Credible Leeds United ringleader shows up recent circus act - Graham Smyth's Leicester City Verdict — YEP 4/11/23

Leeds United's win at Leicester City said nothing about the title race and everything about a team to believe in and a manager to be believed.

By Graham Smyth

In the wake of the current Whites team's finest moment - a 1-0 away victory over the flying Foxes - it would be churlish to hark back to far unhappier times or Daniel Farke's predecessors but his mention of one of them in his post-match press conference was noteworthy. "This project was so, so difficult," he said of the challenge he accepted when 49ers Enterprises offered him the Elland Road hotseat. "Many people have spoken about the situation in the summer - Big Sam has made some comments about what a hell of a task it is to bring stability in."

There was something stark, almost jarring about the mention of a manager whose arrival and four-game tenure at Leeds last season now feels so surreal. It's almost unbelievable that Allardyce so recently sat in the same room where Farke hosts the media, in the very same seat, and spoke about being on a level with the world's leading managerial lights. In fairness to Allardyce it was far from the only statement that went without evidential support last season. It was not the only time when something said by a Leeds manager failed to be matched by what he did. Another ringmaster brought the circus to town, loaded himself into the cannon to be blasted into the national headlines but the team still fell off the Premier League tightrope and the relegation lion opened wide its jaws to swallow Leeds whole.

Everything in the lead up to Leeds' visit to the Kingpower Stadium and everything that unfolded on the pitch served as a contrast between what went before and what is happening right now, because Farke called it, all of it, on Wednesday and then his team produced it, all of it, on Friday night. Leeds had to be brave, he said, not only in terms of attacking Leicester City with the ball but pressing them high up the pitch without it and they had to accept there would be periods of suffering, times when the press would be bypassed and the only possible solution would be defensive rigidity. Making the most of possession, rather than seeking possession for possession's sake, was to be key.

And so it proved, from start to finish, as Leeds went after the Foxes at the start of each half and, just before the hour mark, made the most of their moment with a winning goal from Georginio Rutter. Then came the suffering, the willingness to dig in, to dig deep and to defend the lead they had fashioned, in order to earn the points they craved.

There is something to be said for a manager whose words are credible both contemporaneously and retrospectively, just as believable pre-game as post-game. There is a lot to be said for a manager who can back up his theory with practical demonstration, his philosophy with results. And there is so much to like about a team who can do both sides of the game well.

Leicester City came into the game as favourites, flexing a nine-game winning streak, a 14-point lead over their visitors and a scarcely believable set of results from the season's opening stanza. Leeds went into this game showing Leicester every respect by showing them no respect, snapping at heels in the knowledge that one wrong move, one mistimed or misplaced run ahead of the ball would open up space for a very good team to play into.

For about six minutes Leeds had the Foxes cornered, pinned in and struggling to play out, and the pressing led to possession and a big chance that Joel Piroe should have done more with. It was encouraging, for Leeds, and frustrating for Leicester - Jamie Vardy's flailing arms and approach to his manager to discuss solutions were a sure sign that the Whites had started well.

When Leicester finally did break out to put together their first attack it was foiled at the back post by winger Daniel James who set in motion one of the game's decisive themes - a defence being supported by an attack. Pascal Struijk's front-foot aggression, Joe Rodon's physicality and awareness and Ethan Ampadu's clamping down on Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were matched by the contentment of Farke's forwards to do their bit off the ball. Georginio Rutter, so often of late a thorn in the side of defenders, had few chances to dazzle in the first 45 minutes but mucked in manfully with the press, alongside Joel Piroe, James and Crysencio Summerville.

As Leeds' dominant opening gave way to a more even contest, Farke's desired discipline and grit had to be accompanied by painstaking care when in possession and no one embodied that more than Glen Kamara. The midfielder got his body position right and used every movement in his repertoire to look after the football and use it well.

Leicester were never going to be entirely silenced, though, and their only real joy came down the right through the pace and trickery of Abdul Fatawu, who gave Sam Byram a pretty torrid time of it. He drew one foul and then another, writing Byram's name in the referee's book for him and then revelling in the freedom the full-back's red card jeopardy gave him. Having left his marker behind, Fatawu rattled the crossbar from an acute angle. Leeds, as if to emphasis the nip-and-tuck nature of it all, broke immediately and Summerville went down in the area to prompt huge but unsuccessful penalty appeals.

The second half mirrored the first in terms of its opening stages because Leeds set off well again and Struijk's aggression was key. James, too, played a big role, popping up centrally to help Leeds break quickly from any Leicester pressure, and Rutter started to come into it more.

One man who never really got into it at all was Vardy, so often a tormentor of Leeds in the past, and his half was summed up and ultimately ended by a loose touch that let Leeds break to win a corner, which in turn led to another corner. When James curled it in, Byram thumped a header goalwards and though Mads Hermansen kept it out Rutter was there, played onside by Vardy, to stick in a deserved opener. Up went the away end, off went Vardy.

The game's final half hour could be entitled 'suffering' for that is what Leeds did, but only really in terms of tracking back and shifting from side to side to stop Leicester from hurting them. Byram recovered impressively to stifle Fatawu, aided by Summerville. Ampadu was everywhere. Struijk and Rodon were imperious and had to be. Possession was almost entirely the gift of the hosts, the Whites looking to break and counter as they have done so well all season. But this was no end-to-end stuff and the defensive effort could rarely be described as desperate because, as Archie Gray demonstrated so well, even when the ball landed at feet in the area and begged a hoofed clearance, composure presented a better route out of trouble. More than once the 17-year-old resisted the temptation to lash it away, instead picking passes that started counters. One of those could have sealed the deal but James' shot was well saved.

With legs starting to tire and pressure building Farke turned to his bench and added energy, particularly in the form of Ilia Gruev, but right at the end of a torturously long period of stoppage time a saviour was found among the starters - Illan Meslier producing his first and only stop of the game with a spectacular clawing away of Dewsbury-Hall's goal-bound header. Its importance was underlined by Ampadu racing to his keeper at full-time to celebrate that moment and the clean sheet victory it secured.

Beating Leicester this season has proven unbelievably hard, as Farke might say, for almost everyone but Leeds did so in a manner that can only supercharge supporters' belief in this team - belief that is growing. Farke felt it beforehand, though. "I'm not surprised [at the performance], just happy because you never know that it works in this way - I know what we're capable of, I totally believe in my players," he said.

Farke, wisely at this early stage, will make or say nothing of the result's importance when it comes to the table or the promotion picture, but as performances go this one was a statement maker for a manager to be taken seriously and a team to be watched.