Leeds United 3-1 Middlesbrough: Here, there, everywhere — Square Ball 12/12/24

Can we play you every week?

Written by: Rob Conlon

Dan James turned to the touchline, noticed the fourth official signalling seven minutes added time, and briefly grimaced. On his 100th appearance for Leeds United, James had covered every blade of grass, struck one of the sweetest finishes of his career, and even been serenaded with not one but two chants. At last! But now he was quite looking forward to it all being over.

Those final seven minutes began with Leeds enjoying the safety of a corner at the Kop end. But within sixty seconds United were back defending their own goal. Ethan Ampadu blocked a cross. Joe Rodon scrapped for the bouncing ball. James and Brenden Aaronson harried for possession. Joe Rothwell intercepted a pass and set off running down the right touchline, lost the ball, then continued chasing to make sure that Middlesbrough could only go backwards.

As the Kop began singing, ‘We All Love Leeds,’ Ao Tanaka snapped into a tackle. Ten seconds later, Aaronson was sliding in front of the North East corner, Tanaka was jumping up and down on a half-lap of the pitch, Daniel Farke was skipping down the touchline, and for the first time all season this Leeds United team and the Elland Road crowd felt like they truly understood each other.

Get in! The relief! It really is as simple as we all hoped after all. If watching Leeds under Farke can feel laborious, Middlesbrough proved that, more often than not, it’s the opposition’s fault rather than anyone else’s. Arriving with an away end and ambition to trouble Leeds, Boro brought a swagger back out of the Peacocks. It’s no coincidence that the games against teams that have at least tried to make life uncomfortable for Leeds — Norwich, Sunderland, Swansea, and now Boro — have been the most enjoyable to watch as spectacles, rare occasions in this division when patches of green space suddenly appear around the pitch as both teams compete for a win even if that leaves space for the opposition to exploit.

While so many fixtures in the Championship are a test of this Leeds team’s patience, beating Boro required qualities that can go overlooked and undervalued. Resilience and graft, don’t take them for granted. With Mateo Joseph restored to the line-up in place of Piroe, Leeds’ attack was full of industry and started on the front foot, grabbing the crowd’s attention from the opening whistle. Wilf Gnonto’s opener is never going to be hung on the Louvre, but was a gift for Sam Byram injecting James’ pace down the right and Gnonto and Joseph’s hustling for a finish no matter how fortuitous. Likewise, Aaronson was a pest all night — full of his usual moments of frustration, sure, but making up for them by matching his typical work-rate with glimpses of imagination that were deservedly rewarded with the third goal.

They were backed up by Tanaka and Rothwell, superb again, and Leeds’ most fun central midfield since Mat Klich was spraypainting the walls of Elland Road. Judging by the last two games, Ampadu’s return to fitness has lit another fire in Rothwell, who has developed an insatiable appetite for one of Leeds fans’ most favoured traits: Getting Stuck In. Tanaka, meanwhile, not only has a similar tenacity but ended the night toying with time itself in the goal he created for Aaronson, proving once and for all that, despite the naysayers, you really can pass the ball into the back of the net.

United’s commitment meant we could laugh at Tanaka shooting like Steve Morison, brush off Max Wöber flicking a Middlesbrough corner into his own net, and appreciate Illan Meslier smothering a Ben Doak chance at 1-1, because it all built to the crescendo of Byram’s tackle, Piroe’s pass, and Dan James turning into Gordon Fucking Strachan:

James himself contributed to the crescendo by meekly fluffing the same chance a minute earlier, which only made his eventual finish and celebration more emphatic. I’m not entirely sure when Dan James became Leeds United’s spirit animal, but over the course of his 100 appearances I’m glad it has happened. If Leeds’ emotional barometer is a right winger eager to sprint the length of a pitch to make a tackle at left-back and confident enough to shrug off a big miss to score an even better goal a minute later, then we might just be on to something. He’s bloody brilliant.

The atmosphere didn’t reach the levels of last season’s games against Leicester or Norwich, but it was never going to. Regardless, Leeds’ players gave the crowd something to get behind, and the crowd let the players know we were as up for it as they were. Instead of the mini Riot post-Leicester, full-time brought the self-satisfaction of Leeds Are Falling Apart in front of a no longer noisy, emptying away end.

So thank you, Boro, for making it such a fun night. It’s been a while since I’ve walked out of Elland Road, down the Lowfields Tunnel, and into a chorus of ‘We All Love Leeds’. Better luck next time.