Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Leeds United 4: Scoreline tells a fraction of the story but the only bit that matters to Whites - Yorkshire Post 18/3/23
A year to the day after Luke Ayling scored as Leeds United won a frankly bonkers game 3-2 win at the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers, it looked as if Luke Ayling scored in a frankly bonkers 3-2 win at the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
By Stuart Rayner
In the end it was 4-2, Rodrigo lifting a stoppage-time goal
over Jose Sa, and the game went beyond crazy with two Wolves players sent off,
one without even making it onto the pitch.
Julen Lopetegui was going spare with referee Michael Salisbury
at full-time and he was by no means alone.
The dramatics were one things but the facts were what
mattered to Leeds. On a day when Southampton and Leicester City drew and
Bournemouth lost, they moved up to 14th, a point behind Wolves with a game in
hand.
They have picked up seven in four matches under coach Javi
Gracia, another new Leeds coach at the uncomfortable end of the Premier League
table 12 months on.
Not many teams could be 3-0 up against a side who have not
had a centre-forward find the net for them in over a year of Premier League football
and still make a game of it. Leeds somehow managed it.
What made it all the more remarkable was that the Whites had
not been playing with the almost reckless abandon that was such a trademark
under Marcelo Bielsa and Jesse Marsch, they had in fact played with huge
tactical discipline.
But once former Middlesbrough and Barcelona winger Adama
Traore came on as a wing-back after 59 minutes – just before Rasmus Kristensen
put his side 3-0 up – Leeds had no answer, at least whilst it was 11 v 11.
Javi Gracia's thoughts as #LUFC win an "amazing game":https://t.co/NIaRMRMkOF
— Stuart Rayner (@sturayner) March 18, 2023
Only when Jonny Otto went into a tackle with his studs over
the ball and into Ayling's shins with 84 minutes gone could Leeds breathe a
sigh of relief. Even then the officials cranked up the tension, video assistant
referee David Coote sending Salisbury over for a long look at his pitchside
monitor.
He would be back to check on Rodrigo's goal, which featured
a shirt-pull as Traore weakly lost the ball in the build-up, and he would show
a red card to unused substitute Matheus Nunes for his angry reactions to it. It
was a good job for him his team-mates held him back.
Leeds fans will be delighted with that but how many more
games like this can their hearts take between now and the end of the season?
Away from home and with a lead to defend after six minutes,
Leeds had no obligation to defend, and did their job with good discipline for
an hour.
When Jack Harrison neatly finished it was already the second
good chance created from a pull-back on the left. Weston McKennie had been
unable to keep his effort down after Patrick Bamford's lay-off but when the
ball was switched out for the recalled Willy Gnonto to beat Nelson Semedo,
Harrison made no mistake.
From there, Leeds were able to funnel into a tight 4-4-1-1
whenever they had the ball, with even centre-forward Bamford coming back into
midfield at times to do some good defensive work.
It left all the space out wide and Wolves recognised as
much, but they lacked the cutting edge to make the most of it. It was no
surprise they took off both wingers.
With bright sunshine in the warm-up followed by a downpour
shortly before the teams emerged and a double rainbow when it stopped,
underfoot conditions were slippery, contributing to a couple of bookings and a
difficult start to the game for Ayling.
It was on the other side of the field where Wolves thought
they had a penalty when Junior Firpo's tackle on Nelson Semedo was referred to
Coote. Although Firpo caught the winger on his follow-through from winning the
ball, the video assistant referee was happy Salisbury had not made a clear and
obvious error in waving play on.
A couple of minutes later the hosts had two good chances in
succession, Illan Meslier saving from Daniel Podence as he wriggled past
Ayling, and Max Wober throwing himself in front of Neto's goalbound follow-up.
Craig Dawson headed a free-kick wide and Marc Roca produced
a good block when Ruben Neves threatened a trademark blockbuster. He would curl
another just wide as the pressure on Meslier – the youngest goalkeeper to 100
Premier League starts and the third youngest Leeds stopper to the milestone –
grew.
Even centre-back Max Kilman overlapped down the left but his
cross did not find a touch until Neto produced another shot Wober could get in
the way of.
Leeds were not posing enough problems themselves, and when
Roca took the sting out of a move by putting his foot on the ball and playing
it backwards ultimately to Meslier, Elland Road would have voiced its
frustration.
Allowed to do so, the Whites were "managing" the
game shrewdly, Meslier taking as long as he could get away with over restarts
and 17-year-old substitute Archie Gray showing the wiliness of a man twice his
age to clumsily kick a second ball onto the field swinging his leg as Wolves prepared
to take a throw-in.
Late in the first half they did show they could make
mischief at the other end too, McKennie half-volleying a corner played to him
arriving unmarked at the far post wide and Bamford putting a free-kick over.
Brenden Aaronson shot over too.
Five minutes into the second half, Ayling looked to have put
it to bed.
Wolves will be furious that a simple run around the back got
him so much space at a Roca corner and not exactly delighted either that his
diving header went under the body of Jose Sa.
Gracia responded to the introduction of Wolves' third and
fourth substitutes by also switching to a back four and bringing on Rasmus
Kristensen, who scored almost immediately.
Jonny dwelt on a Harrison cross and the Dane pounced.
That should have been the game put to bed but like an
over-excited child, it just refused to go to sleep.
Jonny made amends when Meslier, who had made some important
saves, rushed out of his area to head the ball, then watching Roca give it to
the left-back to volley into the empty net from around 40 yards.
There was panic every time Traore ran at Leeds, so much so
that Firpo had to be substituted and when Cunha's 74th-minute shot deflected
in, it reached new heights.
Jonny relieved it and Rodrigo put a stop to it.