The Leeds United narrative to irk Jesse Marsch - Graham Smyth's Verdict on Crystal Palace loss - YEP 10/10/22

Belief is sustaining Jesse Marsch and his Leeds United camp in the absence of victories to validate their work.

By Graham Smyth

Speaking after a 2-1 defeat by Crystal Palace Marsch was still full of the stuff, believing in his team, believing them to be better than two points from five games and believing they will improve.

The dressing room has kind of people who will keep believing in what they're doing, he insisted.

But as he well knows, for fans whose entire body of evidence comes from matches rather than the training sessions, team meetings and individual Thorp Arch heart-to-hearts to which the American is privy, seeing is believing.

And what's frustrating about this Leeds team is that they clearly have something about them, but not enough at present to turn good moments into complete performances, chances into sufficient goals to secure wins.

The baby can't follow the bath water, because there was plenty to like in the way they set about Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, however it wasn't enough to prevent defeat or halt a winless streak from tipping over into five games.

With each game that comes and goes without three points, the 3-0 win over Chelsea gets smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror and the more Marsch's belief takes on a defiance. It will irk him and his players that this is the reality and the narrative, after such a good start to the season, but the Palace game was an accurate reflection of how the campaign has gone since.

With Luis Sinisterra suspended, Patrick Bamford returned to the starting line-up for the first time since the draw at Southampton in mid-August, Rodrigo dropping back into the attacking midfield trio behind the front man.

Joe Gelhardt made a strong enough point to his manager at Tranmere in midweek, scoring twice in a 5-3 Papa John's Trophy victory, that he was returned to the senior squad, accompanied by Darko Gyabi. The 18-year-old's inclusion came thanks to another absence for Junior Firpo, who wryly admitted in July that this season could be no worse in terms of injuries than his first at Leeds. His latest knock might well be a minor one, but 32 minutes of first team action in the three months since defies his summer optimism.

Marsch spoke before the game of the attractiveness of aggression and intensity and there was plenty of that from Leeds early on. Their pressing from the front caused unease in the Palace back line and an error from Vincente Guaita, whose rushed clearance fell to Jack Harrison, Bamford's heavy touch the reprieve.

That wasn't Guaita's only panicky moment as the hosts started sloppily, but when it came, the damage was done entirely by Leeds, specifically Brenden Aaronson.

The little American set off on a dribble that invited and then bamboozled several challenges, scampering between legs until he had a little pocket of space in the area from where he could curl a shot around Guaita, but not the post. Mercifully, Pascal Struijk was on hand to crash home the rebound because Aaronson's run, never mind Leeds' start to the game, deserved an opener.

Such was their dominance that 17 minutes had passed before Palace had what you could call a concerted phase of possession. And it should have got even better for the visitors midway through the first half when Aaronson's clever touch allowed Tyler Adams to thread a pass through for Bamford, whose decision to go with his left foot cost Leeds a second goal.

At full-time it took on the appearance of a sliding doors moment. Chances as golden as that one don't come along all that often and there wasn't really another like it in the game for Leeds. And as events of the next two minutes so painfully proved, it's imperative that chances as golden as that one are taken, because any mistakes are so often punished.

An isolated Liam Cooper's needless attempt to beat Jordan Ayew simply gifted possession, and then a free-kick, to the home side and they took full advantage. Michael Olise's delivery was met by Odsonne Edouard after he left Rasmus Kristensen in his wake and Palace were level.

The real shame of the equaliser, from a Leeds point of view, was that they had played well enough to lead the game and Kristensen was central to that, with his management of dangerman Wilfried Zaha.

Even if Palace were starting to move the ball better, more confidently and expansively, there was still no reason to believe Leeds could not go on and win it.

Bamford made a break for open space down the right, with Harrison haring up in support on the far side, forcing Marc Guehi to write his name in Paul Tierney's notebook with as cynical and intentional a foul as you'll see. The yellow card, for pulling Bamford back by the shirt, was preferable to a goalscoring chance.

The first half meandered to a close, a clash of heads between Robin Koch and Jordan Ayew prompting a long stoppage, and when the teams emerged for the second half a different story slowly but steadily unfolded.

First it became scrappy, Tierney's attempts to let it flow thwarted by niggly fouls, and then it became worrying for the visitors.

Palace tweaked their approach both in a positional sense and in possession of the ball, allowing them to bypass Leeds' press and avoid the scares and pressure of the first half. They got up the pitch with greater ease, found space in which to play and build themselves a solid spell.

Ayew was denied by Kristensen's vital sliding challenge, Edouard nodded over and although Marsch responded to Bamford's visible fading with Crysencio Summerville, the pressure continued to mount.

Mateusz Klich was next on for the Whites and before he could even get a meaningful kick, Palace went ahead.

Eberechi Eze, so quiet in the first half, had been coaxed into the game by Patrick Vieira's tailoring of the plan, and exploded to life to win it. He darted free of Summerville, evaded Cooper's desperate lunge and slammed the ball past Meslier.

Luke Ayling and Gelhardt made entrances, but with the ball kept at the wrong end of the pitch for so much of the final stages, there was little the latter could do about the scoreline.

Palace, a world away from the side that slumbered in the early minutes, managed the game expertly and even if belief didn't run out for Leeds, time did.