Leeds United man takes the bullets but he's not the target - Graham Smyth's Verdict on Everton loss - YEP 19/2/23

Leeds United caretaker Michael Skubala took the bullets at Everton on Saturday night but he wasn't the target.

By Graham Smyth

Post-match press conferences would have died out as a concept years ago were it owners and not managers who had traditionally faced the media in the minutes after a full-time whistle. In truth no one was gunning for Skubala following a 1-0 defeat that plunged Leeds into the relegation zone and opened up the possibility of sitting bottom after next weekend's meeting with Southampton.

A performance and result like that has stirred many a board into action, sacking men who might well have been fully deserving of the proverbial bullet. But a manager is rarely, if ever, the sole guilty party when a team is bleeding results and a season is dying a death.

What managers generally find, though, is that when they can no longer hide behind referees, individual errors or rotten luck, they're the ones in the firing line, while those who appointed them stand well back. Angus Kinnear was right when he said, in the wake of Jesse Marsch's sacking, that 'the departure of a head coach is a sign of collective failure from everyone in the boardroom and on the playing side' but it was Marsch and his staff who paid with their jobs.

There will be no hiding behind Skubala, however, because even as the man who picked the team and oversaw the preparations for that disastrous outing at Everton, he can be apportioned the least blame. It is collective failure that led to him sitting in the hot seat in the first place, and though he gamely sat down to answer questions about where it went wrong on Merseyside, questions about how Leeds find themselves in the bottom three are not ones that can be fairly aimed in his direction.

You could argue that director of football Victor Orta, who identified Marsch as the man to replace Marcelo Bielsa, should be in front of the microphones. But Orta has a boss, and so you could suggest that Kinnear, as CEO, should be fronting up. But Kinnear answers to a board. And ultimately, that's where the buck stops - with the ownership.

A penny for the thoughts of Andrea Radrizzani, who in 2019 said he wanted to go down in history as the man who took the club back to the Premier League, as he watches them once again dice with the undoing of that good work. A cent for the thoughts of the 49ers, too, as they watch the club they're seeking to own outright in the coming months flirt with Championship status.

With Leeds a goal down at Everton and failing to muster a single shot on target, it was towards the board that the away end turned their ire. There's no Marsch to chant about now, and no one of a sound mind was going to turn on caretaker boss Skubala, so 'sack the board' was aired, loudly.

Everton fans nearest to the away section joined in, a rare moment of empathy breaking out. Prior to the game one set of fans held a protest against the way their club was being run but it was that set of fans who went home happiest thanks to Sean Dyche, a solid game plan and a muscular display.

'We've never shone so brightly,' goes the song they sing at Goodison but Everton didn't have to shine much at all to beat Leeds. A horribly scrappy game from start to finish was every inch the arm-wrestle that was expected. Skubala noted before the game that Dyche's midfield three were supremely athletic and physical and Leeds would have to match up. Yet with Marc Roca still injured, Skubala stuck with the midfield pair of Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie who struggled to do what they had done against Manchester United and could not get a grip on the game.

By the midway point of the first half Everton were on top and putting as many crosses into the box as humanly possible, but creating little in the way of clear cut chances. Even when Illan Meslier dropped a high ball under Amadou Onana's pressure they failed to get a shot off at the unguarded goal. The closest Everton came was an Onana effort, skied from the edge of the area, and a corner that caused enough chaos to necessitate a pair of goal-line clearances by Max Wober and McKennie.

As for Leeds, they came no where near a goal and they just wouldn't help themselves. McKennie tried to run the ball out, took it too close to Abdoulaye Doucoure and lost it. Meslier took a goal-kick quickly and Leeds looked to play forward with no one in the Everton half, so back came the ball. It was desperate stuff. Even the touchline fracas that led to yellow cards for Dwight McNeil, Doucoure, Adams and McKennie took place deep in Leeds territory.

The second half did bring a singular sign of life, Leeds producing their best move of the match when Gnonto turned a pass round the corner and Bamford drove on to find Jack Harrison who scampered into the area and passed it back, only for the centre-forward to kick fresh air. That was their big chance. Their only chance.

When Everton's moment came, they took it. It was maybe fitting that a game so poor was decided by a lovely finish that owed much to a mistake. Seamus Coleman's run in behind was clever, and the shot he produced as Robin Koch closed him down was excellent, but the gap Meslier left between his body and the near post was gaping and inviting.

Cue anti-board sentiment off the pitch and some huffing and puffing on it that amounted to little more than home chances on the counter attack.

Everton joy drowned out the full-time reaction from Leeds fans but you can probably imagine. Elland Road next Saturday will leave nothing to the imagination because what Radrizzani deemed 'impossible' in August has been made possible by everything to have happened since. This club is well and truly staring down the barrel. Someone, someone other than Skubala, should come out with their hands up and explain why.