Ayling is in control - The Square Ball 9/2/23

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CELEBRATING MOMENTS

Written by: Rob Conlon

After Alejandro Garnacho created the winning goal in the Manchester derby last month, Scum boss Erik Ten Hag said of the teenager, “He has a skill that I don’t see many players having.” Ten Hag continued to praise, listing everything Garnacho has recently learned — how to play in a team, how to live, how to do the right things through the week, how to have the right attitude at training, how to be a team player with individual skills. Ten Hag was so effusive you could be forgiven for thinking he was talking about Wilf Gnonto.

Leeds’ visit to Old Trafford pitted the young pup Garnacho against old dog Luke Ayling. If Ayling is an old dog, he’s not meant to learn any new tricks, but he still has a few things to teach Garnacho. Following the match, the winger who puts the fringe in fringe player posted two photos of himself looking frustrated to Instagram, with the caption: ‘When you don’t understand what is happening, remember that God is in control. I trust the plan you have for me.’ Who knew that the deity Garnacho chooses to worship is Bill Ayling?

Ayling’s performance won’t make his Leeds United highlight reel, but after months of the defence being consistently exposed, particularly at full-back, there was a thrill in Bill devoting himself to basics. When Garnacho got the ball, Ayling was there to tackle him. When Garnacho threatened to dribble, Ayling was there to kick him. When Garnacho resorted to diving, Ayling was there to show him how it’s done, relieving pressure with an Ayling Flop executed with such classical perfection I started applauding from the other side of the Pennines. By the end of the match, he alone was responsible for almost a quarter of the tackles made in the entire game.

Ayling got to his feet after winning that flop free-kick growling at his teammates in celebration. It was a match for the defence to stick to Jesse Marsch’s principle of ‘celebrating moments’. Maxi Wober, excellent again, kept pumping his fists every time he blocked a shot, channelling the spirit of Jason Crowe by clearing one goal-bound effort off the line. Ayling and Illan Meslier reprised Andy Hughes and Casper Ankergren’s routine with a header back to the ‘keeper that had me momentarily gasping before it was apparent they had everything under control all along.

Robin Koch could have been stronger for Marcus Rashford’s header, and Ayling and Meslier will be rueing lapses in the build up to Jadon Sancho’s equaliser, but all the backline — including Junior Firpo(!) — held things together and played well. Under Marsch, Leeds had the unhappy combination of having to work incredibly hard for what little rewards came their way, while making things incredibly easy for the opposition to benefit. Scum might have scored twice, but Leeds could get their kicks from making the hosts feel as frustrated as we’ve been used to.

Brenden Aaronson embraced the January 3rd vibes, coming off the bench and hitting the woodwork with a second-half free-kick like a teen college drama Bob Snodgrass. A few minutes later, Ayling almost relived his own recent history, shooting narrowly over from the same position as one of Leeds’ greatest wasted goals. The deja vu wasn’t lost on Bill, laughing at coming so close to shooting through time and space into the top corner of summer 2021.

By the end of the match, Ayling was stumbling over his own feet while defending a throw-in, moving with the grace of a drunk exhausted at the end of a hard day’s graft under blazing sun in a beer garden. His future at Leeds is undecided beyond this summer, when his contract expires, but he remains priceless in the short-term. There’s a line of argument that Leeds should be moving on from players like Ayling. For all its idealised logic, it doesn’t match up with reality. Rasmus Kristensen is the Champions League full-back signed to take his place. Cody Drameh is the exciting hot prospect meant to be overtaking him. Neither was on the pitch at Old Trafford, and neither name was booming out from the away end at full-time.

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