Leeds United 2-1 Plymouth Argyle: The right to worry — Square Ball 13/11/23
BUT IT WILL BE FINE
Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman
Daniel Farke is quite a hard person to read but I think I’m
beginning to either work it out, or get lulled into his world where I end up
doing bad raps about him (Norwich) or parading him atop a horse (Lippstadt).
When he said, after his Leeds side beat Plymouth, that “If we stay on 31 points
we’ll probably be relegated” and that before the match he’d thought, “the
training week was very good and my gut feeling was it’s all too easy” and so
Leeds were at high risk of losing, I felt a shudder of recognition and had a
moment of realisation: he’s a Leeds United fan.
He can talk like one to the press, anyway, but I wonder if
it goes a little deeper than that. During a first half that Leeds dominated, he
became visibly agitated when the result of that was two goals and some
showboating. As if the technical area had been taken over by a member of one of
the historically hardest to please home supports in the country – where Don
Revie’s team were moaned at for not winning in more exciting ways and John
Charles, the world’s best player, was criticised for making his teammates look
ordinary – Farke complained when failed backheels led to Plymouth chances,
appealed for calm and sense as half-time approached, then set off down the
tunnel as if ready to shout at his team for putting themselves into a position
where they could play the game too easily. Every Leeds fan knows those
feelings, especially the ones who watched Simon Grayson’s Leeds go 4-1 up
against Preston and knew, in their bones, that a 4-6 defeat was coming.
It’s impossible to know how much of Farke’s fit with Leeds
is down to the way he just is as a person, and how much is about how he’s able
to adapt to where he’s coaching, without putting oneself into the
roomy-round-the-toes shoes of a Norwich fan and finding out how he seemed to
them. Whatever way it’s happening, though, it is good to have a manager who
seems to be in sync and sympathy with our club’s supporters. Last season began
with Jesse Marsch, who told the fans we would have to learn about his tactics
to understand the right times for us to cheer, and ended with Sam Allardyce,
who seemed to sort of low-key hate us but had no problems loving the
half-a-million pounds of our ticket money he walked away with. So far this
season, when we’re nervous about following a big win at Leicester against a
so-called ‘easy’ club, so is Farke; and while he might have been joking about
still getting relegated from this position, we always say we’re joking about
stuff like that too, while avoiding eye contact and gripping a rabbit’s foot.
This match nearly was very easy. Perhaps Farke will be happy
that it wasn’t. Plymouth stormed out of League One last season, not with the
ridiculous +66 goal difference of 2nd place (then, and in the Championship now)
Ipswich Town, but with 101 points and 82 goals scored. Adapting to the
Championship isn’t going so well for them – they’ve scored 27, the same as
Leeds have, but have let 27 in too – and based on this performance, making a
mess of things at the back is now their specialty. I couldn’t work out if their
defenders were bad players, stupid, or just having a bad day, but the number of
inexplicable punts towards their own penalty area was a remarkable thing. After
a torrid start up against Dan James, Kaine Kesler-Hayden was switched to
left-back – Bali Mumba almost getting booked for taking too long to swap with
him and take a throw-in – and from there he was spun by Georginio Rutter, then
brought him down in the penalty area as if asking the ref to penalise him, lost
his nerve in a challenge with Glen Kamara and gave the ball to Dan James, who
from the edge of the box picked a spot in the top corner to make it 1-0 with a
lovely shot. For 2-0 Crysencio Summerville tackled Julio Pleguezuelo as he
tried to dribble out of defence, then took the ball back from Joel Piroe who
zoomed around the outside and took Summerville’s pass towards the six yard box,
slipping it under the goalie like the finisher he hasn’t been in recent weeks
while all the tricky kids were doing the scoring.
We hadn’t done half an hour yet and that became a problem.
Leeds were going Huddersfield mode, but to be fair to Plymouth and despite
their early appearances, this time the visitors turned out to actually have a
clue. United’s front four started teeing up chances to each other as if chances
were going to come all day, and for a while it did feel like that, until
inevitably it didn’t. Perhaps this is a contradiction from Farke that the
players need to hear resolved: he has told them to be careful how they use
their talents and not to embarrass their opponents, but he has also gone with a
3-1-6 Ajax-from-hell formation to win a game at Norwich. He strives for
discipline, then fist pumps all four stands and some of the corners after a
win. He has created a team that thrives when it frolics, but as if he has made
a monster, he despairs when it lacks a ruthless edge. He does want his players
to be good lads, polite and generous. He doesn’t want them tapping the ball to
each other in the attacking penalty area as if they’re trying to share the
goals around. Not at 2-0, anyway, and the margin between ease and unease on
Saturday afternoon was one more. One more goal before half-time and I wonder
how much Leeds would have gone to party, and how much Farke would have loved
it.
Instead Leeds fell into the truism about 2-0 being a
dangerous lead and couldn’t properly work out how to play the second half.
Chance still followed chance and goals should have come, but without the joie
de vivre of the first half. Sam Byram took his delicate hamstrings away and was
replaced by Junior Firpo, and then wingers were swapped for their substitute
versions, and anxiety, which creeps, crept. Plymouth brought on a Scum fan, Joe
Edwards, to kick anybody he could and get a yellow card for rugby tackling Dan
James, and what should have been a relaxed, injury avoiding procession towards
the international break ground to a halt when Argyle scored a well worked goal
by passing behind Ethan Ampadu in a channel between Firpo for Byram and Liam
Cooper, in for Pascal Struijk, then crossed, and Ben Waine finished. There were
six minutes left. Now this was something to rouse the away fans and worry the
home crowd.
Perhaps it was better this way. Football can be boring
without jeopardy, and Farke can use games like this as practical examples of
his warnings against complacence. Happily, Plymouth were a low risk opponent.
There was one decent chance from a corner and a few counter attacks, but Leeds
were still creating chances while Plymouth were still sabotaging their own best
hopes. Deep into six minutes of stoppage time, instead of collecting a pass and
launching the ball into the mixer, Morgan Whittaker let it bounce off his leg
out for a throw-in. And he’s one of their best players. Leeds were fine.