Leeds United 1 Tottenham Hotspur 4: All defiance gone as Whites limp out of Premier League without a whimper - Yorkshire Post 28/5/23
By Stuart Rayner
In the last couple of seasons – never mind decades – there
have been plenty of scarf-twirling, full-throated demonstrations of loyalty.
When relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on
Sunday, there was only anger left.
A fanbase has been let down badly by owners who managed to
stumble upon a special alchemy and turn it into something so feebly pathetic in
two years.
Staying up would not have avoided the need for a complete
reset, but it would have given Leeds a lot more money to do it with.
In their 4-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, Leeds looked like
the confidence that had been dripping out since collapsing at home to Crystal
Palace had run completely dry.
The only surprise about their seventh defeat in a nine-match
winless streak to end their season was that they scored. Even that only
underlined their mental weakness, conceding within two minutes of Jack
Harrison's goal, as they had within two of each half kicking off.
"He showed more fight than you," sang the home
fans when the Leeds defences were breached yet again – on this occasion by a
hard-to-pin-down pitch invader.
Whites fans are not asking for the earth, just another team playing football they can be proud of. It was only two years ago they were ninth in the Premier League but even a Championship team with a bit of gusto would be an upgrade now.
As soon as the eerie silence which greeted Harry Kane’s
opening goal was broken, it was with chants of "Marcelo Bielsa", the
coach who led them back to the Premier League.
His name echoed around again at full-time, between angry
boos towards the players.
Nostalgia hung heavy in the air during the first 20 minutes
but they were not singing the names of the greats of the 1960s and 70s, nor the
title-winning team of 1992.
Jermaine Beckford's name got an airing but by and large it
was players from the last time Leeds were in the second tier – Gaetano Berardi,
Mateusz Klich, Pablo Hernandez and Pontus Jansson.
Bielsa's side was positive and exciting. In a must-win game,
Sam Allardyce’s team had six defenders and struggled to pass from A to B,
control the ball at times, follow markers, or trouble Fraser Forster.
Spurs are in a malaise too – they missed qualification even
for the Europa Conference League – and allowed Leeds 19 shots yet only two were
on target.
When the first was saved, from Max Wober, Leeds could not
even play a short corner. As Spurs broke, the home fans began singing
"That's why we're going down."
When Spurs dismantled them tactically in February 2021 it
was clear they needed to move on from Bielsa but they have made a complete hash
of it. The blame lies mainly with directors scattered here and there, some in
West Yorkshire, chairman Andrea Radrizzani often in Italy, where he was
presumably hiding, and some in San Francisco.
Chief executive Angus Kinnear's programme notes were
conspicuous by their absence but at least he showed up, the only board member
who put his head above the parapet.
As Spurs scored their second, Radrizzani was told to sell
up. The anger had been building since Leeds trailed inside two minutes.
Even with a flat back five, Pedro Porro was still able to
glide in front of Pascal Struijk and between him and Wober as if the full-back
had not noticed. The ball was squared to Son Heung-min, then Kane.
They should have levelled when Robin Koch was in space six
yards out but his diving header was wide.
Adam Forshaw had a drive deflected wide, Weston McKennie
missed a shot and Koch headed another off target but every time Spurs
counter-attacked, you felt they would score. They did as soon as a second half
Leeds were sent out very early for began, Kane helping the ball around Liam
Cooper for Porro, again in vast space, to drill in.
"You're not fit to wear the shirt," chanted the
Leeds fans.
Weston McKennie and Struijk were booed off in a triple
substitution which saw Georginio Rutter given a rapturous welcome having been
thrown under the bus by his manager the previous week.
But when Harrison drilled a 68th-minute shot into the net,
Spurs simply pounced on a poor Cooper header straight into central midfield,
worked it to Porro and let him find Kane to lift the ball over Joel Robles.
In stoppage time Leeds gave Lucas Moura a leaving present of
his own, allowing him to skip past Cooper, glide past Ayling and Koch and
inside Rasmus Kristensen.
With Leicester City and Everton winning, a win would have
meant nothing anyway but a show of fight would at least have been welcome.