Maresca changes his tune as Leeds United reclaim what was stolen - Graham Smyth Leicester Verdict — YEP 24/2/24

When Enzo Maresca said the players, not the fans, would settle Leeds United versus Leicester City he wasn't wrong but he wasn't entirely right either.

By Graham Smyth

Nights like these were, for the longest time, robbed from Leeds fans. First it was the pandemic, stealing football from under the mask-covered noses of fans forced to watch from their homes. Then a litany of bad boardroom decisions took over to keep supporters from the kind of joyous chaos produced during and after a 3-1 win, one that for 80 minutes looked impossible. Elland Road's volatility lends itself to mayhem, to comebacks and the unexpected but the atmosphere has to be tethered to something. The crackling electricity of expectation and belief has to be hooked up to a team that can first of all withstand that pressure and secondly deliver the necessary energy and magic on the pitch. Once the two are in sync, it's difficult, if not impossible to switch them off.

Maresca all-but talked down the power of Elland Road before the game. And after watching his team be washed away by a late, late tidal wave of on-field and off-field aggression, he admitted that once Leeds had found an equaliser the stadium's 'unbelievable' atmosphere made it easy for the home players to have a mental edge. One goal became two, two became three and a 17-point gap became six. The fans didn't score the goals that decided the fixture, they won't get assists in the record books and yet it was the kind of night when credit becomes permanently attached to those who did their bit and few will forget the role the stadium played.

The same goes for young Archie Gray. They can take his goal - it was twice-deflected after all - but they will never take that feeling. Net rippling, wheeling away, arms aloft, fist pumping, tens of thousands of limbs responding in kind. A rush that will live with him until the end of his days. Georginio Rutter? La même chose. So many losses of the ball, heavy touches and fruitless fancy flicks, all forgiven in those two moments of sheer bloodymindedness to win and fight and force the ball to Connor Roberts, for the first goal, and then Gray for the second. There are times when certain players, their teams and their fans just will not be denied and on Friday night under the lights that was Rutter, Leeds and Elland Road.

It could, of course, have all been so different. There were a few little nerves and a few big problems to overcome from the start. Joel Piroe could finish in his sleep chances like his first, in the early minutes, but was likely still wired to the moon after the reception the Whites received when they stepped out onto the pitch. A bigger issue than missed opportunities was how Leeds would create many more, if they could not play out past the Leicester press. The Foxes cut off Ilia Gruev and Glen Kamara with a boxy midfield shape, taking away angles and options to force rushed clearances or mistakes.

The visitors created a little pressure, too, Patson Daka forcing Illan Meslier into a flying tip over his bar. And from the resultant corner, Leicester went ahead. Neither Gruev nor Kamara could win it at the near post, Willy Gnonto lost Wout Faes at the back post and quick as a flash the leaders were leading.

Again Piroe had a chance to hit the net and once more he got the finish wrong. Then Gnonto got it wrong when well placed in the area. Then Crysencio Summerville got it wrong when found by Rutter and played into a promising position. That was about the last we saw of Summerville in a first half that calmed right down and played right into Leicester's hands.

If a Leeds onslaught was expected in the second half there were few signs of it to begin with and instead Leicester could and should have gone further in front. Meslier made a good stop from Abdul Fatawu. Jannik Vestergaard headed against the woodwork and Daka eventually hooked home a loose ball, only for an incorrect offside flag to rule it out.

That the pressure did not tell was part luck, part digging in, but Farke knew that those two things would not be enough to get Leeds back up the pitch to score the necessary goal. So he sent on Daniel James and Patrick Bamford. Then Connor Roberts, which sent Gray to left-back. Suddenly, with James’ pace and aggression and Bamford's presence and pressing, the game began to be played in the right areas. Rutter began to find Summerville again. Elland Road well and truly found its voice. Then Roberts found the net.

It was a goal almost from nothing, but persistence, Rutter's little bit of skill and Roberts' composure. He stroked the ball home like he was playing in his back garden and celebrated in a similar vein as the stadium lost its collective mind. That was on 80 minutes. On 83 the whole lot went up. Rutter was integral again, making a nuisance of himself and sending the ball to Gray on the left, giving the teenager enough time to move wide of his marker and bang a shot back across goal. It flicked off a foot, then Faes' leg and when it hit the net Elland Road hit all the right notes.

Though Leicester did have moments in the minutes that followed, this was going only one way. Rutter won a free-kick, James kicked it very hard and Bamford jutted out his knee to deflect it in. Heads, elbows, knees and toes, they all count for Bamford at the minute it seems. And with that, and the final whistle that followed not too long after, you could almost count the points existing between Leeds and Leicester on one hand. Nine wins - count them - nine in a row. Unbeaten in 17 at home. And while Elland Road won't have the final decision on where Leeds end up at the end of the season, it will definitely have its say.