Leeds are entering a week that will determine the fate of their season - The Athletic 12/2/23

By Phil Hay

Juxtaposition was the theme of the day for Leeds United’s director of football. A junior match in the north of the city kept him occupied for an hour first thing. From there, it was down to Elland Road to take in a contest which has traditionally been the very opposite of child’s play.

Manchester United was the fixture that weighed heaviest but even that had to know its place. Leeds are juggling balls behind the scenes and as Victor Orta took in a children’s game in the suburb of Adel, he was on his phone constantly. He had business to handle. Shortly before 10am, news must have reached him of Southampton sacking Nathan Jones, another club driven by their own loss of faith.

Managers, as usual, are dropping like flies at the foot of the Premier League and it is that time of year when teams who would rather not look twitchy cannot help but twitch. Southampton have blinked twice already this season and are now in the market for a third head coach.

Leeds are enduring their own bout of deja vu; back where they were a year ago, in a situation they hoped they would not have to revisit any time soon.

Manchester United at home in February 2022 was the end for Marcelo Bielsa, the line in the sand. Leeds took another week to sack him, but a 4-2 defeat was the final straw for Andrea Radrizzani.

Here, though, were the same opposition again, in town at precisely the same time of year with Leeds in the same pickle and Orta charged with picking the next man for the dugout. Ideally, a choice would have been made before the game kicked off, but the managerial market refused to yield as Orta thought it might.

What precise difference a new head coach makes remains to be seen. While the dismissal of Jesse Marsch by Leeds made footballing sense, the Premier League has this season given mixed messages about the impact of a change in the technical area.

To date, it has worked well enough for Wolves and Aston Villa. But it has done nothing for Southampton and very little for Bournemouth, which is arguably more relevant to Leeds.

Leicester City are not regretting sticking with Brendan Rodgers. Steve Cooper has Nottingham Forest’s head above water. And while it is too soon to make a judgement on Sean Dyche’s partnership with Everton, game one for him was a good one (beating Arsenal).

Dyche is waiting for Leeds at Goodison Park on Saturday and if that looming shadow fails to sharpen minds at Elland Road, nothing will. One point from a home-and-away double with Manchester United was perhaps more than expected and undeniably less than Leeds deserved, but this is the hole they have been stuck in for weeks — talking about what could have been.

Michael Skubala has done himself credit in his stint as caretaker over the past six days. However, the bottom line is that Leeds have not won a league game since before the World Cup. This needs to change, and fast.

Both contests with Manchester United were engaging, save for the unholy chants about Istanbul and Munich which infected the air yesterday and seem impossible to eradicate or comprehensively combat.

This rivalry might not be child’s play but in the respect of unsavoury chanting, it would help if those doing them could find a way to grow up.

As for the football, Skubala found a way to make Manchester United sweat in both games. Leeds’ shape was better, their press was tighter and they took up good position after good position at Elland Road without finding a way past David de Gea.

Some of that was De Gea’s doing. Some of it was a lack of the killer instinct from Manchester United before the last 10 minutes, when Marcus Rashford headed in a deft cross from Luke Shaw and Alejandro Garnacho leathered a shot in off a post.

Leeds had slowly lost their grip after Patrick Bamford came off before the hour. The 29-year-old looked annoyed to be substituted and Luke Ayling seemed perplexed by the decision.

Erik ten Hag gave Skubala a warm handshake and compliments at the final whistle. “I said ‘well done’ (to Skubala),” the Dutchman said. “They were two great games.”

Where next, then in the short and longer term? Skubala said a training programme was lined up for the days ahead, scheduled for whoever was asked to take it.

Former Ajax boss Alfred Schreuder, Ten Hag’s successor in Amsterdam, was in the crowd yesterday and while Leeds have not indicated how close Schreuder — out of work since Ajax sacked him a fortnight ago — is to receiving the job, they are not denying that he is in firm contention while other targets lie beyond their reach.

He has come into the picture over the past 48 hours with Leeds not wanting the recruitment process to drag into another game. Skubala is expected to speak to Orta and other senior officials at Elland Road again on Monday but beyond that, had no expectation of anything else.

Skubala said that whoever Leeds do go for will inherit a team who “leave nothing in the tank”. That much was evident in two matches against Manchester United which, on the basis of how Leeds threw themselves at them, mattered intensely. But Everton away matters more. And in a long, hard and unforgiving season, this one week alone could dictate so much.