Crystal Palace 2-1 Leeds United: Bunched up - The Square Ball 10/10/22

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Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman

It was tough on Brenden Aaronson and typical that he didn’t even get the notch for his — yes, his — wondergoal — yes, wonder — at Selhurst Park. And it’s typical that, as with Luis Sinisterra’s big moment at Brentford, Leeds United didn’t capitalise on the beauty to win. Two rare moments of first team class in a month when we’ve been relying on the Under-21s for our fun, and nothing to show for them except Monday morning recriminations and mutterings that, well, Steve Bruce is available now.

Aaronson deserved more from Sunday afternoon against Crystal Palace, but whether Leeds deserved more than a 2-1 defeat is secondary to the fact that they should have got more. Twenty minutes in, leading 1-0, Wilfried Zaha was off the ball and on the floor and United looked like they had the match, and the result, under control. It was all going according to Jesse Marsch’s plan, too. The Palace defence was nervous under pressure, of which Leeds had plenty to put down, and United were getting chances from one of Marsch’s trademark creative outlets, the opposition goalkeeper. Vicente Guaita nearly gave up an early goal when Marc Guéhi hammered a back pass right at him, then he soon succumbed to a sneak attack from Jackie Harrison, losing possession in his own box. As the glorious dawn of this side’s 3-0 win over Chelsea has reversed path, the sun dipping apologetically back under the horizon, bits like this still glow like the Selhurst corona that was illuminating the hairs straying from Pascal Struijk’s hairband. Leeds might not be the most creative team going forward, but they can be one of the most frightening.

That’s only coming in short spells, though, and it’s putting a premium on goals like the opener here. An early strike would have lifted the gloom against Aston Villa last week, changing the game, and any burst of Aaronson energy like this is bound to cheer any Leeds fan up. Pressing created a high turnover, Aaronson was played in from the right, and his little zig-zagging run, his head pecking like a chicken after feed, was worth his Medford Messi nickname. This dribble through half the Palace defence could have easily gone nowhere, but Aaronson’s shot had quality too, beating the keeper but only swerving onto the post. No worries, except for Brenden’s pride; Struijk, the centre-back playing left-back, was up in the box to swing a long leg and pop the ball in safe and sound.

If only Pat Bamford’s mood had the confidence or sharpness of either Aaronson or Struijk, Leeds could have won in the end. Another little move was busted by Brenden between the lines, and suddenly Bamford, starting again after injury again, was through on goal. Bamford has a famous story about his loan spell at Palace, how Alan Pardew didn’t know he was left-footed. There was no doubting it here. The ball was set sweetly for a right foot finish but by coming on his wrong side, the chance gave Bamford something to think about, the last thing a striker wants when they’re chasing goals after a year away. He decided on a southpaw jab and rolled the ball into Guaita’s midriff.

Given another couple of minutes it was 1-1. I don’t know what Liam Cooper was trying when he rotated slowly like a broken music-box dancer and gave away a free-kick, or why Odsonne Édouard was allowed to head the subsequent cross in so easily. By the end of the second half, I had many more questions, on many different subjects. Palace manager Patrick Vieira used the interval to give his players a short primer on beating the Leeds press — when three white shirts bear down on you, pass backwards then chip over them — and the Eagles played the rest of the game secure from United’s scampering assaults. He got Zaha to stand further off Rasmus Kristensen, so after being marked out of the first half by United’s right-back, he got a little more by running at him with the ball — not too much, because Kristensen played well. Without chances to steal the ball, Leeds struggled to build attacks, and when they did go forward it was mindless. We know Marsch loves video analysis and the second half made this week’s work an easy task. He’ll be pausing the footage in every promising situation and asking whoever had the ball, why did you just kick it nowhere to nobody?

For all that, Leeds were dwindling to a decent draw until a substitution — Mateusz Klich for Aaronson — put them into a thirty second nap while Palace scored their winner. With players back, Leeds should have been able to cope with a long free-kick being floated forward, but Palace passed in from the wing and in between Crysencio Summerville’s first and second check on his nearest player, Eberechi Eze sprinted away from him to collect Zaha’s pass. He trotted around Cooper’s diving block and could pick any spot past Illan Meslier. Whatever Klich had been brought on to do was lost to the sort of reverse midas touch Marsch is suffering from with his subs, and only Joe Gelhardt, the dice’s last throw, got anywhere. He nearly got into wondergoal realms himself, chipping a ball up with his back to goal, trying to turn and volley, but it was a weak hit and an equaliser stayed firmly in dreamland.

Afterwards, Marsch tried focusing on the positives, repeating his recently acquired rhetoric that this is a young team and he loves the players. In attack, I’m not sure that it was Bamford or Rodrigo’s youth that was the problem. I could take issue about whether some of Marsch’s advice carries the right amount of tactical clarity: “We’d like our players to slow down,” he said, “slow themselves down a little bit and execute with a little bit more quality, but still doing it at a high speed of play.” Slow down at high speed? Right boss, got it. A bigger burden might be that Marsch is asking too much of Leeds in their good moments. He wants more goals, and “a way to continue to be effective in the last third, and when we’re on top of matches to capitalise … most of the teams I coach, we score goals in bunches, and here we just aren’t able to reward ourselves in big moments.” Marsch’s aim is to score when Leeds are on top but not just once — he wants two or three from a good spell, or whatever constitutes a ‘bunch’. That could actually have happened in the opening stages against Palace — the two goalie errors and Bamford’s chance added to Struijk’s score would have made four, and that’s definitely a bunch. But with a half-fit Bamford, and whatever Rodrigo is, combining in attack, it’s also wildly optimistic to base a plan on the idea of a good twenty minutes yielding four goals.

It also relies on an area of the pitch where Leeds seem caught between ideas, and caught out — somehow — by Bamford’s lack of fitness and Rodrigo’s uneven form, neither of which are news. Casting our minds back to May, Eddie Nketiah was expected to solve this on a free from Arsenal. Now, there are still reports about Victor Orta chasing an expensive deal for a reluctant Cody Gakpo in January, after near misses with Charles De Ketelaere and Bamba Dieng. Wilfried Gnonto is here, but has slotted into the junior ranks with Gelhardt, Mateo Joseph and Sonny Perkins, the last of whom seems to be the club’s main source of goals at any level this season. Should we be chucking Perkins in? Given there’s an Nketiah/Gakpo shaped space haunting our attack, I don’t know what Leeds would have to lose from slinging him in as a sub. Equally, Leeds could get better without getting drastic, by simply getting Luis Sinisterra going. Between now and the World Cup, I’d like him to get a run of games with Aaronson and Harrison behind Bamford, as near as damn it a first choice attack that has so far been mythical.

I’d like more from midfield, too; it’s all very well for Marsch to tell us Palace were chipping balls over them, but Tyler Adams and Marc Roca don’t seem able to turn their workrate towards any other task than the high press and fouling. We saw a lovely left-foot passing game from Roca in pre-season, but in-season there’s not been much call for it over five yards to the teammates crowding around him in the middle. With a lot to do in the second half the defence held up pretty well, with Robin Koch quietly succeeding at last in his third season, but it was a fractious zone by the end, the team beset by bickering and complaints. So that’s just the attack, the midfield and the defence with room to improve. Overall, by full-time, Leeds looked like a team that would benefit less from Marsch’s love, more from a good old-fashioned air-clearing intra-squad argument, or maybe a day out go-karting or something. Kevin Blackwell always used to take them go-karting at times like these.