherling of Ken Bates in this parish, who on nights like this should be placed in stocks by the side of the pitch so clubs can raise a little funding by selling soft fruit and rotten eggs to fans for throwing at him.

Other things in the wrong place include the following. For the first fifteen minutes the ball was in United’s half, not Barnsley’s, and the famous 11km running gap against Chelsea was being closed up by terrace movements that were more frantic than anything on the pitch, as the wandering souls arriving late and lost into the stands went hither and thither trying to solve the puzzle of matching digital tickets on their phone screens to analogue row and seat numbers painted years ago on the floor. As the early choruses of Marching on Together faded, they were replaced by another old lyric, ‘You’re on the wrong row mate, your seat is down there’. Later some more classics came out from the song book of wrongs: ‘Shoes off if you hate Man U’, South Stand footwear waving in the air.

The Leeds team were at least playing in their preferred first half direction, due south towards Beeston Hill, but that put learner left-back Leo Hjelde on the wrong side of the pitch, far from his coach Jesse Marsch, who lost long minutes trying to wave and shout and signal and ask Adam Forshaw to tell Leo to, by god Leo, move five yards back Leo, just move five yards back. Marsch thrives on communicating so having his instructions defeated by distance was frustrating him, and when his feet tapped the touchline as he fought to be understood, he had a gentle collision with the linesman, both wrong place wrong time. Further along that touchline, towards Wortley to the north, the Barnsley substitutes were warming up, then around the corner flag in front of the Kop Brenden Aaronson and Marc Roca did their exercises outside the permitted zone, next to Illan Meslier’s goal. They’re new here, and I thought the fourth official had sent a Leeds coach over to restore them to the right place, but instead he pulled them to the corner flag for a tactical discussion they would normally have on the bench.

All these detours from the Premier League’s gloss is very Carabao, and it’s why these early rounds can be a tough watch sometimes. It’s good that NBC didn’t try pushing this game into primetime for our new friends in the USA. Fans’ interest in these matches comes from seeing a much changed line-up featuring lesser-spotted players, with excitement this time promised by the flair forwards, youngsters Crysencio Summerville and Joe Gelhardt, and newster Luis Sinisterra. But being much changed meant the rhythm was out of time, the passing routes were distorting, and Leeds struggled to give Summerville or Sinisterra the ball clean and gleaming for them to impress with. Liam Cooper, welcome at the back after his injuries, looked at Sinisterra demanding the ball on the left, and chipped it to somebody in the family stand.

Luis didn’t seem to take that personally, but did resolve that making an impact in his first start since joining from Feyenoord would be up to him. After twenty minutes he solved his service problem by getting a loose ball for himself in the middle, making some space away from a couple of Barnsley defenders, and shooting into the bottom corner of the goal to make it 1-0. That, and a couple of progressively more thumping tackles from players around him, helped lift the intensity, and ten minutes later Sinisterra galloped down the left, into the penalty area, and was brought down by Conor McCarthy for a penalty. Mateusz Klich rolled that into the other bottom corner for 2-0.

Leeds could have bullied Barnsley out of contention at that point — Klich was showing their League One players no mercy, Gelhardt slamming them with tackles on their goal line — but Mads Andersen got a goal back, heading in unmarked from a crossed free-kick, then two number fours had a couple of minutes to forget. The Leeds four, Adam Forshaw, shoved over the Barnsley four, Callum Styles. Styles took the penalty, but with a brush of Meslier’s gloves he hit the post instead of equalising. Seconds later he was being booked for a bad foul on Gelhardt.

A goal ten minutes into the second half put Leeds back in control, and it was one to please Marsch. Klich’s through ball was a bit far for Gelhardt, who chased it anyway, and got the crowd up with a big tackle on the defender trying to clear it. Sinisterra took over from Joffy’s backheel, testing a dribble and a cross on the Barnsley defence before it knew which way to be turning, and when that was deflected, Klich hit a relaxed first time shot into the corner, all smiles in the kickabout. He was having a good time again later when Cody Drameh and Liam Kitching got into a daft sort of scrap by the South Stand advert boards, and while Hjelde threw bodies, Klich was at his provocative best, trying to take the Barnsley players into stupid places where he would win, circling the edge of the angry crowd and laughing like a Shakespearean fool, put on stage to mock the serious for being so silly.

Klich had a great night, the wrong place footballer in his element. He has a long journey to make over the next few months if his footballing dream is to come true, to get from the second round of the Carabao Cup in August, to the ultimate wrong place, wrong time World Cup in Qatar in November. Watching Klich here took me back, feeling circular, to the first time he grabbed our attention, a great game and a penalty in a shoot-out against Burnley in the Carabao Cup in 2017, followed a week later by a mistake costing a goal on his first league start against Neil Warnock’s Cardiff. Our manager Thomas Christiansen thought that was so heinous Klich was left out until January, when he was loaned back to the Netherlands, with Utrecht. How glad I am that Mateusz earned his way back from there, because it’s hard to imagine promotion being so much fun without him. How I hope Leeds is still the right place for him to get everything he wants.